Mistakes Cost Drillers in Midland

MIDLAND, TX – Critical mistakes cost the Tulsa Drillers the opening game of a six-game series against the Midland RockHounds. The Drillers held three different leads in the opener, but five consecutive walks in the sixth inning and a dropped pop up in the eighth inning combined to hand Midland an 8-7 win on Tuesday afternoon at Momentum Bank Ballpark.

The loss was the Drillers fourth consecutive and the first against Midland, who is tied for the best record in the Texas League’s South Division.

BOX SCORE

Taylor Young got the Drillers off to a hot start by sending the second pitch of the game into the Drillers bullpen in right field for a leadoff homer.

The rain out from Sunday pushed pitcher Justin Wrobleski’s start to game one in Midland, and the lefty ran into hard luck in the first inning. Jacob Wilson began the bottom of the first with a double to right, and the throw back into the infield got away from Young. Wilson ran towards third base as Young quickly recovered and threw to the bag in plenty of time, but the RockHound’s leadoff man was ruled safe. One batter later, Wilson scored on a groundout to tie the game at 1-1.

The Drillers responded by scoring three runs in the second inning. Tulsa only needed two hits and was helped by two hit batters and a walk. Brendon Davis drove in the first run with a single, and Bubba Alleyne followed with a sacrifice fly. Dalton Rushing singled to score Tulsa’s third run and up the lead to 4-1.

The RockHounds brought the game within one run with an RBI double and an RBI groundout in the third inning.

Wrobleski exited the game in line for the win with two outs and nobody on base in the sixth inning. Ronan Kopp was tasked with recording the final out of the inning but could not do so. The big lefty issued five consecutive walks, leading to two runs and a 5-4 lead for the RockHounds. Sauryn Lao took over and struck out Cooper Bowman to end the inning.

Tulsa did not trail long as Griffin Lockwood-Powell delivered a two-run homer in the seventh to put the Drillers back in front.

Austin Beck added a run to the Drillers lead in the eighth inning. The former RockHound hit a solo blast to increase Tulsa’s lead to 7-5.

Midland quickly loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth and scored on Wilson’s single. Reliever Jack Little induced a strikeout and a pop out to record two outs. Shane McGuire followed with a pop up in short right field that looked to be the final out of the inning, but the ball was dropped, allowing the tying and go-ahead runs to score, giving Midland an 8-7 lead.

The Drillers could not respond in the ninth as RockHounds reliever Grant Holman worked around a one-out walk to close out the game.

INSIDE THE GAME

*The five consecutive walks issued by Kopp were the only walks Tulsa pitchers allowed all day.

*Little received the tough loss, dropping his record to 2-1.

*Yeiner Fernandez drew a walk in the second inning to increase his on-base streak to 20 consecutive games. It is the longest on-base streak for Tulsa this season and is currently tied for the second-longest active streak in the Texas League.

*The Drillers three home runs matched their season high. Tulsa now leads Double A with 33 home runs this season.

*The home runs by Lockwood-Powell and Beck gave them each four on the season.

*Alleyne finished 3-for-3 batting from the ninth spot. Drillers nine-hole hitters are now batting .308 for the season, which is the best in Double A.

*The four straight losses match a season high for Tulsa.

UP NEXT:

The Drillers and RockHounds will return to action, playing the second game of their six-game series, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night at Momentum Bank Ballpark. The starting pitchers are scheduled to be:

TUL – RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (1-2, 7.59 ERA)

MID – RHP Blake Beers (2-2, 6.00 ERA)