NATURALS EXPLODE FOR 11 RUNS IN BOUNCEBACK WIN OVER FRISCO

FRISCO, TX – A night after being blown out 12-2, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals responded Friday night in North Texas, exploding for 11 runs across the first three innings for an 11-2 win over the Frisco RoughRiders, to even the series back up at two games each.

Michael Massey started the scoring for Northwest Arkansas in the first inning, with his first home run of the year, a two-run shot to right field for a 2-0 lead.

After a walk to Robbie Glendinning, a Logan Porter single and Maikel Garcia walk, Nick Loftin stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the second inning, for his second plate appearance against former college teammate, Frisco starting pitcher Cody Bradford. On the first pitch he saw, Loftin drilled a grand slam to center field to put the Naturals up 6-0, the team’s first grand slam of the season and the Naturals’ eighth home run this week.

In the third inning, the Naturals bats did not stop, tagging Frisco for five more runs to jump out to an 11-0 lead. Glendinning doubled home Sebastian Rivero, then scored on a Jake Means double. After Garcia walked, Loftin singled home Porter, and Massey doubled in Means and Garcia.

Massey finished the day 2-for-4 with four runs batted in, while Loftin went 2-for-4 with five runs batted in, as well as a walk. Garcia, Loftin, Glendinning and Porter each scored two runs as well in the winning effort, while Garcia and Porter both drew a pair of walks.

11 runs was more than enough run support for Naturals starting pitcher Angel Zerpa, who continued his scoreless streak with 5.0 innings without allowing a run. In his third start, Zerpa allowed four hits and just one walk while striking out five, to improve his record to 1-1. Dating back to April 9, the Venezuelan has now pitched 9.1 straight innings without allowing a run.

Holden Capps followed Zerpa, allowing two runs with two strikeouts across 2.0 innings and Andres Sotillet fired two scoreless innings with two more strikeouts, to finish off the game.

11 runs tied a season-high for the Naturals as a team, while the nine-run win is their largest winning margin this season.

The Naturals look to jump ahead in the series on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. CT in Frisco, as left-hander Asa Lacy makes his third start of the season, opposed by Frisco’s Jack Leiter, the top prospect in the Rangers’ system. In addition to a free audio broadcast with Nicholas Badders on the Naturals Baseball Network, the game is available to stream on MiLB.tv and the first ever minor league game available on MLB.TV.