Deja Vu: Humphries Does It Again

TULSA - For the second game in a row Brian Humphries delivered a walk-off hit to down the Hooks, this time a two-out, ninth-inning single to score Joey Wong from second, and give Tulsa an 8-7 win in front of a sellout crowd of 8,354 at ONEOK Field Monday night.

Reliever Richard Rodriguez (0-2) was the fourth pitcher of the night for Keith Bodie's club and started the ninth inning. Rodriguez allowed a leadoff single to Joey Wong, who moved to second on a wild pitch. With two outs, Humphries stood in and lined an 0-2 pitch to left field to score Wong and lift Tulsa to their third walk-off win in four games.

Corpus Christi finished the month of June without winning a series, losing 5 of 7 and splitting the other two. The club went 9-18 in the month.

Runs were easy to come by in the first six innings, with the Hooks and Drillers exchanging blows against battered pitching staffs.

Tony Kemp led off the game with a home run against Tulsa starter Tyler Anderson, Kemp's first Double-A home run. The Drillers got the run back with a run in the second against Hooks starter Brady Rodgers.

Corpus Christi scored one each in the fourth and fifth, while Tulsa benefited from Jared Simon's two-run homer in the fourth. Through five and a half innings the score was 3-3.

The clubs traded four-spots in the bottom of the fifth and top of the sixth. In the home half of the fifth Wong and Trevor Story hit consecutive doubles to put the Drillers back up by one. Ryan Casteel reached on a throwing error by Jonathan Meyer to put runners at second and third and chase Rodgers from the game. Rodgers allowed six runs, four earned, on six hits in four and one-third innings.

Mitch Lambson came out of the bullpen and retired Humphries, but he threw a wild pitch that plated Story before Taylor Featherston hit an opposite field home run to make it 7-3 Tulsa.

In the very next half inning, Josh Mueller relieved Drillers' starter Tyler Anderson. Anderson went five innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on eight hits. Mueller did not record an out, allowing two triples and walking two. Southpaw Ken Roberts came on next and allowed a sacrifice fly, before escaping the inning with the score square at seven.

Roberts (5-2) was the hero for Tulsa, saving a heavily-used bullpen by tossing a season-high four shutout innings.

Each team had chances late in the game, as the Hooks had men in scoring position in the eighth and ninth innings, but hit into inning-ending double plays both times. The Drillers loaded the bases with one out in the eighth inning, but Jordan Jankowski struck out the final two hitters to end the threat.

The Hooks are off Tuesday before they start a six-game homestand Wednesday against Springfield, with Tulsa coming to town Saturday.