Ventura Dominant in Naturals Win

SPRINGDALE, Ark - Yordano Ventura struck out 10 batters for the second straight start as the Northwest Arkansas Naturals claimed a 6-1 win over the Arkansas Travelers on Tuesday night.

The Naturals led off the first inning with two straight singles from Angel Franco and Whit Merrifield, with Franco scoring on a one-out single by Mitch Canham. The Naturals added a pair of runs in the second inning, with Roman Hernandez reaching on a leadoff double and scoring on an Alex McClure single. McClure scored on a Merrifield sacrifice fly.

Franco scored the Naturals' fourth run of the night, crossing the plate on a two-out single by Rey Navarro in the fourth inning. A two-out, two run double by Hernandez was the Naturals' 12th hit of the game in the seventh inning. The Naturals finished with 13 hits, one shy of the season high accomplished yesterday.

Ventura recorded at least one strikeout in all but one inning. Ventura ran into trouble in the fourth but relied on the strikeout to get him out of it. After striking out Rolando Gomez to start the inning, Ventura issued back-to-back walks to Matt Long and C.J. Cron, with a single by Robbie Widlansky loading the bases. Ventura struck out Randal Grichuk and Kaleb Cowart to end the inning.

Franco went four-for-five with four singles. Franco's performance was the first four-hit game of the season for the Naturals. Hernandez went two-for-four with a double and a single.

Ventura improves to 3-0 with the win. He allowed two hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts in six innings. Cole White allowed one run in the seventh, with Andy Ferguson recording the final six outs.

Manny Correa is charged with his fourth loss in a row for the Travelers. Correa allowed four runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts in six innings.

The Naturals and Travelers will conclude their four-game series tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. Noel Arguelles (1-4, 5.10) is the scheduled starter for the Naturals. Lay Batista (1-3, 4.88) will go for Arkansas.