Drillers Drop Road Trip Finale in San Antonio

The Tulsa Drillers wrapped up the longest road trip of the season Sunday night with a 5-1 loss in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Antonio.   With the defeat, the Drillers finished the 10-game trip with a 4-6 record.
Despite the losing trip, the Drillers remain in the thick of the second-half pennant race in the Texas League's North Division. They trail the first-place Springfield Cardinals by three games with 20 games remaining in the regular season.
Sunday's finale in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Antonio was decided in the second inning when the Missions scored five times to take a lead they would not relinquish. The first four batters of the inning reached safely against <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa starting pitcher Dennis Santana on a walk, a hit batter, a single and another walk to put the Missions in front.
A dropped fly ball by centerfielder Yusniel Díaz gave the Missions a second run before Luis Urías ended Santana's night with a two-run single that made it 4-0. The fifth run of the inning came home on a wild pitch by reliever Tim Shibuya.
It was more than enough support for <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Antonio starting pitcher Brett Kennedy. Kennedy allowed only six hits and one run in seven innings to pick up his Texas League leading 12^th win of the season. The right-hander did not walk a batter while striking out ten.
The only run for the Drillers came in the sixth inning when Drew Jackson led off with a double. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jackson advanced to third on a base hit by Erick Mejia and scored on a sacrifice fly from Matt Beaty.
<st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa lost despite out-hitting <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Antonio 9-6 in the game.
Santana's record dropped to 1-1 with the defeat. He was charged with the five runs on only two hits in 1.2 innings of work.
Shibuya was effective out of the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa bullpen, surrendering only two hits in 4.2 shutout, relief innings.
The Drillers will now have an off day on Monday before opening six-game homestand Tuesday night at ONEOK Field. <st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa will host <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Corpus Christi for three games before the Missions come to town for three more.
In Tuesday's opener, the Drillers will face one of the Houston Astros top pitching prospects in Cionel Pérez. Perez is rated as the 10^th best prospect in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Houston's farm system. The lefthander, who was 6-4, with a 3.90 ERA in Class-A this season, will be making his Double-A debut. The Drillers have not announced a starting pitcher for the opener.
Starting time on Tuesday is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at ONEOK Field.