Arkansas Manager Mitch Canham sounds like a broken record when he talks about the performances of the Travelers' starting pitchers.
Left-hander Ricardo Sanchez tossed seven strong innings, as the Travelers posted their third consecutive shutout with a 2-0 victory over the slumping Northwest Arkansas Naturals in front of 2,385 fans at Dickey-Stephens Park on Tuesday night.
The Travelers, who own the best record in the Texas League at 10-2, have held their opponents scoreless for 30 consecutive innings and improved to 6-0 against the Naturals this season. Northwest Arkansas (4-9) has dropped its last eight games.
Sanchez (3-0) recorded his longest outing of the season, striking out 7 while walking 1 and allowing 2 hits, both of which were infield singles. Monday's starter Justin Dunn gave up 1 hit in 51/3 innings in a 2-0 victory over Northwest Arkansas. Three Travelers pitchers combined for a five-hitter in a 1-0, 10-inning victory over Tulsa on Sunday.
"I feel like I've said this about all of our guys, but Ricardo is extremely competitive and he prepares extremely well," Canham said. "He's got confidence when he's out there. He believes in all of his pitches."
"We've got a really good staff. That's the first thing we noticed right away during spring training," said Travelers shortstop Donnie Walton, who drove in both runs. "Ricardo works really fast and that's fun to play behind."
Sanchez faced no more than five batters in any one inning. Only one Naturals baserunner managed to advance past second base.
Sanchez outdueled Gerson Garabito (0-1). The Naturals right-hander lasted 6 innings, struck out 6 and walked 2. All five Arkansas hits off of Garabito were singles.
Aaron Knapp, who led off the third inning with a walk and a stolen base before advancing to third on Jake Fraley's fly ball to right, scored on Walton's sacrifice fly to left field. In the seventh, Jordan Cowan scored from second after Walton's single to left, sliding under the glove of catcher Meibrys Viloria.
Cowan had been thrown at the plate to end the fourth inning while attempting to score from second on Knapp's single.
"Cowan did a great job of getting under that tag," Canham said. "You hear about it being a game of inches. That play was one of them."
The Naturals made two other sparkling defensive plays. Second baseman D.J. Burt made a leaping grab of Nick Zammarelli's line drive in shallow right field to start the fourth inning. Zammarelli also was robbed of a hit in the sixth inning when center fielder Khalil Lee made a full-running dive of a line drive to right-center field.
Relievers Wyatt Mills and Jorgan Cavanerio each pitched one scoreless inning. Cavanerio picked up his first save.
NW ARK AB R H BI ARKANSAS AB R H BI
Lee, cf 4 0 0 0 Fraley, rf 3 0 1 0
Burt, 2b 4 0 1 0 Walton, ss 3 0 1 2
Cancel, dh 3 0 0 0 Lewis, lf 4 0 1 0
Duenez, 1b 4 0 0 0 T-Williams, dh 3 0 0 0
Rivera, 3b 3 0 0 0 Taylor, 3b 4 0 0 0
Viloria, c 3 0 0 0 Zammrlli, 1b 4 0 1 0
Feathrstn, ss 3 0 1 0 Cowan, 2b 4 1 3 0
Miller, rf 3 0 0 0 DeCarlo, c 3 0 0 0
Jones, lf 2 0 0 0 Knapp, cf 2 1 1 0
TOTALS 29 0 2 0 totals 30 2 8 2
NW Arkansas 000 000 000 -- 0 2 0
Arkansas 001 000 100 -- 2 8 0
LOB -- NW Arkansas 5, Arkansas 8. SAC -- Jones. SF -- Walton. SB -- Knapp, Cowan.
NW Arkansas IP H R ER BB SO
Garabito L, 0-1 6 5 1 1 2 5
Beckwith 2 3 1 1 1 3
ARKANSAs IP H R ER BB SO
Sanchez W, 3-0 7 2 0 0 1 7
Mills 1 0 0 0 0 2
Cavanerio S, 1 1 0 0 0 0 1
HBP -- by Sanchez (Rivera). PB -- DeCarlo. Umpires -- Home: Matamoros; First: Hernandez; Third: Yates. Time -- 2:15. Attendance -- 2,385.
Today's game
ARKANSAS TRAVELERSVS. NW ARKANSAS NATURALS
WHEN 11 a.m.
WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas
WEBSITE travs.com
PITCHERS Travs: RHP Zac Grotz (0-0, 0.00 ERA); Naturals: RHP Ofreidy Gomez (0-0, 7.00)
PROMOTIONS School Day Game. General admission tickets $3. Reserve seats $5. Thunderstix giveaway. First 2,000 kids will receive Thunderstix.
SHORT HOPS Travelers right-hander Darren McCaughan won the initial Texas League Pitcher of the Week award for the season. McCaughan pitched 12 scoreless innings over 2 starts with 7 hits allowed, 0 walks and 14 strikeouts.
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY NW Arkansas, 11 a.m.
THURSDAY at Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.
FRIDAY at Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.
SATURDAY at Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.
SUNDAY off
MONDAY Frisco, 7:10 p.m.
TUESDAY Frisco, 7:10 p.m.
Texas League standings
North Division
W L Pct. GB
Arkansas (SEA) 10 2 .833 --
Tulsa (LAD) 6 6 .500 4
Springfield (STL) 5 8 .385 5½
NW Arkansas (KC) 4 9 .308 6½
South Division
W L Pct. GB
Frisco (TEX) 8 3 .727 --
Midland (OAK) 6 6 .500 2½
Corpus Christi (HOU) 5 7 .417 3½
Amarillo (SD) 5 8 .385 4
Monday's Games
Arkansas 2, NW Arkansas 0
Corpus Christi 6, Frisco 4
Midland 9, Amarillo 0
Springfield 6, Tulsa 5
Tuesday's Games
Arkansas 2, NW Arkansas 0
Midland 6, Amarillo 2
Tulsa 11, Springfield 0
Frisco at Corpus Christi, (n)
Today's Games All times Central
NW Arkansas at Arkansas, 11 a.m.
Tulsa at Springfield, 11:10 a.m.
Frisco at Corpus Christi, 6:15 p.m.
Amarillo at Midland, 6:30 p.m.
Thursday's games
Arkansas at Tulsa, 7:05 p.m.
Springfield at NW Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.
Corpus Christi at Amarillo, 7:05 p.m.
Midland at Frisco, 7:05 p.m.
Sports on 04/17/2019