Pen Holds Hooks At Bay For Late Victory

Box Score

North Little Rock, AR—The Arkansas Travelers bullpen tossed 5.1 shutout frames in a 3-1 victory over the Corpus Christi Hooks on Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. A pair of eighth inning runs broke a tie to reward the bullpen’s strong effort. Starter Shawn Semple went 3.2 innings in his second start with the club before Jorge Benitez (2.1 IP), Travis Kuhn (2 IP) and Devin Sweet kept the Hooks off the board for the rest of the night. The four Travelers pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts. Offensively, the Travs struggled to convert numerous opportunities going just 2 of 10 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine runners on base including eight over the first five innings.

Moments That Mattered

* Corpus Christi’s best scoring chance late came in the sixth inning with one out double by Zach Daniels but then he was picked off and caught stealing for the second out. Immediately afterward, Zach Dezenzo doubled.

* Robert Perez tripled with one out in the eighth inning to put the go-ahead run at third base. With Tanner Kirwer pinch-running, Riley Unroe hit a chopping groundball fielded by the second baseman who had no play at the plate and Arkansas took the lead.

Notable Travs Performances

* LHP Jorge Benitez: 2.1 IP, 2 H, BB, 3 K

* RHP Travis Kuhn: Win, 2 IP, H, 3 K

News and Notes

* Sweet notched the first save by a Travs pitcher since June 2 and only the second since May 17.

* Tulsa lost a Springfield for the third consecutive game moving the Travs into first place in the division with a one game lead. There are only nine games remaining in the first half of the season.

Up Next

The series with the Hooks continues on Friday with Ethan Lindow (0-2, 4.05) pitching for Arkansas against Spencer Arrighetti (6-2, 4.62) for Corpus Christi. It is a fireworks night at the ballpark. The game will also be broadcast on 106.7 Buz2, the Bally Live App, milb.tv and mlb.tv.