Arkansas native Black thwarts Naturals’ rally attempt

Arvest Ball Park Sign at Arvest Ballpark, Springdale, Arkansas, Tuesday, May 11, 2021 / Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/ David Beach.
Arvest Ball Park Sign at Arvest Ballpark, Springdale, Arkansas, Tuesday, May 11, 2021 / Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/ David Beach.

SPRINGDALE -- Northwest Arkansas' hopes of a comeback victory Tuesday night were dashed by none other than a native Arkansan.

Grant Black, a Newport resident who pitched collegiately at Arkansas-Monticello, bailed Springfield out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning and picked up his first victory in more than a month as the Cardinals claimed a 5-3 victory over the Naturals to start a six-game Texas League series at Arvest Ballpark.

"It's a little rare to come out of the bullpen and snake a win like that," said Grant, who pitched with his parents and some friends in attendance. "Our starter did a good job, but it's pretty cool to come back home and do that in front of a lot of people I know out there."

Black entered the game with two outs in the fifth inning after Logan Porter's two-run double to right-center had pulled Northwest Arkansas (31-32) within 4-3 and John Rave drew a walk to represent the go-ahead run. The right-hander did walk Seuly Matias to load the bases but was able to get Sebastian Rivero to foul out behind the plate to end the threat.

Black (3-3) went on to pitch two innings and record his first victory since May 15 against Amarillo and helped the Cardinals (26-38) end a four-game losing skid.

"You want to attack those guys, but I fell behind at first," Black said. "I didn't want to throw that guy a cookie and drive in somebody else's runs. I kinda pitched around him a little bit because I knew I could pitch to the next guy, and it worked out.

"It's been a minute since I won a game. I had been throwing later innings, and I was a little surprised to go into the game in the spot I did. But it worked out that way."

Springfield jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first when Jordan Walker hit the first of three Cardinal sacrifice flies, followed by a solo home run by Moises Gomes -- his 22nd of the season, which put him in a tie for the minor league baseball lead. Walker then added a sacrifice fly in the third, and Nick Raposo did the same thing in the fourth to make it a 4-0 game.

The Naturals did all their scoring in the bottom of the fifth as Nick Loftin's single drove in Jake Means, then Porter followed with his double. Springfield added a bases-loaded walk to Gomez in the seventh, then Northwest Arkansas failed to rally despite having the tying runs on base in the seventh and ninth innings.

"We struggled at the plate with runners in scoring position," Naturals manager Chris Widger said. "We also made a couple of mistakes in the field and walked some guys when you can't walk them. It was a little bit on the offense, but it was on the pitching and defense, too.

"They did what they were supposed to do. You get a runner on third with less than two outs, and they would get a pitch that was elevated and put it in the outfield. They got it done, and we just couldn't."

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