HE'S A NATURAL: LOPEZ KNOCKS SECOND CYCLE IN FRANCHISE HISTORY IN NATURALS 17-3 TRIUMPH AT TULSA

TULSA, Okla. - All he needed were four at-bats to complete the franchise second cycle in franchise history and Nicky Lopez recorded a "natural" cycle with a single, double, triple and home run in order.
Northwest Arkansas pounded out 17 runs on 16 hits, tabbed a season-high nine extra-base hits - including five home runs - while starter, Jake Kalish dazzled for seven strong innings in the 17-3 rout of the Tulsa Drillers at ONEOK Field on Thursday night.
Lopez singled to begin the ballgame against starter, Logan Bawcom (2-5, 5.35), recorded a double in the third inning, tripled home a run in the fourth and came back to the plate in the sixth inning. With Shea Spitzbarth on the mound, the 23-year old tagged a 3-1 pitch well beyond the rightfield wall for a no-doubt home run to compete the "natural" cycle in his first four at-bats.
He becomes the second player in franchise history to record a cycle as a Natural, joining Bubba Starling , who first accomplished the feat in July, 2015 at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock. He etches his name in ONEOK Field lore as the first player to ever record the cycle at the Tulsa venue.

No content with four this, Lopez singled again in the seventh inning against left-hander, Brian Moran , to become the eight player with five hits and the first since Jorge Bonifacio tallied five knocks against the Springfield Cardinals on August 21, 2014.
Lopez stole the show; but everyone chipped in during the triumph over Tulsa. Leading 2-1 in the fourth inning, Northwest Arkansas (36-36/1-1) scored four times using a wild pitch to plate Kort Peterson , single by Jecksson Flores, Lopez's triple and a double by Erick Mejia .
Three more runs crossed in the fifth inning when Anderson Miller and Nick Dini teamed up to combine for the club's first back-to-back experience of the season. Miller hit a two-run homer and on the next pitch from Bawcom, Dini tagged a solo shot out to left. Bawcom exited following the Dini home run.
Northwest Arkansas use three home runs in the sixth inning to score six times. Lopez led the frame off with his cycle-completing big fly. Peterson - making his Double-A debut tonight - smacked a two-run homer and Dini went yard for the second time in the game with a three-run home run to make it a 15-1 game.
It's the first multi-home run game of the career for Dini who finished 3-for-4 and matched his career-high in RBIs with four, previously set in 2016 with Idaho Falls.
Kalish (2-2, 5.12) worked seven innings of three-run baseball and struck out seven batters for his second straight start. The left-hander allowed just three hits and a single run through his first 5.2 innings of work and posted a streak of eight consecutive batters retired from the first out of the fourth to the second out of the sixth inning.
His seven innings matched a career-best for the second time in his career last done on July 30, 2017 in a game against the Springfield Cardinals.
The nine extra-base hits tonight are a new season-best for the Naturals and the five home runs are the most by the Naturals in a game this season.
Right-hander, Pedro Fernandez worked the final two frames of no-hit baseball with a strikeout in his appearance.
Kelvin Gutierrez finished 1-for-5 with an RBI in his Royals organization debut. Peterson finished 2-for-4 with two runs batted in and a home run. Mejia tallied three hits including two doubles with two runs driven in.
The series continues tomorrow night on Friday, June 22 at ONEOK Field with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Left-hander, Foster Griffin (3-7, 5.71 ERA) takes the mound for his team-leading 15^th start of the season against one of the top pitching prospects in the Dodgers organization, right-hander, Mitchell White (0-3, 5.97 ERA) for the Drillers.
Join the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, for a 1:45 p.m. pregame show leading up to the 2:05 p.m. first pitch on AM-1590, the Ticket-2.
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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