Travelers Send Drillers to 3rd Straight Loss

Tulsa, OK - The Tulsa Drillers closed a four-game series with Arkansas Wednesday night with a narrow 3-2 loss to the Travelers at ONEOK Field. It was the third straight loss to the Travs for the Drillers, but it was a much different game than the previous two.   Arkansas had defeated Tulsa by a combined 25-6 in the first two losses.
The outcome dropped the Drillers second-half record to 15-11 and left them two games behind red-hot Springfield. The Cardinals posted their seventh straight win on Wednesday and have overtaken Tulsa for first-place in the North Division standings of the Texas League.
Wednesday's game had a similar beginning to the previous two for Tulsa as the Travelers took a lead before the Drillers batted for the first time. In the top of the first, Ian Miller singled on Josh Sborz's second pitch of the game, stole second and scored the game's first run on a base hit by Kyle Waldrop.
Arkansas doubled its lead to 2-0 with another run in the fourth. Dario Pizzano led off with a base hit and advanced to third when Tyler Marlette followed with a double. Pizzano came home on a ground out from Joey Wong.
Tulsa got its first run in the bottom half of the fourth. Henry Ramos led off and reached safely when second baseman Nelson Ward misplayed his grounder for an error. Blake Gailen plated Ramos when he grounded a two-out hit into right field.
The Drillers tied the game in the fifth when a two-out double by Errol Robinson scored Garrett Kennedy, who had drawn a leadoff walk.
The Travelers had a quick answer, retaking the lead in the top of the sixth. Pizzano opened the inning with a double, and he was still at second base with two outs when Wong delivered the clutch hit. The former Driller singled to left, to score Pizzano and put the Travelers back in front, 3-2.
Sborz turned in a quality start, but he was charged with the loss that dropped his record to 4-7. The right-hander worked the first six innings, surrendering three runs on nine hits. Sborz walked just one batter and struck out six.
Tulsa was held to just seven hits, but one of those was Robinson's fifth-inning double which extended his hitting streak to eight straight games, one game away from matching a season high for a Drillers batter.
The Drillers will now take to the road for their next seven games, opening with a four-game series at Northwest Arkansas. The series will begin Thursday night in Springdale with David Hale (0-0, 5.79 ERA) pitching the opener for the Drillers against Glenn Sparkman (0-0, 5.06) of the Naturals. Starting time at Arvest Ballpark is slated for 7:05 p.m.