Drillers Drop Fifth Straight to Arkansas

North Little Rock, AR – The Tulsa Drillers offense had a little more sign of life on Saturday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. The Drillers entered the night having scored just two runs on 14 hits in the first four games of their series against the Arkansas Travelers. Both sides saw their biggest offensive performance of the series, but Tulsa ultimately fell 6-3 to lose their fifth straight game.

The Drillers had hope when Damon Keith tied the game in the eighth on a home run that scored Tulsa’s first runs of the game. The Travelers responded with four runs in their half of the eighth to take a lead the Drillers could not overcome.

BOX SCORE

Arkansas broke through and scored a run on Tulsa starting pitcher Jon Duplantier in the third inning. The Travs began the third inning with a double from 2020 TCL Driller Ben Ramirez, and he scored one batter later on a single from former OSU Cowboy Kaden Polcovich.

The Travs doubled their lead in the sixth inning. A single and a ground-rule double began the inning and put runners at second and third. A heads-up play erased one of the threats when a fly ball out to Donovan Casey turned into a double play when Casey hit cutoff Brandon Lewis, and Lewis quickly threw to second base to double off Hogan Windish.

Victor Labrada scored the runner from third with a single that gave Arkansas a 2-0 lead.

After only earning three hits through the first seven innings, Tulsa’s fourth hit tied the game in the eighth. With a runner at second base, Keith hit his tenth homer of the season to score two runs and tie the game at 2-2.

The Drillers gave the lead right back as Arkansas used the biggest offensive outburst of the week to score four runs in the eighth inning. The inning began with reliever Antonio Knowles issuing two walks and giving up a bunt single that loaded the bases with no outs. A third walk forced in a run before Blake Rambusch followed with a single that scored the Travs fourth run of the night. Polcovich drove in two more runs with a single to center that scored two more and put Arkansas ahead 6-2.

The Drillers kept battling in the ninth inning, as Casey led off with a single. Chris Newell followed with a single, and Brandon Lewis drew a walk that loaded the bases. Noah Miller produced the Drillers third run on a sacrifice fly before Bubba Alleyne hit into a groundout that ended the game.

INSIDE THE GAME

*Tulsa has now scored only five runs in five games against the Travelers this week.

*Knowles received the loss after not recording an out in the eighth inning. It was his fourth loss of the season.

*Duplantier was signed as a minor league free agent earlier in the week and made his first appearance with the Drillers in a surprise spot start. He completed five innings, allowing two runs on six hits and one walk with five strikeouts. It was his first start since June 6, 2023, when he was pitching for the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. Duplantier has also pitched in 19 games at the Major League level, all coming with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019 and 2021.

*Kelvin Bautista also made his Drillers debut on Saturday night. Bautista pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Duplantier and allowed just one hit.

*With his home run, Keith improved his hitting streak to five straight games.

*Ronan Kopp worked another scoreless inning and has not allowed an earned run in his last five appearances.

*The Drillers have struck out ten or more times in 56 games this season after striking out ten times on Saturday.

UP NEXT:

The Drillers will play the sixth and final game of their six-game series with the Travelers on Sunday afternoon at Dickey-Stephens Park. Starting time is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. and the starting pitchers are slated to be:

Tulsa – RHP Jerming Rosario (2-3, 4.66 ERA)


Arkansas – LHP Reid VanScoter (4-7, 3.86 ERA)