SINGER STELLAR AS NATURALS EVEN SERIES

SPRINGDALE, Ark - Right-hander Brady Singer continued his great form with another stellar start for Northwest Arkansas as the Naturals (44-59/13-22) evened up the 4-game series with the Amarillo Sod Poodles (54-50/20-16) with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon. The win for Northwest Arkansas snapped a skid of six straight losses as well as six consecutive home defeats.
The Kansas City Royals made Singer the 18^th overall selection in the 2018 first-year player draft for a reason and he showed it again on Sunday afternoon as he limited the high-powered Amarillo offense to just a run on five hits through 6.1 innings while striking out five. Singer (W, 3-2) now has five quality starts in his last six outings allowing just 10 earned runs over his last 37.1 innings pitched to go along with 37 strikeouts and just eight walks. Today's win was his first in three starts at Arvest Ballpark.
After falling behind 1-0 after the Sod Poodles scored a run on a balk in the third, the Naturals offense started to find its' groove in the home half of the frame. Kevin Merrell worked a one-out walk before Gabriel Cancel connected on a 0-1 pitch for his 17^th home run of the season, a big fly over the wall in left-center field, to put the Naturals up 2-1. With Khalil Lee on second base after a double down the left field line, Taylor Featherston came through with a two-out single to score him for the 3-1 advantage. That was all the runs the Naturals would end up needing as Singer and the bullpen combined to shut down Amarillo.

Singer worked into the sixth before being replaced after his 100^th pitch by Andres Sotillet . After giving up a single that put runners at first and second, Sotillet got Ivan Castillo to ground into a force out before Owen Miller flied out to end the frame.
Sotillet (H, 6) got the first two outs of the eight before giving the baseball to Holden Capps (H, 2) with two outs and runners at first and second. Capps was up to the challenge as he got Peter Van Gansen to ground into a force out to end the threat.
The ninth inning belonged to Tyler Zuber (S, 6), an Arkansas State alum, and he slammed the door on the Poodles. After giving up a one-out single to Taylor Kohlwey , he got a double play ball to end the game to earn his sixth save out of eight chances.
The Naturals pitching was spectacular but so was the defense; notably Lee in center field as he made two key diving catches.
While it didn't result in a lot of runs, the bats finally broke out for Northwest Arkansas a little bit against the reigning Texas League Pitcher of the Week Lake Bachar (L, 7-3) on Sunday afternoon. The Naturals offense collected 12 hits on the day with eight out of their nine batters getting at least one. The middle of the batting order broke out a bit as the 3-4-5-6 hitters in the lineup (Cancel, Rivera, Lee, and Featherston) each had two hits in the game while Cancel and Featherston contributed the RBIs.
Northwest Arkansas will continue their 7-game homestand with Game 3 of this 4-game series against the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Double-A San Diego Padres) tomorrow night - Monday, July 29^th - at Arvest Ballpark. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m. on a Monday Night Lights presented by Ozarks Electric Cooperative featuring Dollar Hot Dogs by Tyson Foods, Inc. and Indigo Sky Casino Baseball Bingo. The Naturals will give Gerson Garabito (5-6, 3.66 ERA) the baseball and he'll square off against left-hander Nick Margevicius (2-2, 3.92 ERA) of the Sod Poodles. Catch all of the live play-by-play action with the Voice of the Naturals Benjamin Kelly on KQSM - 92.1 The Ticket starting at 6:45 p.m. with the Indigo Sky Casino Pregame Show leading up to first pitch.
The Northwest Arkansas Naturals are the Double-A Texas League Affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. The Naturals play at state-of-the-art Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Ark. For more information, including statistics, ticket options, upcoming promotions, and more, please visit NWANaturals.com, and follow us on Twitter @NWANaturals and Facebook.com/Naturals.
-Naturals-