BLEWETT, NATURALS TAKE DOWN CARDINALS

SPRINGDALE, Ark - Right-hander Scott Blewett (W, 6-6) struck out a season-high eight batters as the Northwest Arkansas Naturals (16-25, 51-60) took down the Springfield Cardinals (18-24, 51-61) by a 6-3 final at Arvest Ballpark on Friday night. The win guarantees a split for Northwest Arkansas as they'll look to claim another series win with a victory on Saturday or Sunday.
Blewett, made his 20^th start of the year and 21^st outing overall for the Naturals. The 22-year-old continued his dominant ways against Springfield as he improved his season record to 3-1 against the Cardinals while picking up his sixth win of the year. He followed up a 5.0 innings of three-run baseball at Hammons Field on July 29 with 6.0 tonight to go along with eight strikeouts.
While Northwest Arkansas received great pitching, Naturals' third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez had himself a day the plate. The clean-up hitter cleaned up against the Cardinals as he went 3-for-4 with a home run and knocked in four in in the 6-3 win.

After a couple scoreless frames, the Cards took an early 1-0 lead in the third on a Shane Billings solo home run. The Naturals would answer with a run of their own in the home half as Anderson Miller tripled then scored on a sacrifice fly by Nick Dini .
Northwest Arkansas would jump out to a 3-1 lead in the fourth as Gutierrez connected on an opposite field, two-run homer.
Tommy Edman and Andrew Knizner had RBI singles in the sixth as Springfield came back with a pair of runs to tie the game at 3-3 but the tie wouldn't last long though as Gutierrez delivered a two-out, run-scoring single in the sixth to retake the lead.
Northwest Arkansas added insurance runs in the eighth as Samir Dueñez had a RBI double while Gutierrez capped his big night with his fourth and final RBI on his third hit of the night to set the final score at 6-3. The middle of the order did the damage as Duenez had a run and a RBI from the three-spot while Jecksson Flores went 1-for-3 and scored three times out of the two-hole.
Naturals' relievers Franco Terrero (H, 5) and Andres Machado (S, 5) locked down the final 3.0 innings to secure the victory.
Northwest Arkansas will continue their series against the Springfield Cardinals, the Double-A Affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, with Game 3 of this 4-game set tomorrow night - Saturday, August 4 - with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m. Gates will open at Arvest Ballpark at 4:35 p.m. for a Salvy Splash Bobblehead Giveaway presented by Cox Communications and our Bullpen Craft Beer Bar Happy Hour from 4:35 p.m. until 5:35 p.m. The Naturals will send left-hander Foster Griffin (6-12, 5.55 ERA) to the mound to square off against Evan Kruczynski (1-0, 0.00 ERA) of the Cardinals. Catch all the live play-by-play action with the Voice of the Naturals Benjamin Kelly on KQSM - 92.1 The Ticket starting at 6:45 p.m. for the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show.
Follow the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Facebook and Twitter @NWANaturals all throughout the year by using the hashtag #NaturalPastime and #CrowntoCrown for all of our up-to-date information on the 2018 season of Naturals baseball.
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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