Look, all I’m saying is Arvest Ballpark in Springdale is too cool of a venue to be home to the kind of inconsiderate jerks that just bash a bunch of homers and make you feel bad about rooting for a team that doesn’t bash much of anything lately. The polite thing to do would have been to allow a series split and save the drama for later, but noooooo.
Ugh. Anyway. Let’s jump right into the recap after a very unsatisfying series in Springdale.
Series recap:
Tuesday (July 23) featured another step in the slow return of right-hander Logan Evans to a starting role after the Seattle Mariners thought better of converting him into a reliever to potentially provide bullpen help this season. Evans went two innings, striking out none and walking two, while allowing only one run. Luckily for the Travelers, that would be the only run Northwest Arkansas would manage all night. Jimmy Joyce, who has struggled mightily of late, relieved Evans and threw two perfect innings. Logan Gragg and Luis Curvelo followed him with two scoreless innings each, before closer Troy Taylor came on to strike out the side in the ninth. At the plate, the Travs took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third behind an RBI from Ben Williamson and a run-scoring double play from RJ Schreck. They added three more in the top of the ninth to seal the deal. Travelers 6, Naturals 1.
Wednesday was a case of “all that good stuff I said about Tuesday? Forget it. It’s gone.” Considering we have other, more painful losses to cover this week, it’s best not to dwell on this one. Naturals 10, Travelers 1.
On Thursday, your Travelers reprised one of their most popular tunes from the first half of the season: “We Scored Early, Then Watched It All Slip Away.” A first-inning RBI double from Cole Young and a homer from Hogan Windish put the Travs up 3-0 before the Naturals ever came to bat. A single run in the third made it 3-1 Travs. Two more Naturals scores in the sixth tied the game. Three more runs in the bottom of the seventh gave the Naturals a 6-3 lead, and an additional score in the eighth made it 7-1. On the mound, southpaw Reid VanScoter returned from an injury and threw two scoreless innings to start the game, but Danny Wirchansky, who came on in relief in the third, struggled and allowed six runs over four innings. Naturals 7, Travelers 1.
Friday night’s alright for fighting and bouncing back from two straight losses. Big righty Juan Mercedes rolled through 5.2 innings, allowing only one run and striking out five. Curvelo, Garrett Davila, and Taylor tossed 3.1 scoreless frames to complete the win. At the dish, Windish added his second homer of the series in the fourth, followed in the fifth by an RBI double from Jake Anchia and a scoring groundout from Young. Travelers 3, Naturals 1.
The real problem with listening to Travs games while they’re on the road is that you can accidentally mess around and let them ruin an otherwise delightful evening. Case in point, Saturday. Though the Naturals jumped out to an early lead on solo homers from major leaguer MJ Melendez, who was only there on a rehab assignment, and Gavin Cross, the Travs cut the deficit to one in the top of the fourth on a two-RBI double from Victor Labrada. The Naturals added a run in the eighth, but Arkansas battled back and tied the game in the ninth after a homer from Brock Rodden and Labrada scoring on a wild pitch. Things were looking up! High fives were in abundance on the Campbell patio! Unfortunately, the Travs couldn’t score in the top of the tenth inning, while the Naturals had no such problem in the bottom of the frame. Naturals 6, Travelers 5 (10).
Sunday’s finale was everything frustrating about baseball, all wrapped up in a single package. Evans started again and went three innings, allowing two runs. That might have been OK, but Joyce came in to start the fourth and promptly allowed five runs while getting only two outs before being lifted for Kyle Hill. Gragg started the fifth and gave up one more run over 2.2 otherwise solid innings, before Peyton Alford got the last out of the seventh and threw a scoreless eighth. Offensively, the Travs were silent until the seventh, when they scored four runs in some of the ugliest baseball you’ll see — an RBI hit-by-pitch for Anchia, Labrada scoring on a balk, Blake Rambusch scoring on a wild pitch, and Anchia scoring on another wild pitch soon after. An Anchia homer in the ninth would cut the Nats’ lead to two, but Arkansas would come no closer. Naturals 8, Travelers 6.
Travelers’ current record:
49-46 overall, 13-14 in the second half. They are fourth in the Texas League North and currently sit 1.5 games behind Tulsa for a playoff spot.
Travelin’ Travelers, travelin’ on:
With the Major League Baseball trade deadline coming today (July 30) at 6:00 p.m. — and with the Travelers’ parent club, the Seattle Mariners, tied for the division lead in the American League West and in need of help if they hope to stay there — the Travelers have made a number of roster moves over the past two weeks.
- Utility man Morgan McCullough was released on July 15 to make room for the Travs to reactivate catcher Harry Ford, who had been on the inactive list while participating in the MLB Futures Game and All-Star weekend events.
- Catcher Jose Caguana, who was only assigned to Arkansas on July 12, was sent back to low-A Modesto on July 19. On July 27, catcher Andrew Miller was promoted to North Little Rock from high-A Everett as Ford was placed on the seven-day injured list with some nagging injuries.
- On July 19, outfielder RJ Schreck was promoted to the Travs. Yesterday, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays organization in exchange for first baseman/designated hitter Justin Turner, who will head straight to Seattle.
Fun fact about the Northwest Arkansas Naturals:
In the early 2000s, as the Northwest Arkansas area tried to lure an existing minor league team to the area, one of their early supporters was Ronnie Floyd, pastor at the gigantic First Baptist Church of Springdale. The folks trying to get a team counted on Floyd’s support to get a one-cent sales tax passed to fund the $50 million Arvest Ballpark.
Unfortunately, in June 2006, Floyd “discovered” the Naturals planned to sell alcohol at games. (GASP!) He quickly reversed course and stopped supporting the idea, about a month before the special election on the sales tax. Despite Floyd’s ridiculous change of position — seriously, what kind of weirdo assumes a professional baseball venue won’t have alcohol, when even the Salt Lake Bees sell beer?! — the sales tax passed … by a whopping 15 votes.
Arkansas Times Player of the Week:
Jake Anchia! I’ve grown to really enjoy the Travelers’ veteran backup catcher this season. He’s never had much of a bat as a member of the Travs, but he seems like a good dude and the kind of guy who would make a good manager some day if he wants to do it. (He was also the first Travelers player to notice and wave to two Arkies in Travs shirts at the June 13 game in Tulsa, so he’s obviously pretty cool.) This past week, however, Jake put up some quality numbers on a team that generally did not: four runs, a double, a homer, four RBI, .313 on-base percentage, .500 slugging percentage, .813 OPS. That’ll work. He’s your PotW.
Three things to be optimistic about:
- Parity. Even after dropping four of six to a team they’re in direct competition with for a playoff position, the Travelers find themselves only a half game behind the Naturals and 1.5 behind the Tulsa Drillers. With Springfield still firmly in first place in the division after winning the first half, they remain irrelevant for determining the other playoff contender from the North. The Travs have struggled through a brutal July and are still within sunflower-seed-spitting distance of seeing the postseason.
- Youth. This has been a recurring theme all season, but generally in the context of “the future of the organization is bright with all these young, talented players.” But here’s another take on it: regardless of whether the Travs make the playoffs this season, there’s a good chance that many of the younger guys on the team will start next season in North Little Rock as well. Maybe not Cole Young or Harry Ford, and probably not Ben Williamson (who I maintain will be the best big leaguer on the current Travs roster). But guys like Blake Rambusch, Victor Labrada, and Brock Rodden should still be here. So … that’s nice, right?
- The schedule. The Travs have 18 games remaining against Tulsa (6) and Northwest Arkansas (12), the two teams ahead of them in the standings. There’s no better way to make up ground than by beating the teams you’re trailing. The season even ends with six games against the Naturals. If you go into that series within six games of them and ahead of Tulsa, you control your own destiny.
Current area(s) of concern:
- The schedule. In addition to 18 games against Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas, the remaining schedule includes six against Midland, who is in first in the South division and just took four of six from you in their crib in July. There are also six at Wichita, where the Travelers have struggled to play good baseball since Riverfront Stadium opened in 2021.
- Power. I feel like a broken record, but this team just doesn’t have a ton of power, and it’s starting to be an issue. Hogan Windish just passed Tyler Locklear for the team lead in homers with nine, but Locklear has been gone since May 28. In the last month, the team has eight homers (with four of those coming from Brock Rodden); Northwest Arkansas had eight in the just-completed series against the Travs. When you’re in a hitter friendly park and you can’t hit for power, it becomes very, very difficult to beat teams that can.
Up next:
The Travelers return home tonight for the first of six games against the Midland Rockhounds. They’ll be in town next week as well, with six against the Tulsa Drillers. That’s 12 straight games against a first-place team (Midland) and one that is essentially in first (Tulsa, since Springfield’s finish doesn’t matter in the second half).
Tuesday through Thursday, games start at 6:35 p.m. Friday’s tilt starts at 7:05 p.m., Saturday’s game begins at 6:05 p.m., and Sunday’s contest gets underway at 1:35 p.m.
All games are available on radio in Central Arkansas on 106.7 Buz2 with the voice of the Arkansas Travelers, Steven Davis, on the call.