PITCHERS' DUEL LEANS THE WAY OF TULSA IN 3-1 LOSS

TULSA, Okla. - In a game dominated by strong pitch, the Tulsa Drillers used a three-run fifth inning to claim a 3-1 win over the Naturals on Friday night at ONEOK Field in downtown Tulsa. The game moves the Naturals into second place in the North Division and a game back of first with three games remaining in the first half.
Left-hander, Jake Kalish made his third start of the season and first appearance since being transferred from Triple-A, Omaha and dazzled through his first four innings. The southpaw kept the Drillers bats off balance with a steady diet of off-speed and hard, inside fastballs to work through four one-hit innings.
The third time through the line-up in the fifth proved to be the difference against Kalish (1-2, 5.40). Tulsa used back-to-back doubles by Keibert Ruiz and Jacob Scavuzzo to break the scoreless tie and added two more runs during the inning to take a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the Naturals bats were stymied by left-hander, Devin Smeltzer for seven innings. The 22-year for Tulsa worked seven innings of shutout baseball, scatted four hits and struck out three to maintain the three-run advantage.
Northwest Arkansas (33-34) finally cracked the scoring column against left-hander, Brian Moran in the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly by Elier Hernandez to score Erick Mejia from third base. The Naturals could not parlay any of the previous threats throughout the night into offense and finished 0-for-6 with men in scoring position.
Reliever, Andres Machado pitched well in his first relief outing for the Naturals this season with two and two-third innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts and no walks.
Kalish finished five innings of three-run baseball with seven strikeouts and two walks to end his night.
For the second consecutive night, the Naturals were held to just five hits in the ballgame with Donnie Dewees accounting for two of the five.
The series concludes tomorrow night at 7:05 at ONEOK Field with left-hander, Foster Griffin (3-6, 5.63) slated to make his second start of the road trip and his 14^th of the season. The Texas League All-Star is 5-1 in seven career starts against Tulsa with a 2.66 ERA. Right-hander, Logan Bawcom (1-4, 4.50) will counter for the Drillers.
Join the Voice of the Naturals, Benjamin Kelly, for a 6:45 p.m. pregame show leading up to the 7:05 p.m. first pitch on 92.1-FM, the Ticket.
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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