TEXAS LEAGUE : Naturals’ Johnson hurls shutout against Cardinals
Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008
SPRINGDALE — It wasn’t tough for opposing teams to score against right-hander Blake Johnson in April, but it’s been impossible in May.
Johnson pitched seven shutout innings, and the Northwest Arkansas Naturals won for the 10 th time in their past 11 home games Friday night, defeating Springfield 2-0 in front of 5, 250 at Arvest Ballpark.
With the victory, the Naturals (18-17 ) rose above. 500 for the first time since they were 1-0. They also took over sole possession of first place in the Texas League North Division at the midway point of the season’s first half.
Johnson (3-2 ) gave up 6 hits and walked 1 while striking out 4. In his two May starts, he has 2 victories and a 0. 00 ERA over 13 innings after posting a 5. 40 ERA in April.
The Naturals have shut out their opponents in both of Johnson’s May starts.
“He’s had some good, quality outings,” Naturals Manager Brian Poldberg said. “He’s getting ahead with his fastball, his curveball has become a much better pitch, and he’s able to locate.
“ It’s a good combination when all that’s working.” Johnson was in control from the start, setting down the first six batters he faced and not allowing a hit until the fourth inning. Since May began, his ERA has dropped nearly two runs to 3. 55.
“I had some good defensive plays and I just tried to make good pitches,” Johnson said. “[I’ve ] just been trying to stay one pitch at a time and make sure I concentrate and focus out there and go after guys.” The Naturals wasted plenty of early scoring opportunities, but got all the offense they needed when center fielder Jose Duarte led off the fifth with a towering home run to left field, his second of the season. They added another run in the sixth when Geraldo Valentin doubled and scored on a stand-up triple by left fielder Ovandy Suero.
Before that, the Naturals had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the second, third and fourth innings, but each time failed to capitalize against Springfield starter Tyler Herron.
Herron (0-1 ), who was making only his second Class AA start, gave up 2 runs on 9 hits over 6 innings.
“He did everything we wanted him to do out there,” Springfield Manager Pop Warner said. “He kept us in the game. Their guy was just as good, if not better.” Valentin, Suero and Duarte each had two hits, as did Springfield left fielder Shane Robinson, who collected at least two hits for the fifth consecutive game. Robinson, the leading hitter in the Texas League (. 431 ), gave the Cardinals (17-18 ) their best scoring opportunity in the sixth when he doubled with Tyler Greene on first base.
That gave Springfield runners at second and third with no outs, but Johnson worked out of that jam. He struck out Jon Jay, and Greene was caught in a rundown after Allen Craig’s weak grounder.
Craig stole second, again giving Springfield two runners in scoring position, but Naturals shortstop Angel Sanchez made a nice play to retire Casey Rowlett, running to his left to snag a come-backer and then getting help from first baseman Kila Kaaihue, who caught Sanchez’s throw after it had bounced in the dirt.
That was the only time the Cardinals got a runner past third base. They hit into inning-ending double plays in the fifth and seventh.
“That’s been the key to a lot of our wins,” Poldberg said. “Tulsa could have won three out of four against us [earlier in the week ], but we turned double play after double play in key situations.
“ To win it takes more than one person, and we’ve been having a lot of people pitch in every night.” Greg Atencio pitched two shutout innings to earn his first save. He gave up consecutive singles to open the ninth but retired the next three batters to finish off Springfield.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
