The irony of hitting two home runs in one game was not lost on Ryan Casteel.
Casteel belted his 10th and 11th home runs of the season to back the eight-strikeout effort of starter Bryan Evans in the Arkansas Travelers' 7-2 victory over the Tulsa Drillers in front of an announced crowd of 5,250 Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park.
The last time the Travs' first baseman homered twice in the same game came on July 25, 2014, when Casteel was a member of the Drillers playing against Arkansas in North Little Rock.
"That's ironic and I think pretty cool," said Casteel, who went 2 for 5 with 3 RBI.
Tulsa's eight-game winning streak ended while Arkansas won for the second time in its past seven outings. Evans (3-1) was the winning pitcher in both of the Travelers' victories.
"My change-up was working well at first, but then they started sitting on it," said Evans, who gave up seven hits in 6⅔ innings. "From then on, it was a speed 'em up, slow 'em down type of thing."
Evans, 30, a 6-2 right-hander, has struck out 15 and has walked one in his past two starts.
"Evans is a veteran pitcher," Casteel said. "He comes out every night and gives us a chance. What you see is what you get from him. He's going to pound the zone every time he's out there. He's a heckuva pitcher."
The Travs gave Evans all the runs he needed in the first inning, thanks to an RBI double from Braden Bishop and Casteel's two-run home run over the right-center field fence to make it 3-0.
Arkansas increased its lead to 4-0 in the second on a wild pitch by Tulsa starter Mitchell White (0-1).
"It's always nice pitching with a lead, but you try to pitch the same way every time," Evans said. "Our job is to get the batters out as they come up, but it's always nice to have a lead. You don't have to worry about giving up one run, you just have to worry about the big inning."
Tulsa got a run back in the third when Johan Mieses hit a 407-foot home run to left field. Yusinel Diaz drove in a run later in the inning with a two-out single, but the Drillers were held to one hit.
Evans retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced and finished the night by throwing 93 pitches. Travelers relievers Darin Gillies and Ryan Kelly combined to throw 2⅓ perfect innings.
Casteel's second home run of the game came off of reliever Michael Johnson in the seventh inning. It was a 378-foot shot that also cleared the right-center field fence.
"I didn't know about either of them," Casteel said. "If it was a double, great. A home run, even better. I was trying to put good swings on it."
Travelers' shortstop Chris Mariscal went 2 for 5 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. Chuck Taylor had two hits and drove in a run with a fielder's choice in the sixth inning. Nelson Ward also drove in a run with a sixth-inning single.
Sports on 08/25/2017