Arkansas drops fourth straight on Wednesday

North Little Rock, AR - The Arkansas Travelers dropped their fourth straight game on Wednesday falling 6-5 to the Springfield Cardinals at Dickey-Stephens Park.

Trailing 3-0 in the third, Arkansas scored three straight runs to tie the game. The Travs found themselves in a three-run hole again down 6-3 in the seventh, but fell a run shy of a second full comeback.

The Cardinals hit two home runs in the game, both solo shots onto the berm in left. 1B Jonathan Rodriguez launched his sixth home run of the season in the fifth inning off starter RHP Albert Suarez (L, 6-4) and SS Aledmys Diaz blasted his first longball since April 10 off RHP Alan Busenitz in the sixth.

Suarez surrendered four earned runs in a start for the first time since April 21. Suarez also walked a season-high four Cardinals over five innings.

Busenitz allowed two runs on four hits over 1.1 innings. The home run surrendered by Busenitz was the first by a Travs reliever in 58 innings.

RHP Austin Adams and LHP Greg Mahle combined to strike out seven over 2.2 scoreless innings after Busenitz.

A night after reaching base four times, 2B Sherman Johnson went 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs, a double and an RBI. Johnson leads the Texas League with 41 runs and is second in the league with 17 doubles and 42 walks.

DH Raywilly Gomez finished 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI and is hitting .333 with a .439 on-base percentage.

3B Drew Maggi also had two hits with a run scored and an RBI.

With the loss, Arkansas fell to 30-27 on the season. The Travs and Cardinals will play game three of the four-game series on Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. RHP Chris Ellis will make is Double-A debut for Arkansas and will be opposed by LHP Jimmy Reed. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.