Drew Sutton, born in El Dorado, AR, was claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Indians on Friday, August 6th. Sutton had been playing with the Cincinnati Reds’ AAA team, the Lousville Bats.

Sutton made his big league debut with Cincinnati last season, going 14 for 66. He also made a brief appearance with the Reds earlier this year, collecting 2 hits, including a grandslam, in 3 at-bats. This year with Louisville, he is hitting .262 with 3 homers.

Cleveland has assigned Sutton to AAA Columbus.

Arkansan Travis Wood has returned to the Cincinnati Reds after a short stint with AAA Louisville. He was sent down briefly to open a spot on the Reds’ roster, and returned on Thursday, August 20th.

Wood, a native of Bryant, AR made only one appearance with Louisville while down in the minors. He started an August 14th game and pitched two innings scoreless.

In addition to being re-added to the Reds’ roster, Wood also started for the club on Thursday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He went 6.1 innings on 1 run and 6 strikeouts, earning his 4th win of the year.

Cincinnati Reds’ starter and Bryant, AR native Travis Wood was temporarily sent back to AAA Louisville on Monday, August 9th to make room for Jim Edmonds on the Reds’ 25-man roster.

Wood, 23, has made 8 starts for the Reds this year, excelling with a 2.65 ERA and a 3-1 record. If all goes as planned, Wood will make one start in the minors before returning to Cincinnati.

Major League Baseball fined and suspended Los Angeles Angles outfielder Torii Hunter for 4 games following an indecent which him to be ejected by umpire Ron Kupla

A Pine Bluff, AR native, Hunter was ejected from the Angels August 6th game. He was given the option of appealing MLB’s decision, but declined.

The suspension is the first for Hunter since 2008, when he was handed a two-gamer after pushing Ivan Rodriguez.

Cliff Lee threw 8 excellent innings on Friday, August 2nd for the Texas Rangers, winning his 10th game of the season. In addition it was hi 100th career win, making him the 7th Arkansan ever to reach the milestone.

Lee, a native of Benton, AR, is among good company. The 6 players in front of him include Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean and 5-time all-stars Lon Warneke and Preacher Roe. Warneke leads all Arkansas-born players with 192 career wins.

Currently, Lee is second all-time among Arkansas-lefties, only behind Roe, winner of 127 career games.

In the 8th inning of Friday’s August 6th game between the Angles and Tigers, Los Angels outfielder and Arkansas native Torii Hunter was ejected for arguing ball and strikes.

Umpire Ron Kulpa ejected Hunter after three consecutive called strikes. The last pitch appeared low to Hunter, and he commenced taking matters into his own hands. He was ejected shortly afterward, as was LA manager Mike Scioscia.

Hunter, born in Pine Bluff, AR, has now been ejected 7 times over his lengthy career, which includes 1604 games.

When Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett plunked Toronto’s Fred Lewis on Monday, August 2nd, it was his league-leading 13th of the season. It was also the most ever in a season by an Arkansan.

Burnett topped his previous record of 12 hit batters in a season, which he shared with Glenn Abbott, who accomplished the ‘feat’ in 1977. Both are natives of North Little Rock, AR.

In addition, Burnett also owns the most hit batters over a career by an Arkansas, a distinction he’s held since 2007. Total, he’s plunked 83 in 270 games.

On July 16th, St. Louis Cardinal closer Ryan Franklin pitched in his 485 career major league game, passing Ellis Kinder for the most ever by an Arkansas-born player.

Franklin pitched the 9th inning for the Cardinals, allowing a hit and striking out a batter. He finished the game, which St. Louis won by a score of 8-4 over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Franklin also holds the single season record for saves by an Arkansas-born player with 38, which he record in 2009.

On Saturday, July the 10th, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Travis Wood nearly threw a perfect game in only his third Major League start, but just missed out on becoming the first Arkansan to do so.

Wood, a native of Bryant, AR pitched 8 perfect innings, retiring the first 24 Philadelphia Phillies he faced. Unfortunately, he allowed a double in the top of the 9th, and instead finished with a 1-hit, 9 innings performance. He did not even receive a win or complete, due to the Reds’ own lack of runs. In fact, the Reds eventually lost the game in the 11 inning.

For the third time in a year, Cliff Lee has been traded. The Seattle Mariners announced the trade on Friday, July 9th, the same day Lee was supposed to start for Seattle. Instead, he will start on Saturday for the Rangers.

This time last year, Lee, a Benton, AR native, was traded from the Cleveland Indians to the Philadelphia Phillies. Then, during the offseason, Philadelphia started him to Seattle, where he pitched 13 game with the Mariners this season. During those games, Lee went 8 -3 with a league-best 2.34 ERA, 5 compelte games, and an incredible 14.83 Walks/Strikeouts ratio.

The trade comes only a few days after Lee was named a 2010 all-star.