Northwest Arkansas Naturals and Springfield Cardinals Play Two-Night Double Header

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Springdale, AR- The Northwest Arkansas Naturals and Springfield  Cardinals played a two-night double header on Thursday night at  Arvest Ballpark. The Naturals ended up splitting the two-games,  winning game one 4-2 and losing game two 4-3 in front of a crowd of  5,120. The two teams also split the series two games a piece.
 
 
 
 In game one, the Cardinals got on board first when Brandon Yarbrough  singled in Shane Robinson to give them a 1-0 lead in the second.  The Naturals tied things up in the third when Juan Richardson hit a  sacrifice fly that scored Adam Donachie.
 
 
 

ADVERTISEMENT  The Naturals broke the game open in the fourth when Brian McFall hit  his second home run of the year. Donachie also had an RBI single  and Jose Duarte had an RBI sacrifice fly to stake the Naturals a 4-1  lead.
 
 
 
 Dusty Hughes, who was making the start for the injured Daniel  Cortes, had an impressive start going four innings, allowing one run  on three hits, striking out two and walked one. Roman Colon (1-0)  picked up his first victory on the season, tossing two innings  giving up only one run on two hits. Devon Lowery picked up his  second save of the season, pitching a scoreless seventh.
 
 
 
 Cardinals’ pitcher Adam Ottavino (0-3) pitched a complete game but  gave up four runs on five hits and walked four while striking out  just two batters.
 
 
 
 In game two, Springfield’s bats were on from the start. Jonathan  Jay hit a fourth-inning homer, and Mark Shorey and Yarbrough both  chipped in with RBI singles to give the Cardinals (7-13) a 3-0  lead. They added a run in the fifth, when Jose Martinez hit a  sacrifice fly scoring Allen Craig.
 
 
 
 The Naturals (6-14) attempted a sixth inning comeback. Geraldo  Valentin and Brian McFall both had RBI singles. Mario Lisson scored  on a throwing error by Cards third baseman Allen Craig to bring the  Naturals within one. With Marc Maddox batting, with runners on  first and third, McFall who was on first was caught in a rundown and  Ed Lucas, headed for home and was called out at home. But that was  as close as the Naturals would get, as Maddox struck out to end the  threat.
 
 
 
 Cardinals pitcher P.J. Walters (1-2) picked up his first victory of  the season, yielding three runs (two earned) over 5 1/3 innings of  work. Luke Gregerson picked up his second save of the season.
 
 
 
 Blake Johnson (1-2) picked up the loss for the Naturals, giving up  four runs on seven hits while striking out three and walking two  batters.

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