Early Offense Carries Travs to Win Over Tulsa

North Little Rock, AR-Six early runs built an early cushion for the Arkansas Travelers (31-29) and they cruised to an 8-6 win over the Tulsa Drillers (27-33) on Friday night in front of a sold out crowd of 8,579 at Dickey-Stephens Park. The win combined with Springfield's loss at NW Arkansas puts the Travs alone in first place with 10 games to go.   They lead the Cardinals by one game and the Naturals by two. Nathan Bannister was nearly untouchable for the first four innings before Tulsa cut the lead in half over the next two frames. Bannister struck out a season-best seven in delivering a quality start. Arkansas did all of their damage against Tulsa starter and former Trav (2017) Justin DeFratus. They tagged him for eight runs on 10 hits over 5.1 innings.
Moments That Mattered
* Chuck Taylor sliced a three-run double into the left-centerfield gap to push the lead to 4-0 in the second inning.
* Joey Curletta lined a 2-run homer to right field in the fourth inning.
* Tulsa had two on with one out in the sixth but Bannister was able to limit the damage to one run on a sacrifice fly and keep the lead at three.
Notable Travs Performances
* LF Chuck Taylor: 1-4, run, BB, 2B, 3 RBI
* 1B Joey Curletta: 3-4, run, HR, 4 RBI
* SS Yonathan Mendoza: 2-4, 2 runs, 2B
* Nathan Bannister: Win, 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 7 K
* David McKay: IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 K
Up Next
The Travelers continue their homestand as they welcome in the Northwest Arkansas Naturals to open a four game series on Saturday night. RH Johendí Jiminian (2-3, 3.79) starts for the Travs against LH Emilio Ogando (3-3, 6.09). First pitch is set for 6:10 and the game will also be broadcast on the Sports Animal 920, the First Pitch App, TuneIn radio and milb.tv.