Northwest Arkansas Naturals Defeat Arkansas Travelers 6-5 in 13 Innings - AA, Texas League

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com – Springdale, AR - Juan Richardson's RBI single completed the second comeback of the game and sent the Northwest Arkansas Naturals to a 6-5 victory over the Arkansas Travelers in 13 innings.  The Travs held a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning and a 5-4 lead in the 13th, but the Naturals came back each time to nail the Travs with their fifth consecutive loss.  Richardson finished with four RBI and belted a three-run homer (2) to help the Naturals to their third win in a row.  Travs C Ben Johnson was one of four Travs with two base hits, but he also homered (3) and added four RBI.

Johnson put the Travs up in the third inning by knocking in Mike Collins with an RBI double to center.  He whacked a three-run homer in the sixth inning off NWA starter RHP Rowdy Hardy to put Arkansas ahead 4-0.

Travs starter RHP Brok Butcher cruised through the first five innings allowing just one hit with two walks.  Naturals CF Jose Duarte began the sixth inning with a high bouncer over 3B Adam Morrissey for a single, then Butcher walked Angel Sanchez.  Butcher got ahead of Richardson 0-2, but hung a slider and Richardson smacked a fly ball over the right field fence bringing the Naturals within a 4-3 score.

Arkansas RHP Francisco Rodriguez entered the game in the seventh and danced through two innings without a run.  RHP Kevin Jepsen, who was 3-for-3 in save opportunities, came on for the ninth.

Jepsen struck out Brian McFall to begin the ninth, but then issued two walks putting Ovandy Suero at second and Adam Donachie at first.  Duarte poked a single through the right side of the infield to score Suero with the tying run.  The Naturals loaded the bases on Jepsen's third walk of the inning, but their rally stopped as Richardson grounded into the fielder's choice with a force out at home followed by a ground out by Kila Kaaihue.

With Naturals RHP Devon Lowery in the middle of three shutout relief innings, the Travs had RHP David Austen come in for the tenth.  Mario Lisson opened the tenth with a single to right, then Ed Lucas put down a sacrifice bunt towards the mound.  Austen threw slightly offline to second base and the ball glanced off SS Hainley Statia's glove allowing Lisson to advance to third base.  But Austen responded by striking out McFall, then Suero hit a liner that CF Cody Fuller caught and fired to the plate to nail Lisson for the third out.

Austen stranded two more runners in the 11th inning and tossed a 1-2-3 12th inning.  Naturals RHP Roman Colon (2-0) pitched a perfect 11th inning and left two men on base in the 12th.  Collins came close to giving the Travs a lead, but his drive in the 12th fell shy of the wall and was caught by Suero.

The Travs got a leadoff single from Morrissey in the 13th inning and he was forced out at second base on Jordan Czarniecki's fielder's choice.  Fuller followed with a lined single to left moving Czarniecki to third base and Fuller took second on the throw.  Ryan Leahy then gave the Travs a 5-4 lead with a sacrifice fly to center.  After Czarniecki scored the go-ahead run, Fuller was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

RHP Jeff Kennard (0-1) was called upon for the save chance in the bottom of the 13th and he fell into immediate trouble as Suero reached first base with a drag bunt single.  Then Suero stole his way to third base on the next two pitches before Kennard walked Donachie to put the winning run on base.  Jose Duarte put down a bunt and Kennard fielded it expecting Suero to attempt to score, but he stayed at third base and Kennard's throw to first was late.  With the bases loaded and no outs, Statia dived to stop Sanchez's sharp grounder to short and attempted to tag Donachie.  As Suero scored the tying run, Third-base umpire Brian Sinclair ruled that Statia missed Donachie to keep the bases loaded.  Richardson then hit his game-winning single over the head of LF Coby Smith.

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