Eighth Inning Rally Undoes Travs

North Little Rock, Arkansas - The San Antonio Missions used a four-run rally in the eighth inning to stun the Arkansas Travelers in a 7-5 defeat at Dickey-Stephens Park on Thursday. Austin Hedges delivered a two-run double to tie the game and scored the winning run on a wild pitch.

 

The Missions took two-of-three from the Travs in the series and won nine of eleven meetings during the 2013 season.

 

The loss knocked the Travs out of a tie for first place and at 27-26 in the second half they sit one game behind the Springfield Cardinals for the North Division lead.

 

Travs third baseman Kaleb Cowart hit the club's first inside-the-park home run (6) and was 2-for-4 in the loss, while Ryan Jones also homered (3) and singled. 

 

Travs starter Lay Batista trailed early after allowing a two-run single to Rico Noel in the second inning. He fell into trouble after hitting leadoff batter Jake Blackwood with an 0-2 pitch. Orr hit a double to send Blackwood to third base. Batista retired the next two batters without allowing a run, but Noel poked a single through the right side for a 2-0 Missions lead.

 

Cowart opened the fourth inning with a single off Geer and advanced to second on a groundout by Travis Witherspoon. Geer struck out Jimmy Swift on a pitch in the dirt that Hedges dugout quickly. Cowart attempted to take third base as soon as the pitch bounced and Hedges threw high to third base allowing Cowart to reach on a wild pitch. Swift also took first base on the wild pitch then broke up a double play when Jones grounded to second allowing Cowart to score to cut the deficit to 2-1.

 

Cowart's trip around the bases was the highlights of the fifth inning that saw the Travs grab their only lead of the night. Trailing 2-1 against veteran right hander Josh Geer, the Travs got help from Missions shortstop Jeudy Valdez with a throwing error allowing Taylor Lindsey to reach base with two outs. C.J. Cron followed with a high drive that was overrun in left field by Lee Orr allowing the ball to fall at the edge of the warning track for a game-tying double. Cowart then drove a pitch to the centerfield fence just out of reach of a diving Rico Noel. Cowart rounded third base as the cutoff throw home came to Hedges, who bobbled the ball allowing Cowart to dive in safely for a 4-2 Travs lead.

 

San Antonio right fielder Yeison Asencio tripled to begin the sixth inning, while Batista walked the next batter Jake Blackwood on four pitches. He left the game after a strikeout of Orr in favor of Michael Cisco. He got the double play grounder he wanted when Hedges bounced to Cowart at third base, but Taylor Lindsey's throw bounced through into the first-base dugout allowing Asencio to score.

 

Jones's home run off Ryan Kelly in the sixth inning rebuilt the two-run lead for the Travs. 

 

Nick Maronde pitched the seventh inning in his first outing since being optioned back to Arkansas from Los Angeles and allowed just a single.

 

David Carpenter found immediate trouble in the eighth however when the first three batters all singled to load the bases. Asencio hit a sharp single to center followed by a high chop single by Blackwood and another line drive by Orr to jam the bases. Hedges tied the game with a double past third base and advanced to third when Orr was rundown between third and home on Valdez's fielder's choice. The rundown took long enough to allow Valdez to advance to second base. Michael Morin relieved and brought in the go-ahead run with a wild pitch before surrendering a sacrifice fly to Cory Spangenberg to bring in the last run.

 

Leonel Campos and Jeremy McBryde (S, 14) each allowed one base runner in one inning each, but nothing else. Campos pitched around a leadoff walk in the eighth inning striking out three batters. Danny Perales hit a one-out single off McBryde in the ninth inning but didn't advance past first base.

 

Carpenter took the loss dropping to 0-2.

 

The Travs now get set to battle the Corpus Christi Hooks in a three-game series beginning Friday night. Brandon Hynick (10-4, 2.63) will face Hooks lefty David Rollins (0-0, 1.46) at 7:10. Coverage of the game begins at 6:45 with the Travs Dugout Show on Sports Animal 920 along with the IHeartRadio or Tune In Radio mobile applications.