NATURALS DEFEAT MISSIONS BEHIND DZIEDZIC
SPRINGDALE, Ark. - Northwest Arkansas (31-17) defeated the San Antonio Missions (20-29) on Sunday afternoon by the score of 3-1. LHP Jonathan Dziedzic (2-3 3.38 ERA) gave the Naturals a stellar start and received the win for Northwest Arkansas. The Naturals' starter worked seven innings, while throwing six consecutive shutout innings before giving up a lone run in the seventh. He held the Missions to only five hits, while walking none and striking out five on the day.
RHP Ali Williams worked a perfect eighth to receive his second hold of the year while RHP Aroni Nina worked a scoreless ninth to earn the save, his first of the season, in the series finale victory. RHP Ryan Butler (0-3 4.76 ERA) received the loss for San Antonio.
The Naturals jumped on the board first in the bottom half of the third inning behind some clutch, two out offense. Terrance Gore got things started off with two out single to left, and then stole second base with Angel Franco at the plate. The steal was Gore's 20th of the year, which is tops in that category in the Texas League. Franco worked the two out walk to set up Raul Mondesi, the Royals top prospect according to Baseball America, whom promptly doubled down the right field line to score Gore and Franco to give the Naturals an early 2-0 lead.
The Naturals added another run in the bottom half of the fifth inning to extend their lead to 3-0. Alex Liddi led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on an infield single by Gore before coming around to score on a double play ball.
San Antonio would cut the Naturals lead to 3-1 in the top half of the seventh inning when Duanel Jones doubled to score Yeison Asencio. However, that would be as close as the Missions would get as Williams and Nina shut the door on the 3-1 series finale win.
The first place Naturals will spend the off day tomorrow traveling down to Corpus Christi, Texas to begin a 3-game series with the South Division leading Hooks on Tuesday, June 2 before finishing the road trip with a 3-game series with the San Antonio Missions from June 5 through June 7. Northwest Arkansas will return to Arvest Ballpark on June 9 to play a doubleheader against the Tulsa Drillers.
You can catch all the live play-by-play action on Tuesday night with the Voice of the Naturals Benjamin Kelly on your home for Naturals baseball on KQSM 92.1 The Ticket at 6:50 p.m. for the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading up to the game.
Follow the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Twitter @nwanaturals all throughout the year by using the hashtag #NaturalPastime for all of our up-to-date information on tickets, groups, promotions, roster, and team information.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League Affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Naturals play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark. For more information including statistics, ticket options, and more, please visit NWANaturals.com, and follow us on Twitter @NWANaturals and Facebook.com/Naturals.
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