Drillers Fall in Finale, Lose Series
TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers lost a game and a series Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. Northwest Arkansas overcame an early Tulsa lead to send the Drillers to a 7-3 loss. With the result, the Naturals won four games in the six-game series, giving the Drillers their first series
TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers lost a game and a series Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. Northwest Arkansas overcame an early Tulsa lead to send the Drillers to a 7-3 loss. With the result, the Naturals won four games in the six-game series, giving the Drillers their first series loss at home this season.
Wichita also lost on Sunday, falling to Arkansas. The two results tightened the race for the first-half title in the North Division of the Texas League. The Wind Surge remain in first place, 1.5 games in front of the Drillers, 2 games up on Arkansas and 4.5 games ahead of Northwest Arkansas. The first half of the season will end on June 26.
Needing a win to salvage a series split, the Drillers struck first in the finale, scoring the game’s first run in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Jacob Amaya singled and Ryan Ward doubled to put runners at second a third. Amaya came home on a ground out by Andy Pages.
The Naturals responded immediately with a pair of runs in the top of the second against Tulsa starter Gavin Stone. Robbie Glendinning led off with a double and moved to third on a one-out single by Jake Means. Glendinning scored on a base hit from Gavin Stupienski, and Means came home on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Grotjohn. The two runs against Stone doubled the total he had surrendered in 22.0 innings over four starts since joining the Drillers on May 16.
Northwest Arkansas plated two more runs against Stone in the top of the fourth inning. Means doubled and scored on a base hit by Brhet Bewley. A two-out from Nick Loftin plated Bewley to up the Naturals lead to 4-1.
Jeren Kendall got one of the runs back when he led off the bottom of the fourth with his fourth home run of the season and his second in two games.
The Drillers fell into a deeper hole when the Naturals scored three more runs against reliever Guillermo Zuniga in the seventh.
Tulsa had a chance to make things interesting in the bottom of the seventh when James Outman led off with a hit, and Amaya reached on an error. After both runners advanced a base on a ground out, Pages struck out, but he reached safely and Outman scored when the third strike skipped to the backstop. With their deficit reduced to 7-3, the Drillers got the potential tying run to the plate when Hunter Feduccia walked to load the bases, but the Naturals escaped when they turned an inning-ending double play on a ground ball off the bat of Brandon Lewis.
It would be the final threat of the day from the Drillers. Northwest Arkansas hurlers combined to retire seven of Tulsa’s final eight hitters to end the game.
HIGHLIGHTS AND HAPPENINGS:
*It was a rare tough day for Stone. The Central Arkansas University product surrendered a total of four runs on seven hits in four innings. It marked his shortest outing in five starts with the Drillers and raised his Double-A ERA from 0.41 to 1.76.
*Nick Robertson delivered two scoreless innings in relief of Stone. After the Naturals scored three runs against Zuniga, Jose Adames retired all five batters he faced, and Tanner Dodson worked a perfect ninth inning.
*With a single in the second inning, Leonel Valera has now recorded a hit in each of his eight games with the Drillers.
*The temperature rose to 98 degrees during the game, making it the hottest game at ONEOK Field this year.
*With his fourth-inning home run, Kendall became the tenth Tulsa player this season to homer in consecutive games. He also had a home run in Saturday night’s win.
*The website DodgersNation.com was reporting that current Los Angeles Dodgers and former Oklahoma State Cowboys pitcher Andrew Heaney will make an injury rehabilitation appearance with the Drillers on Tuesday night. Heaney, who is recovering from shoulder inflammation, is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in two starts with the Dodgers this season.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers will have a day off on Monday before opening a six-day, seven-game series with the Wichita Wind Surge on Tuesday night at ONEOK Field. Tuesday’s opener will begin at 7:05 p.m. and the pitching matchup is scheduled to be:
Wichita – TBA
Tulsa – TBA