Drillers Drop Finale in Springfield
SPRINGFIELD, MO – The Tulsa Drillers enjoyed another big offensive day Sunday afternoon in Springfield, but it was not enough to gain a victory. The Drillers belted four home runs and scored eight runs, giving them 34 runs in their past three games, but the Cardinals hit three homers of
SPRINGFIELD, MO – The Tulsa Drillers enjoyed another big offensive day Sunday afternoon in Springfield, but it was not enough to gain a victory. The Drillers belted four home runs and scored eight runs, giving them 34 runs in their past three games, but the Cardinals hit three homers of their own and scored 12 runs to post a 12-8 win at Hammons Field. Despite the defeat, the Drillers won four times in the six-game series and will now head home for a series against Corpus Christi at ONEOK Field.
In Sunday’s series finale, Tulsa scored runs in each of the first two innings to take an early lead. Andy Pages opened the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the first, and Jacob Amaya led off the second with his third homer in the past two games.
Bobby Miller made his third start of the season on the mound for the Drillers, and he ran into trouble in the bottom of the second. Chandler Redmond led off with a triple and scored Springfield’s first run when Pedro Pages followed with a base hit. A two-out double from Jonah Davis plated Pages to tie the game at 2-2.
The Cards took a lead in the bottom of the third that they would not relinquish. Miller retired the first two batters of the inning before Malcom Nunez and Redmond had back-to-back singles. Pedro Pages followed with his second homer of the year to give the Redbirds a three-run lead.
Springfield added two more runs in the fourth before Tulsa’s bats got going again in the fifth. Brandon Lewis singled and Michael Busch was hit by a pitch in front of a wild pitch. A two-out, two-run single by Andy Pages pulled the Drillers to within 7-5.
The Drillers got to within one run in the seventh when James Outman was hit by a pitch and Busch hit his team-leading seventh homer of the year to make it 7-6.
Pedro Pages struck again for the Cards in the bottom of the seventh when his two-out hit plated Moisez Gomez who had doubled.
Springfield added four more runs in the eighth on a pair of two-run homers. Matt Koperniak had an inside-the-park homer, and Gomez belted his ninth home run of the year.
Tulsa’s Hunter Feduccia completed the scoring with a solo blast in the ninth.
It would prove to be the final offense of the day in a game that featured a combined six home runs.
HIGHLIGHTS AND HAPPENINGS:
*With the loss, the Drillers are now 10-5 on the season and hold a two games lead on first place in the Texas League’s North Division.
*Busch finished with three runs batted in and Andy Pages plated a pair. Busch leads the Drillers with 18 RBI, good for second in the league, and Pages is second on the Drillers with 16.
*Miller had his second straight tough outing, allowing seven hits and five runs in three innings. He suffered his first loss of the year and now has a 7.04 ERA.
*Out of the Tulsa bullpen, Nick Robertson, Guillermo Zuniga and Zack Plunkett combined for five innings, giving up seven runs on nine hits.
*The offense led the Drillers to four wins in the six-game series at Hammons Field. In the series, Tulsa hit .305 with 15 home runs and 51 runs scored.
*For the Cards, Gomez hit .522 in the series with five extra-base hits, including three homers, and seven runs batted it.
UP NEXT:
Tulsa will open a six-game set with Corpus Christi on Tuesday at ONEOK Field. It is the first meeting since 2019 between the two teams. The pitching matchup for the opener is expected to be:
CC – TBA
Tulsa – RHP Michael Grove (0-0, 1.59 ERA)