Drillers Rally and Go Extras to Earn Fifth Win of the Week

Tulsa's Taylor Young makes a tag at third base during Tulsa's 6-5 win in ten innings Saturday night. Young remained in the game despite being struck in the face by an unexpected throw early in the game. (Tim Campbell)

June 2, 2024

TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers showed some much-needed resilience on Saturday night at ONEOK Field to earn a 6-5 walk-off win over Northwest Arkansas. Tulsa overcame a tough sixth inning where a three-base error and a home run led to the Naturals scoring their only runs of the night. Down three runs, Tulsa kept fighting, scoring a run in the eighth inning and two more in the ninth to send the game to extras. The Drillers held Northwest Arkansas scoreless in the top of the tenth to set up Jose Ramos' game-winning hit in the bottom of the inning.

It was the second walk-off win of the series for the Drillers and brought their record this week against the Naturals to 5-1. The big win also improved the Drillers season record to .500 at 25-25. Tulsa trails first place Springfield by only four games in the Texas League North Division standings.

BOX SCORE

Saturday’s game began as a pitcher’s duel as there were just five combined base runners through the first three innings, thanks to strong starts Tyson Guerrero and Kendall Williams.

The Drillers broke through to score the first run in the fourth inning without the benefit of a hit. Brendon Davis drew a lead-off walk to begin the inning and promptly stole second base. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Ramos' sacrifice fly.

A second sacrifice fly in the fifth inning gave the Drillers a 2-0 lead. Brandon Lewis led off with a triple on a ball that was misplayed by centerfielder Diego Hernandez. Lewis scored two batters later on Alex Freeland's sacrifice fly.

A disastrous play in the sixth inning gave Northwest Arkansas the lead. With runners at first and second base, Peyton Wilson singled to left field on a hit that looked as if it would load the bases, but the ball skipped under the glove of left fielder Bubba Alleyne and rolled all the way to the outfield wall, allowing the two base runners and Wilson to score and give the Naturals a 3-2 lead.

Dillan Shrum hit a two-run homer in the same inning to increase the lead to 5-2.

Tulsa battled back in the late innings. Dalton Rushing began the eighth with a double and eventually scored on a single from Ramos to make the score 5-3.

In the ninth, Tulsa quickly loaded the bases with no outs, and Rushing grounded out to score a run. A wild pitch allowed the tying run to score before a strikeout, and a lineout sent the game to extra innings.

After the Drillers held the Naturals scoreless in the top half of the tenth, Ramos hit the game-winner with placed runner Lolo Sanchez scoring from second base.

INSIDE THE GAME

*With Sanchez scoring, Tulsa is now 5-for-9 (56% success rate) in scoring the placed runner in extra innings.

*Lefty reliever Christian Suarez was credited with the win after pitching a scoreless top of the tenth.

* Williams was one out away in the sixth inning from not being charged with an earned run as he recorded two outs after the three-base error. Josh Lester's single made two runs earned and Shrum's homer charged two more earned runs to the Drillers starter.

*Freeland was one of three Tulsa hitters to record two hits in the game. It was his eighth multi-hit game in only his 24th game with the Drillers.

*The triple by Lewis was just the second in his career. The first came on June 6, 2021, when he played for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.

*Jack Little did not allow a run in the eighth and ninth innings to increase his scoreless streak to seven straight games and 8.1 innings.

*Tulsa hitters struck out 15 times in the game, just one from matching the team's season high.

*Taylor Young showed he's as tough as they come on Saturday. After the top of the fourth inning, Young was jogging off the field and was accidently hit in the face by an unexpected throw. After receiving treatment while the Drillers batted, he returned to the field the next inning and completed the game.

UP NEXT:

The Drillers and the Naturals will play the final game of their seven-game series on Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. Starting time is slated for 1:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:

NWA – RHP Eric Cerantola (1-2, 2.55 ERA)
TUL – RHP Hyun-il Choi (1-1, 6.92 ERA)