Naturals Clip Cardinals
Last updated Monday, April 21, 2008 10:56 PM CDT in Sports
By Paul Nielsen
THE MORNING NEWS
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SPRINGDALE -- Some nights it's better to be lucky than good.
And the Northwest Arkansas Naturals caught a break when they needed one most.
Pinch runner Ovandy Suero scored on an eight-foot RBI ground out in the bottom of the eighth and reliever Devon Lowery completed a solid Naturals pitching effort by getting Springfield leadoff batter Brendan Ryan to fly to center field with the tying run at second as the Naturals beat the Cardinals a 1-0 on Monday night in Arvest Park.
The Naturals (5-12) broke a six-game losing streak and finished with just three hits as Springfield pitcher Jaime Garcia struckout 10. But it was an error by Garcia that opened the door for Northwest Arkansas.
Adam Donachie, the No. 9 batter, hit a sharp grounder back to Garcia to start the eighth but Garcia misplayed it and then threw the ball away, allowing Donachie to reach second base.
The speedy Suero then entered to run for Donachie and went to third on a wild pitch. Suero then scored when leadoff hitter Jose Duarte hit a grounder down the third base line. Springfield's Bryan Anderson sprinted to the short grounder but Suero passed the Cardinals catcher to score the winning run.
"Tonight, somebody was on our side," Naturals manager Brian Poldberg said. "We got three hits and we scored on an eight-foot RBI ball down the third base line. Tonight, it was our night and we got lucky."
Lowery entered in the ninth and struck out Shane Robinson and Mark Shorey but No. 9 hitter Tyler Greene surprised the Naturals with a bunt single before stealing second.
Ryan, a St., Louis infielder on a rehab assignment, fell behind 1-2 and battled Lowery by fouling off pitch after pitch. But Lowery finally coaxed Ryan to fly out to Duarte to end the game.
"That was a Major League hitter and he fouled off a lot of good pitches," Lowery said. "He battled, battled and battled. I didn't give in and he didn't give in so it was a good match up. (Duarte) can flat go get it."
Poldberg agreed.
"This guy (Ryan) is a quality hitter," Poldberg said. "The ball he hit, he hit it good. Duarte ran about three down out there."
Springfield (5-12) finished with seven hits but the Cardinals left 10 runners stranded, including eight in scoring position. They also left the bases loaded in the second and seventh innings.
Springfield manager Pop Warner was disappointed that the Cardinals couldn't push runners across the plate.
"The (Northwest Arkansas) guys made pitches when they had to," Warner said.
NATURALS NOTES
Springfield Cardinals at Northwest Arkansas Naturals
WHEN: 7 p.m. Today WHERE: Arvest Ballpark
ON THE HILL: NWA-Rowdy Hardy 0-2, 7.07 ERA 7Ks ; Springfield-Clayton Mortenson 0-2, 7.43 ERA 14Ks
LAST MEETING: Northwest Arkansas won 1-0 Monday
TV: None
ON THE AIR: KURM-AM 790
Roster Moves
It is expected that a Naturals pitcher will be promoted today to Triple-A Omaha to take Luke Hochevar's spot on the Royals' roster. Hochevar was promoted to Kansas City Sunday.
Starter Carlos Rosa and reliever Dusty Hughes are the most likely candidates to be shipped to Omaha. Rosa (1-2) and Hughes (1-2) both pitched at the Double-A level last year at Wichita.
The Naturals will most likely get a pitcher from Class A-Advanced Wilmington. Tyler Chambliss was a candidate to play for the Naturals during spring training and could get the call to report to Springdale. Chambliss was 5-3 in 2007 while in Wilmington and is 0-0 with a 1.69 ERA for the Blue Rocks.
Roving Instructors
Royals roving instructors John Wathan and Tony Tijerina are in town helping the Naturals coaching staff this week. Wathan, who coached the Kansas City Royals from 1987-1991 (287-270) is a base running instructor. Tijerina also is the manager for the Rookie League Burlington Royals and was the manager at Wichita last season. The Burlington Royals' don't start the season until June.
Reader Comments (2 comment(s))
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baum hog wrote on Apr 22, 2008 8:14 PM:
First, that is one bad baseball team. But the good news is that minor league rosters are constantly changing, so hopefully some better players will be promoted to Springdale by the time summer rolls around.
Second, I'm not all that impressed by the stadium. Not that it is bad, but I was hoping for better. I've been to other Double-A parks. This one is easily better than San Antonio but not nearly as good as Montgomery which opened a few years ago. "
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pam wrote on Apr 22, 2008 5:10 PM: