GLENDINNING'S HOMER PUSHES NATURALS AHEAD IN SEVENTH FOR 6-3 WIN OVER DRILLERS
SPRINGDALE, AR – After the Northwest Arkansas Naturals fell behind the Tulsa Drillers early in the first inning, the pitching staff buckled down to keep the game close the rest of the way, as the Naturals chipped away and took the lead for good in the seventh, getting back in
SPRINGDALE, AR – After the Northwest Arkansas Naturals fell behind the Tulsa Drillers early in the first inning, the pitching staff buckled down to keep the game close the rest of the way, as the Naturals chipped away and took the lead for good in the seventh, getting back in the win column with a 6-3 victory Saturday night.
Northwest Arkansas starting pitcher Anthony Veneziano fell behind 3-0 with just one out in the first, but after allowing a two-run homer kept the Drillers off the board the rest of the night for the next 5.2 innings he pitched, retiring 17 of his last 21 batters, with eight strikeouts in the game over his 6.0-inning start.
The Naturals scored twice in the second inning, as Logan Porter singled in a run and Northwest Arkansas took advantage of four wild pitches. Porter promptly tied the game in the third with a two-out RBI double and it reminded 3-3 until the seventh inning.
First baseman Robbie Glendinning continued his hot month of July and led off the seventh with a solo home run to the opposite field, his team-leading 14th of the season. After John Rave singled, Sebastian Rivero came to the plate with two outs and doubled him home for an insurance run.
Tucker Bradley was hit by a pitch to begin the eighth inning, promptly stole second and third, then scored on a sacrifice fly from Tyler Gentry to move the score to 6-3, that held to be final.
Bradley also stole a base in the second inning, the team's first three-steal game of the season, and the first of Bradley's career.
While the Naturals couldn't give Veneziano a lead, right-hander Zach Haake took over on the mound in the seventh in the tie ballgame, returning to action after missing nearly three months on the Injured List. Haake pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings, to earn his first win of the year, with Rave making a highlight-reel diving catch for the second out of the eighth inning.
Andres Sotillet came on in the ninth and pitched a scoreless frame, recording his team-leading third save of the season.
Northwest Arkansas will try and collect its second series win over Tulsa Sunday at 2:05 p.m. CT as right-hander Alec Marsh returns to the mound for his second start of the week.