North Little Rock, AR-The opening game of the second half was a pitcher's duel won by Northwest Arkansas over the Travelers, 3-1. It was the eighth consecutive win for the Naturals and the sixth consecutive defeat for the Travelers. Northwest Arkansas' Foster Griffin, a 21 year old lefthander, held the
North Little Rock, AR-The opening game of the second half was a pitcher's duel won by Northwest Arkansas over the Travelers, 3-1. It was the eighth consecutive win for the Naturals and the sixth consecutive defeat for the Travelers.
Northwest Arkansas' Foster Griffin, a 21 year old lefthander, held the Travs in check most of the night allowing only a run on seven hits over 6.2 innings. Griffin struck out six and earned the victory, improving his record to 4-1 in five starts. The bullpen of Pedro Fernandez (1.1 IP) and Andrew Edwards (IP, second save) closed it out.
Griffin had an early lead to work with as the Naturals scored single runs in the first and second innings before adding another tally in the fifth. Tyler Herb surrendered all three of those runs but righted the ship after the shaky beginning and delivered his second longest outing of the season at 7.2 innings. Herb allowed just those three runs despite being touched for 10 hits, a walk and a hit batsmen. He dropped to 5-4 with the loss.
The lone run of the game for the Travs came in the bottom of the fifth when Chuck Taylor drove in Ian Miller on a sacrifice fly. Miller and Tyler Marlette finished with two hits apiece for the Travs while Adam Law was 3-4. Arkansas' offensive troubles came in key situations though as they were 0-6 when batting with a runner in scoring position.
Wednesday night wraps up the series and the Travelers look to avoid a sweep. Right-hander Lindsey Caughel (3-7, 5.91) gets the ball for Arkansas against lefty Jake Kalish (0-0, 4.09). It's $1 hot dogs, college night and Olympic Night at the ballpark with first pitch set for 7:10. The game will also be broadcast on the Sports Animal 920, the First Pitch App, TuneIn radio and milb.tv.
