Shutout Puts Travs on Brink of 1st Half Title

Tulsa, OK-Four pitchers combined on a five hit shutout as the Arkansas Travelers put themselves on the brink of a first half North Division championship with a 6-0 win on Saturday night. The win gives the Travs a 7.5 game lead in the division with eight to play and drops their magic number for a first half title to just one. Ricardo Sánchez earned the win pitching the first five innings and striking out a season high nine while allowing just three hits. Sam Delaplane made his Double-A debut and bounced back from a leadoff walk to strike out five of the next six batters he faced. Art Warren returned from the injured list to fire a scoreless inning with two strikeouts and Robinson Leyer tossed a scorleless ninth around two hits and a hit batter. All told, Travs pitching struck out 16 Drillers.
Moments That Mattered
* Logan Taylor's sac fly in the fourth inning got the Travs on the board.
* Arkansas batted around in the fifth, scoring four times and knocking Tulsa starter J.D. Martin out in the process. Donnie Walton hit a sac fly, Evan White lined a two-run homer and Kyle Lewis scored on a wild pitch with two out.
Notable Travs Performances
* DH Evan White: 2-5, 2 runs, HR, 2 RBI
* 3B Logan Taylor: 1-2, run, BB, SF, HR, 2 RBI
* LHP Ricardo Sanchez: Win, 5 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 9 K
* RHP Sam Delaplane: 2 IP, BB, 5 K
News and Notes
* Logan Taylor extended his hitting streak to 14 with a line drive homer into the RF corner in the 8^th inning.
* Evan White's two hits give him an 11 game hit streak.
* The shutout is the Travs' league leading sixth of the season, but first on the road.
* The 16 strikeouts match a season-high, the third time they have done it.
Up Next
Arkansas goes for a sweep of the series and a first half North Division title on Sunday afternoon at 1:05. Right-hander Andrew Moore (0-0, 3.09) makes the start against righty Edwin Uceta (0-0, 5.40). The game will be broadcast on the Sports Animal 920, the First Pitch App, TuneIn radio and milb.tv.