One night after six home runs flew out of Dickey-Stephens Park, the Arkansas Travelers and Northwest Arkansas Naturals -- and right-handers Jonathan Bowlan and Darren McCaughan -- engaged in a pitcher's duel Wednesday.
Bowlan and the Naturals won out.
The 6-6 hurler struck out 10 batters and issued a single walk over five scoreless innings, shutting down the listless the Travelers (0-2) and guiding the Naturals to a second victory of season in a 3-0 win.
"Bowlan was nails all night," Travelers Manager Collin Cowgill said. "He kept us off balance."
Bowlan (1-0) mowed through a Travs lineup that struck out 17 times and stranded 14 in front of 2,348 fans in North Little Rock. The Naturals clubbed eight hits and got all the runs they needed in a two-run third inning. Travis Jones' eighth-inning bases-loaded walk added an insurance run while three Naturals relievers closed it down over four scoreless innings in relief.
McCaughan (0-1) allowed two runs over 52/3 innings and took the loss, and right-hander Tyler Haberer was charged with an earned run in the eighth inning. Joe Rizzo led with two hits and was the only Traveler to avoid a strike out. David Masters reached base twice in his debut with the club.
Bobby Witt Jr. notched his first hit at the Class AA level with a bloop single to left field in the first inning and reached third base before Dairon Blanco flied out to end the inning. Witt -- a former second overall draft pick -- went 1 for 5, walked and stole three of bases.
Rizzo hit a two-out double in the bottom half of the first but got no further when Brian O'Keefe followed with a strike out.
O'Keefe was Bowlan's third strike out victim of the first inning as he set the tone in his Class AA debut. He put runners on the corners in the second inning and worked out of the jam with a three-pitch strikeout of Connor Lien. Bowlan stranded base runners in the third and fourth innings, and struck out the side in the fifth to close out his night.
"He's got a real arm," Cowgill said. "He threw strikes. Got ahead. Overpowering fastball. Great slider. All those things. He was impressive."
Angelo Castellano and Rudy Martin went a combined 4 for 8 at the plate from the eighth and ninth spots in the Naturals lineup, and the duo opened the scoring in the third inning.
Castellano led off with a single and reached third on Martin's liner to right field. He came home on Clay Dungan's ground that crept under Rizzo glove and into right field. Martin went from second to third on a fielders choice and scored on Nick Pratto's sacrifice fly, and the Naturals led 2-0.
McCaughan recovered with a 1-2-3 fourth inning and retired the next nine batters he faced after the second run. The 2019 Texas League Pitcher of the Year allowed a two-out single to Blanco in the sixth and exited after throwing 80 pitches. McCaughan struck out six batters, allowed six hits and no walks in his first start of the season.
"He's a competitor," Cowgill said. "He's had great stuff tonight. The hits they got off him were relatively weak contact. If I could I'd take a whole team of D-Macs."
The Travelers threatened in the sixth, loading the bases with a pair of walks after Jake Scheiner's two-out single. The rally died when Dom Thompson-Williams chased ball four on a 3-2 count to end. He stranded six runners alone.
The hosts again put a runners in scoring position in the seventh before O'Keefe's second strike out. The Travs catcher went 0 for 4 and left four runners on base.
"I think if I could pinpoint an issue it was that we had an inconsistent intent at the plate," Cowgill said. "We let some pitches go by early in the count that we could have taken advantage of and fell behind."
The Naturals walked their way to a third run in the eighth inning. Travelers reliever Jake Haberer gave free passes Pratto, MJ Melendez and Brewer Hicklen, and then exited and watched fellow right-hander Michael Stryffler issue a walk to Travis Jones that brought in Pratto.
Game 3 of the six-game series begins at 7:10 tonight.
Today’s game
ARKANSAS TRAVELERS VS. NW ARKANSAS NATURALS
WHEN 7:10 p.m.
WHERE Dickey-Stephens Park, North Little Rock
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in central Arkansas
WEBSITES travs.com, nwanaturals.com
PITCHERS Travs: LHP Ian McKinney (first start of 2021); Naturals: LHP Marcelo Martinez (first start of 2021)
TICKETS $12 box (available in pods of 1, 2, 4, 6); $8 reserved (available in pods of 1, 2, 3, 4, 6); $6 general admission. Available only online at travs.com; no in-person sales.
PROMOTIONS Magnet schedules
THE WEEK AHEAD
TODAY vs. NW Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.
FRIDAY vs. NW Arkansas, 7:10 p.m.
SATURDAY vs. NW Arkansas, 6:10 p.m.
SUNDAY vs. NW Arkansas, 2:10 p.m.
MONDAY Off
TUESDAY vs. Springfield, 11 a.m.
WEDNESDAY vs. Springfield, 7:10 p.m.