The Arkansas Travelers' last offensive strike was the deciding one Friday night in North Little Rock.
Arkansas broke a 4-4 tie with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Springfield Cardinals 6-4 in front of an announced crowd of 6,360 at Dickey-Stephens Park.
It was Travelers' fourth consecutive victory.
The game was tied 4-4 going into the bottom of the seventh when Travelers right fielder Cal Towey led off with a walk.
Towey advanced to third on Chad Hinshaw's single, and scored on Eric Aguilera's sacrifice fly to deep right field that also allowed Hinshaw to advance to second.
Hinshaw was off and running to third and scored on a bloop single to right field by catcher Jose Briceno, playing in his third game since being called up from Inland Empire.
"We've just got to be creative and find ways of scoring runs," Travelers Manager Mark Parent said. "We don't have a bunch of guys who are capable of hitting the ball out of the park. We've got to bunt, hit and run. We've got to be creative."
The Travelers had to work out of eighth-inning trouble.
Breyvic Valeria led off with a single to shortstop Anthony Phillips, and Valeria took second on Phillips' throwing error. Reliever Alan Busenitz struck out Bruce Caldwell, but right fielder Collin Radack, who played at Hendrix College in Conway, singled to right to put the tying run on base.
Things got even more interesting when Cardinals first baseman Luke Voit got ahead on a 3-1 count, and Parent was ejected after coming out to discuss things with home plate umpire Jeff Gorman. But Busenitz struck out Voit and shortstop Alex Meija, both swinging.
Springfield jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third on Bruce Caldwell's two-run single.
Arkansas answered in the bottom of the fifth with Alex Yarbrough's three-run home run, his first of the season, after Bo Way walked and Phillips singled to left.
Yarbrough's home run, estimated at 418 feet into the Cardinals bullpen in right center. It was the Travelers' first home run at Dickey-Stephens Park since April 21.
Arkansas scored again in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead, but the Cardinals tied it 4-4 in the top of the seventh on Chris Jacobs' two-run double to center.
Alex Wood (1-1) picked up the victory in relief of Victor Alcantara despite yielding Jacobs' game-tying double and retiring one batter. Cardinals reliever John Brebbia (1-1) got the loss for the Springfield. D.J. Johnson picked up his fourth save of the season for the Travelers.
Sports on 05/21/2016