SPRINGDALE, AR – Angel Acosta hit his first Double-A home run in the Northwest Arkansas Naturals’ (27-40, 56-78) 3-2 loss to the Tulsa Drillers (41-26, 87-49) on Friday night at Arvest Ballpark. The Naturals continue their six-game set against the Drillers on Saturday, with first pitch at 6:05 PM CT.
Northwest Arkansas got the scoring started in the opening frame off Christian Zazueta. Sam Kulasingam doubled to extend his on-base streak to 18 straight games, the longest active streak on the team. Spencer Nivens singled, and Connor Scott drove in Kulasingam with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0, Naturals.
After Tulsa retaliated in the second, the Nats took the lead right back in the bottom half. Acosta homered on a line drive to right field and gave NWA a 2-1 advantage. Acosta, who was coming off a 4-for-4 night, connected on his first Double-A home run.
The Drillers scored two runs in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. The Naturals bullpen maintained the one-run deficit for the rest of the affair. Brandon Johnson, Tyson Guerrero and Zachary Cawyer combined for 5.1 scoreless frames with eight strikeouts. As a staff, the Naturals recorded 12 punchouts, marking the eighth time in the last nine games that NWA pitching has posted double-digit strikeouts.
Spencer Nivens walked and swiped second in the eighth inning to represent the tying run, but the Nats failed to bring him in and went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to fall 3-2.
The Naturals face the Drillers in the penultimate game of the six-game series on Saturday at 6:05 PM CT. Fans can enjoy pregame “Happy Hour” specials at the Bullpen Party and kids can run the bases after the game. Fans can get their tickets at NWANaturals.com for the remainder of the series.
As always, fans can follow along through the Naturals' TV broadcast, available with a subscription to MLB.tv or the MiLB App and for free through the Bally Live Sports App. Additionally, you can listen to the radio call with the "Voice of the Naturals", Shawn Murnin, all season long on the MiLB app and NWANaturals.com.