WITT HOMERS BUT NATURALS CANT’ KEEP UP WITH TULSA OFFENSE, FALL 9-1

Bobby Witt Jr. (MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 prospect in baseball) hit his eighth homer of the season in the first inning, but the Northwest Arkansas Naturals couldn’t cobble together anymore runs, falling to the Tulsa Drillers 9-1 on Wednesday night at Arvest Ballpark.

Witt’s homer traveled 441 feet to center field, 108 miles per hour off the bat and moves him to sole possession of second in the Double-A Central home run rankings, just behind teammate Nick Pratto (MLB Pipeline’s No. 9 Royals’ prospect). It was his fifth home run in his last four games.

Clay Dungan and Pratto both singled in the ninth, but the Naturals were unable to add on any more offense or creep closer to the Drillers.

Stephen Woods Jr. made his longest start of the year, throwing 4.0 innings and striking out two while allowing three earned runs on six hits.

Peyton Gray, pitching on his 26th birthday, had the best outing of his season so far. After Robert Garcia loaded the bases in the 5th, Gray came in and retired all 11 batters he faced, striking out six. After stranding the bases loaded in the fifth inning, he throwing perfect innings in the sixth, seventh and eighth to keep the Naturals in the game.

Tulsa added three in the ninth on a home run off of Derrick Adams, who struck out two, proving to be too much offense for Northwest Arkansas to come back from.

The Naturals look to rebound on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. against Tulsa, with right-hander Alec Marsh (MLB Pipeline’s No. 12 Royals’ prospect) starting on the mound. Gates will open at 6:00 p.m. for a Buck Night and Thirsty Thursday presented by Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers.