Knack has Career Night in Drillers Loss
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR – For the second time this season, the Tulsa Drillers were held to only one hit on Saturday night. As a result, Tulsa dropped its fourth straight game to the Arkansas Travelers in a 1-0 loss at Dickey-Stephens Park. Both sides were held scoreless until the
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR – For the second time this season, the Tulsa Drillers were held to only one hit on Saturday night. As a result, Tulsa dropped its fourth straight game to the Arkansas Travelers in a 1-0 loss at Dickey-Stephens Park.
Both sides were held scoreless until the eighth inning when Riley Unroe hit a solo home run that proved enough for the Travs.
The loss overshadowed one of the best outings of Landon Knack’s career in what was his fourth start of the 2023 season.
Knack entered Saturday night looking to recover from his previous outing, where he lasted two-thirds of an inning, giving up three hits and three runs on April 23. He answered with a career-high 11 strikeouts in five shutout innings, but his counterpart Bryan Woo also had a big night as pitching continued to dominate the series.
Woo held Tulsa hitters to just one hit in five innings with eight strikeouts.
Lefty Alec Gamboa followed Knack to the mound and kept the Travs scoreless for two innings as the game remained scoreless entering the eighth inning.
In the eighth, Unroe hit a solo home run off Jordan Leasure to account for the game’s only run as the Drillers went down in order in the ninth inning.
HIGHLIGHTS AND HAPPENINGS:
*Knack’s 11 strikeouts were a career high for the right-hander.
*Leasure received his second loss of the season. Unroe’s homer was the third that he has surrendered this year.
*In the five games against the Travelers, Tulsa hitters have struck out 51 times, but the Drillers pitchers have struck out Arkansas hitters a Texas League best 59 times this week.
*The Drillers lone hit came from Bryson Brigman, who was just added back to the Tulsa roster from Oklahoma City on Saturday. The other roster move was Kenneth Betancourt being transferred back to Rancho Cucamonga.
*The game took just 2 hours and 12 minutes to complete.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers and Travelers will play their final game of their six-game series on Sunday afternoon at North Little Rock’s Dickey-Stephens Park. Starting time is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. and the pitching matchup will be:
Tulsa – RHP Nick Frasso (1-1, 1.50 ERA)
Arkansas – RHP Prelander Berroa (1-1, 5.79 ERA)