Tulsa Winning Streak Hits Seven With Extra-Inning, Walk-Off Victory

The Tulsa Drillers came into Wednesday's game looking to maintain their strong play as they entered the night having won a season-high six straight ballgames. And they would make it seven straight as Sean O'Connell delivered a pinch-hit, walk-off single in the bottom of the eleventh inning to give the Drillers an exhilarating, 3-2 win over the Springfield Cardinals.
Extra innings were required Wednesday night as the Drillers lost a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning on a two-strike, two-out homer by the Cardinals. But after keeping the game tied through the ninth and tenth innings, Tulsa took advantage of wild pitching in the eleventh to secure the win.
Springfield reliever Landon Beck entered the game in the bottom of the eleventh and promptly loaded the bases on two walks and a hit-by-pitch. After getting Drew Jackson to fly out in shallow center field for the first out of the inning O'Connell pinch-hit for the pitcher's spot and delivered a game-winning knock into right to score Erick Mejia, sending the Drillers into celebration mode.
It was just the fourth plate appearance for O'Connell this season, and he maintained a perfect mark at the plate with the hit as he has collected singles in each of his at-bats this year.
The victory marked a perfect homestand for Tulsa as the club won all seven home contests against the Arkansas Travelers and the Cardinals. The streak also took the Drillers from being two games out of first place to having a two-game lead in the Texas League North Division over the Cardinals.
Coming into the day, the game looked as if it would be a pitcher's duel as the starting matchup featured two top pitching prospects. Mitchell White started for Tulsa ranked as the #6 overall prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization while Sandy Alcantara got the nod for Springfield ranked as the #10 overall prospect in the St. Louis Cardinals organization according to MLB.com.
Both starters pitched like top prospects as neither hurler allowed a run over the first two innings of Wednesday's game. But the Drillers squeezed across a run in the third.
After getting a leadoff strikeout to start the bottom of the third, Alcantara issued a five-pitch walk to his counterpart. Jackson and Errol Robinson followed with base hits to load the bases before Matt Beaty followed with a sacrifice fly to center to plate White, putting the Drillers up 1-0.
The score would hold there over the next three innings. White was dominant for Tulsa as he set Springfield down in order in both the fourth and fifth innings before giving way to Michael Johnson to start the sixth after reaching his pitch count for the night. Alcantara also kept the Drillers off the scoreboard, although he had to dance around baserunners in each inning.
Johnson picked up where White left off in the sixth, retiring the Cardinals in order and then doing the same for the first two batters in the seventh. But he then surrendered three straight singles as the Cardinals knotted the game at 1-1 on a Tommy Edman base hit.
The run against Johnson broke a streak of 22 consecutive innings that Johnson had pitched without allowing an earned run which spanned his last eleven appearances.
Once the game was tied, Tulsa manager Scott Hennessey called on Karch Kowalczyk who kept the ballgame tied with a strikeout of Jesse Jenner to end the threat.

Photo by Rich Crimi
The Drillers built off that momentum to take the lead again in the home half of the seventh. Robinson earned a one-out walk before moving to third thanks to another base hit by Beaty and a subsequent fielding error by Springfield right fielder Anthony García. He then came home on a Kyle Garlick groundout to put Tulsa back in front 2-1.
Kowalczyk and Brian Moran combined to toss a scoreless eighth, sending the game to the ninth after the Drillers went down in order in the bottom half of the eighth.
Corey Copping entered the game for the ninth, looking for his 13th save of the season. And it looked like he would do just that as he retired the first two Springfield hitters and ran the count to 1-2 on Eliezer Álvarez. But Alvarez silenced the crowd at ONEOK Field with a line-drive homer just over the left-center field fence that knotted the game at 2-2.
The Cardinals threatened to take the lead as Danny Diekroeger singled before moving all the way to third on a wild pitch from Copping that bounced away from Tulsa catcher Garrett Kennedy. But Copping was able to recover and strike Jenner out swinging to keep the game tied.
After the Drillers went down quietly in their half of the ninth, the game went into extra innings.
Shea Spitzbarth came on for Copping to start the tenth and was able to work around Magneuris Sierra reaching third on a one-out single, stolen base and throwing error by Kennedy with a pair of strikeouts to keep the game knotted up.
Beaty tried to spark a Tulsa walk-off in the bottom of the tenth with a leadoff double, but he would advance no farther as Springfield reliever Rowan Wick retired the next three Drillers batters.
Springfield tried to build off that momentum as it put runners on first and third with no outs in the top of the eleventh, threatening to take the lead. But Spitzbarth got a pop out from Alvarez before getting Wick to ground into an inning-ending double play to lead to O'Connell's heroics in the home half of the frame.
Spitzbarth saw his record improve to 2-3 with the win while Beck took the loss for the Cardinals.
The Drillers will now hit the road for an extended, 12-day road trip that will begin with a four-game set against the Arkansas Travelers. Scheduled to pitch for Tulsa in Thursday night's series opener will be RHP David Hale (2-0, 3.52 ERA) while Arkansas will send out LHP Anthony Misiewicz (3-2, 3.65 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:10 PM.