Walks Hinder Drillers in Loss to Naturals
SPRINGDALE, AR – The Tulsa Drillers missed a chance to guarantee a winning first-half record in Saturday’s matchup with Northwest Arkansas. The Drillers carried a narrow lead into the final innings, but a night-long struggle with control finally caught up with Tulsa hurlers. In the bottom of the seventh inning,
SPRINGDALE, AR – The Tulsa Drillers missed a chance to guarantee a winning first-half record in Saturday’s matchup with Northwest Arkansas. The Drillers carried a narrow lead into the final innings, but a night-long struggle with control finally caught up with Tulsa hurlers. In the bottom of the seventh inning, a pair of walked batters came around to score to give the Naturals a 3-2 come-from-behind victory at Arvest Ballpark.
The result leaves the Drillers and Naturals with identical 34-34 first-half records with just one game remaining in the half. The two teams will meet again Sunday afternoon in the half finale with the winner finishing with a winning record.
Solo home runs from Jose Ramos and Austin Beck had given the Drillers a 2-1 lead through six innings. Ramos hit his tenth homer of the season in the second inning to offset a first-inning run from the Naturals.
Beck hit his team-leading 11th homer in the sixth to give the Drillers the lead.
The Naturals erased the deficit in the bottom of the seventh when the ninth and tenth walks of the game from Tulsa pitchers put runners at first and second with two outs. Luca Tresh tied the game with a base hit to left field, and Josh Lester plated what proved to be the winning run when he followed with a double.
The Drillers had a chance to tie the game in the top of the ninth when Diego Cartaya doubled with two outs, but Naturals’ closer Anderson Paulino struck out Ramos to end the game.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The two teams combined for just eight hits in the game, four from each side. Walks were costly for the Drillers as Northwest Arkansas pitchers issued just three walks compared to the ten from Tulsa. The Drillers’ staff leads the Texas League in walks issued.
*The Drillers have not had a losing first-half record since the 2018 season.
*Reliever Antonio Knowles was charged with the runs in the seventh inning and suffered the loss. The two walks in the inning were unusual for Knowles as he had walked just one batter in five previous appearances this month.
*Jake Meador made his second Double-A start for the Drillers and allowed just one hit in four innings. Meador walked five batters and struck out four. The Dallas Baptist product has a 3.24 ERA in 9.1 innings with Tulsa.
*The ninth-inning double from Cartaya extended his hitting streak to five straight games. In the streak, he is hitting .500 with 9 hits in 18 at-bats with four of the hits going for extra bases. Cartaya has raised his season batting average by .33 points in the five games.
*The first-half North Division title in the Texas League will also be decided on Sunday. Springfield won its game with Corpus Christi on Saturday night, while Arkansas lost to Wichita. The results leave the Travelers just ½ game ahead of the Cardinals. If the Travs win their finale on Sunday, they win the half. If they lose, and the Cardinals win, Springfield will win the first half.
*Former OSU lefthander Justin Wrobleski was officially transferred from the Drillers to Oklahoma City before the game and made his Triple-A debut Saturday night. Wrobleski worked five innings for OKC and gave up three runs on six hits. He walked just one batter and set a career high with 11 strikeouts, but he was charged with the loss.
UP NEXT:
Sunday’s first-half finale will be the sixth and final game of the Drillers series with the Naturals. Sunday’s first pitch is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. at Arvest Ballpark and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
TUL – RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (3-4, 6.19 ERA)
NWA – LHP Noah Cameron (2-3, 3.30 ERA