Tulsa Loses Another Pitcher’s Duel

North Little Rock, AR – The Tulsa Drillers nightmarish series with the Arkansas Travelers continued on Friday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. Offensive production in the series has been tough to come by for the Drillers, and that trend continued on Friday in the fourth game of the six-game set.

The game was scoreless through the first seven innings before the Drillers caught a break to score an unearned run in the top of the eighth to take their first lead in the series. But, the Travelers promptly responded with two runs of their own in their half of the eighth and held on for a 2-1 victory. It was the fourth straight loss for the Drillers, and they have scored just two runs in the losing streak.

BOX SCORE

With just one run through the last 34 innings, the Drillers would take a run any way they could get it, and they got some help from the Travelers. With one out in the top of the eighth, Yeiner Fernandez reached safely when Travs third baseman Ben Williamson misplayed his grounder for an error. Taylor Young struck out, but Jose Ramos ended the scoreless drought with a double to centerfield that plated Fernandez.

The lead did not last long. In the bottom of the eighth, with Tulsa reliever Hyun-il Choi working into his fourth inning, singles from Jake Anchia and Harry Ford put runners at first and second with one out. Choi got within one out of escaping the jam when he retired Cole Young on fly out, but Williamson made up for his fielding miscue with a double to deep centerfield that scored both Anchia and Ford to put the Travelers in front 2-1.

The Drillers went down in order in the top of the ninth, but the ending only added to Tulsa’s misery. With two outs, newcomer Chris Newell hit a drive to deep centerfield, but centerfielder Blake Rambusch reached above the fence to make the game-ending catch.

For the second time in the series, the Drillers matched a season low with just two hits in the game. In the four losses to the Travelers, they have just 14 total hits and have scored just two runs.

Arkansas has not been a whole lot more productive. The Travs have a combined 8 runs on 23 hits, but they have recorded the four wins.

INSIDE THE GAME

*The Drillers were being no-hit through the first six innings before Damon Keith singled with two outs in the seventh.

*Carlos Duran started on the mound for Tulsa and held Arkansas scoreless through 3.1 innings, allowing just two hits while striking out four.

*Juan Morillo got the final two outs in the fourth before Choi came on and finished the game. The right-hander gave up the two runs on four hits in his four innings and was charged with the loss that dropped his record to 1-5.

*The Drillers stranded just one base runner in the game, and they were 0-1 at the plate with runners in scoring position.

UP NEXT:

The Drillers will play the fifth game of their six-game series with the Travelers on Saturday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. Starting time is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. and the starting pitchers are slated to be:

Tulsa – RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (6-6, 5.12 ERA)
Arkansas – LHP Brandyn Garcia (0-2, 3.04 ERA)