Cal Raleigh had been hitting in fits and starts since being called up to the Arkansas Travelers on July 16.
Raleigh, a switch-hitting catcher who played collegiately at Florida State, found his groove Wednesday night with a two-run home run and a single in Arkansas' 4-1 victory over Northwest Arkansas.
Raleigh, a 2018 third-round draft pick who was called up from Class A Modesto, had hit a number of home-run length drives that ducked to the right of the foul pole, including a handful during this 6-1 Arkansas home stand.
Long strikes were all they were, and Raleigh was hitting .235 without a home run and 5 RBI in 19 Class AA games.
That changed in the second inning in front of an announced Dickey-Stephens Park crowd of 4,098 against Northwest Arkansas right-hander Scott Blewett.
"I've been working on a lot of things with my hitting coach, Kyle," Raleigh said. "Just setting my sights back a little more. Not trying to catch it so far out front. Let it go a little deeper and drive through it to center field, and it worked out."
Raleigh rifled a 385-foot drive that landed just below the party pavilion in right field with teammate Luis Liberato at first.
Raleigh's first Class AA home run came in his 65th at-bat at the level.
"He just needed to get one to go fair for him," Travs Manager Cesar Nicolas said. "That's really just baseball. You hit it, and sometimes it goes foul. Fortunately, that one stayed fair."
Raleigh singled and scored on Mike Ahmed's RBI double in the fourth, but he struck out when turning around to bat right-handed against Naturals lefty reliever J.C. Cloney in his final two at-bats.
Raleigh, catching for the 11th time since arriving in Arkansas, relished his role behind the plate as starter Ljay Newsome pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits and 1 walk with 3 strikeouts.
"Ljay does a real good job of filling up the zone, and he did a really good job tonight of mixing," Raleigh said of Newsome, who left after throwing 66 pitches, 48 for strikes.
Newsome (2-2) improved his ERA to 2.08 in his fourth Arkansas start, and the combined one-run performance lowered the Travelers' team ERA to 2.97 for the season.
No Texas League pitching staff has had an ERA of under 3.00 since the 1992 Travelers.
The Naturals scored their run in the eighth when Blake Perkins singled with one out off Art Warren, stole second and scored on Dairon Blanco's RBI single to center.
Newsome arrived in Arkansas from Modesto, along with 2018 first-round pick Logan Gilbert and Raleigh.
"I feel like us three that moved up are starting to settle in better here," Raleigh said.
Newsome came with a reputation as a strike thrower after walking 9 and striking out 124 in 1002/3 innings at Modesto.
"True to form," Nicolas said. "That's what he's done ever since he's been a Mariner."
NW ARK AB R H BI ARKANSAS AB R H BI
Blanco, dh 4 0 1 1 Walton, 2b 3 1 0 0
Merrell, ss 4 0 0 0 Liberato, dh 4 1 3 0
Lee, rf 4 0 1 0 White, 1b 4 0 0 1
Feathrstn, 2b 4 0 0 0 Raleigh, c 4 2 2 2
George, 1b 4 0 2 0 Tmp-Wllms, cf 3 0 0 0
Castellano, 3b 4 0 1 0 Zammarelli, rf 3 0 1 0
Esposito, c 2 0 0 0 Ahmed, ss 3 0 1 1
Cancel, ph 1 0 0 0 Knapp, lf 3 0 0 0
Perkins, cf 3 1 2 0 Taylor, 3b 3 0 0 0
Burt, lf 3 0 0 0
TOTALS 33 1 7 1 totals 30 4 7 4
NW Arkansas 000 000 010 -- 1 7 1
Arkansas 300 100 00x -- 4 7 0
E -- Lee. DP -- Arkansas 1. LOB -- NW Arkansas 6, Arkansas 5. 2B -- George, Liberato, Ahmed. HR -- Raleigh (1). SB -- Liberato 2, Perkins.
NW Arkansas IP H R ER BB SO
Blewett L, 0-1 3 3 3 3 0 3
Gomez 2 2 1 1 1 3
Cloney 3 2 0 0 1 4
ARKANSAs IP H R ER BB SO
Newsome W, 2-2 6 2 0 0 1 3
Tenuta 1 1 0 0 0 2
Warren 2 4 1 1 0 3
WP -- Warren. HBP -- by Blewett (Walton). Umpires -- Home: Barba First: Robinson Third: Ghani. Time -- 2:25. Attendance -- 4,098.
Today’s game
ARKANSAS TRAVELERS
AT SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS
WHEN 7:10 p.m. Central
WHERE Hammons Field, Springfield, Mo.
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas
WEBSITE travs.com
PITCHERS Travelers: RH Logan Gilbert (1-2, 3.80 ERA) Cardinals: TBD
Sports on 08/08/2019