GARABITO SHINES AS NATURALS SKID CONTINUES IN 2-0 LOSS TO TRAVELERS

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Right-hander, Gerson Garabito tossed his first quality start of 2019 allowing one run over six strong frames; but the Arkansas Travelers stymied the Naturals' bats for the straight night, sending Northwest Arkansas to a 2-0 loss at Dickey-Stephens Park on Tuesday evening.
Garabito (0-1, 4.15 ERA) traded scoreless frames with the Travelers' starter, Ricardo Sánchez (3-0, 0.98 ERA) for the two frames before a lead-off walk led to Arkansas' first run of the game in the third.

The Naturals' defensive dazzled in the defeat, assisting Garabito through a traffic-filled fourth inning. DJ Burt, positioned in shallow right, leapt straight up to snag a line-drive off the bat of Nick Zammarelli to lead-off the inning and with two-outs and a runner on second, Khalil Lee in centerfield made sure the deficit stayed 1-0. Lee fielded a groundball in medium centerfield and cut-down Jordan Cowen trying to score from second on a single to keep the trailing margin at 1-0.
With the Naturals' bat continued to be turned down by Sanchez, Garabito and the defensive still fought. The Naturals' starter retired the final six batters of his night with the last being the best. Zammarelli struck a rising line-drive to deep right-center and Lee dashed over to his left, made a head-long dive into the ally and took away extra-bases from the Travelers infield, preserving the 1-0 deficit.
The defense played a clean game, committing no errors for the first time since Opening Day on April 4.
Garabito finished six innings, scattered five hits - all singles - allowed the lone tally and struck out a season-high five batters.
Arkansas scored its second run in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-0 game.
Northwest Arkansas (4-9) had two hits in the contest by Burt and Taylor Featherston , both infield singles. Burt extended his hitting streak to six games with his infield knock in the fourth inning.
What's up next…
The Naturals conclude the seven-game road trip with the finale of the three-game set against the Arkansas Travelers (Seattle Mariners) at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock, Ark. on Wednesday, April 17 with an 11:00 a.m. game. The Travelers are off to the club's best start since 2005 with a 10-2 record.
Right-hander, Ofreidy Gomez (0-0, 7.00 ERA) takes the mound tomorrow for the Naturals in his third start of the season and first start against Arkansas. Right-hander, Zac Grotz (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will counter for the Travelers.
Join, Benjamin Kelly, on 92.1-FM, the Ticket and across the Naturals' Radio Network for a 10:40 a.m. Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading up to the morning ballgame.