Jack Suwinski hit his 11th home run of the season and the Missions piled up 10 hits to beat the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 5-3 at Wolff Stadium in the opener of a six-game series.
The Missions have won five in a row and eight of their last nine. Suwinski has four home runs in the last three games.
Eguy Rosario had three hits and scored twice for the Missions and leadoff batter Jose Azocar had two hits and scored a run.
Rosario scored a rather unusual run in the bottom of the second inning. He broke from second base to steal third at the same moment as a wild pitch, allowing Rosario to come all the way around for the first run of the game.
Missions third baseman Allen Cordoba, in just his third game of the season, had a hit and a walk. He has had a hit or a walk or both in all three games. He also took a hard hit ball off his leg at or near his knee that was clearly painful, but he stayed in the game.
Missions starting pitcher Reggie Lawson, in his second game of the season, went two scoreless innings and struck out two batters. There was a rain delay after the second inning and he did not return, but wasn’t expected to make a long appearance.
Adrian Martinez, who has been a starter most of the season, pitched five innings and earned the win (2-3). He allowed three runs on four hits with five strikeouts.
Henry Henry pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Tom Cosgrove pitched the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.
