Travs beat Drillers with 4-run 6th, 7th-inning catch

In a game with 25 hits, a diving catch that prevented a 26th helped secure the Arkansas Travelers' 8-4 victory over the Tulsa Drillers on Sunday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Tulsa, trying to rally in the top of the seventh after Arkansas had broken up a 4-4 tie with a four-run sixth inning, had two runners on base with two outs and center fielder Johan Mieses at the plate.

Mieses, facing reliever Aaron West, hit a drive to deep left center, between center fielder Braden Bishop and left fielder Chuck Taylor.

Bishop ran it down to end the threat, using his speed and instincts to make the play appear routine, at least by his recent standards.

"Any time it's hit like that, I just put my head down and run," said Bishop, well aware that Taylor was also en route to the same target. "It was over my head, but once I picked it up, after about six or seven steps, I realized I had a bead on it, but that it would be a tough play.

"I kind of went into a slide so I could have a little better angle under the ball instead of reaching for it, and just in case Chuck went into a dive. Luckily I was under it enough to make the catch."

Bishop's catch ended the inning and helped preserve a victory that gave Arkansas a split of its four-game series with Tulsa.

Arkansas Manager Daren Brown said Bishop's play was big, but not unexpected.

"He can run a little bit, makes a big jump on the ball," Brown said. "That was a big play for us. That was the big play of the game, obviously."

Tulsa manager Scott Hennessey said he knew of Bishop's defensive talent before the series began.

"He gets good jumps," Hennessey said. "He knows how to play hitters, and he just has great instincts. Every right-center gap and left-center gap, if we hit it and it stayed in the ballpark, we knew he had a chance to catch it."

Bishop said he takes pride in the way he plays defense.

"If people are going to tag me with that, I'm going to show them why," he said. "It's something I work hard on during batting practice, taking live balls off bats as much as I can. I want to familiarize myself with the field I'm playing on. I take pride in the work I put in."

The Travelers and Drillers went back and forth before Bishop's big play.

Arkansas took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when catcher Tyler Marlette doubled and scored on shortstop Joey Wong's single.

Tulsa tied it 1-1 in the top of the third after catcher Shawn Zarraga doubled and scored on a single by third baseman Matt Beaty.

The Travelers regained the lead at 2-1 in the bottom of the third on first baseman Ryan Casteel's RBI single, which scored right fielder Kyle Waldrop.

Tulsa retook a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run double by first baseman Peter O'Brien, but the Travelers responded in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single by third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean and an RBI on a groundout by Casteel to take a 4-3 lead.

Tulsa made it 4-4 in the sixth inning when Mieses led off with a single, moved to third on Zarraga's double, and scored on Errol Robinson's groundball out to third base.

Then came the Travelers' four-run sixth, featuring a two-run single by Casteel, who went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI.

"We got some big hits," Brown said. "If you put yourself in a good position, eventually you'll get those. Our guys did a good job of battling tonight, and they did a good job of stringing some hits together tonight. It was good to see."

Sports on 08/07/2017

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