Anderson Triumphant in Return
The Tulsa Drillers won the series finale with Northwest Arkansas Friday night at ONEOK Field by a score of 3-2. However, the biggest victory didn't come on the scoreboard, but on the pitcher's mound. Texas League Pitcher of the Year Tyler Anderson returned to action following a stay on the disabled list, and he was his usual superb self. Anderson held the Naturals without a hit through the first five innings and surrendered only one hit in six innings of work to post the win.
Anderson was announced as the Pitcher of the Year during his stay on the disabled list. The move to the DL was not due to anything serious, but from a concern of late-season fatigue. The lefthander entered Friday's start with 112 innings pitched this year.
The time off seemed to have no effect on Anderson. He breezed through his six innings with the one hit coming from former major leaguer Mitch Maier on a two-out single in the sixth. He walked one batter and struck out six.
The outing also helped Anderson move into the Tulsa record books. It lowered his league-leading ERA below 2.00 to 1.98. The mark ties the Drillers franchise record set by Jeff Francis in 2004.
The game also marked the return to the Tulsa lineup of Texas League All-Star shortstop Cristhian Adames. Adames was re-assigned to Tulsa following a stint with Triple-A Colorado Springs and finished hitless in four at-bats.
The Naturals lone run scored in the first inning without a hit. Maier reached on a two-base throwing error by second baseman Taylor Featherston and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Brian Fletcher. It marked the fourth game in a row that Fletcher has recorded a sacrifice fly.
The Drillers took the lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. Ryan Casteel and Brian Humphries drew consecutive walks to open the inning. After Trevor Story struck out, Jayson Langfels singled to load the bases. Will Swanner followed with another hit that plated both Casteel and Humphries to give Tulsa a 2-1 lead.
Part of Anderson's success Friday night came largely due to what quite possibly was the catch of the year at ONEOK Field. With a man on first base, Oklahoman Lane Adams hit a deep ball to right field that seemed destined for the right-center field bullpen. However, Jared Simon caught the ball in full stride with his arm completely extended over the wall while simultaneously crashing into the fence at top speed.
Simon somehow hung onto the ball and turned what would have been a two-run home run for the Naturals into the second out of the inning.
Another run in the bottom of the third inning upped the lead to two runs. Tyler Massey led off with a double and scored when first baseman Mark Threlkeld threw wildly to pitcher Tim Melville, who was covering first base on a slow chopper from Adames.
Tulsa had to escape a major jam in the ninth to preserve the victory. Closer Cole White entered and surrendered a leadoff single to Fletcher and a two-out double to Hunter Dozier. With runners at second and third, Threlkeld dropped a single in front of right fielder Jared Simon that scored Fletcher to cut the lead to one run.
With only one out and the potential tying run at third, White recovered to strike out Parker Morin. Needing one more out to end the game, White got a towering foul pop up from Justin Trapp. The ball appeared to be headed out of play, but third baseman Story ranged into foul territory, reaching over the fence and stretching into the third base dugout to make a spectacular, game-ending grab.
The win for Anderson improved his record to 7-4, while the save for White was his 15th. Ken Roberts worked two scoreless relief innings to collect his 7th hold of the year.
The Drillers will begin their final series of the regular season on Saturday when they open a four-game set against Springfield with a doubleheader. The pitching matchup in the opener will feature Ryan Arrowood (7-0, 3.92 ERA) for the Drillers and Kyle Hald (10-4, 3.85 ERA) for the Cardinals. Game one has a scheduled starting time of 4:05PM while game two will begin at 7:05PM.