Little Rock, AR - After being shutout for the first 8 innings of Friday night's ballgame against the Arkansas Travelers, things did not look very promising for the Tulsa Drillers as they entered the ninth trailing 2-0. But with two outs in the ninth, an infield single and a two-run
Little Rock, AR - After being shutout for the first 8 innings of Friday night's ballgame against the Arkansas Travelers, things did not look very promising for the Tulsa Drillers as they entered the ninth trailing 2-0. But with two outs in the ninth, an infield single and a two-run homer by Peter O'Brien tied the contest at 2-2 as the Drillers appeared on the verge of winning their 9th straight game. However, the Travs had other plans as they brought an end to Tulsa's season-high winning streak with a walk-off base hit in the bottom of the tenth inning to defeat the Drillers 3-2.
The loss put a damper on a strong start from Scott Barlow who was transferred back to Tulsa from Oklahoma City on Thursday. Barlow tossed six strong innings for the Drillers as he allowed just two runs on four hits while racking up nine strikeouts.
Arkansas plated its first run of the game in the bottom of the second as Marcus Littlewood hit a solo shot over the right field fence for his seventh homer of the season.
Three innings later, the Travs added another run thanks to a leadoff walk issued by Barlow. Former Driller Joey Wong took a four-pitch walk from Barlow to begin the inning before moving to second on a wild pitch. He then came home to score on a ground-rule double off the bat of Kyle Waldrop to put Arkansas in front 2-0.
Meanwhile, Arkansas starter Lindsey Caughel kept the Drillers off-balance at the plate as he allowed only three hits over seven shutout innings of work. Two of those hits came from Matt Beaty who recorded his fifth consecutive, multi-hit game while extending his personal hitting streak to nine games.
Ryan Kelly came on in relief for Caughel in the eighth and appeared as though he might cough up the lead with a one-out walk to Garrett Kennedy and a base hit surrendered to Drew Jackson. But he kept the shutout intact for another inning as he got Errol Robinson to ground into a double play to end the threat.
After Barlow exited the game in following the sixth, Michael Johnson and Brian Moran combined to toss three innings of scoreless relief to send the game into extra innings following O'Brien's blast.
Unfortunately, Moran was not able to maintain the same pace in the tenth inning as Wong got things started again with a walk to start the frame. Following a throwing error from Moran on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Braden Bishop, Chuck Taylor brought a cruel end to the game as he chopped a grounder over O'Brien at first base to score Wong and overcome the Tulsa comeback.
Moran took his first loss of the season with Tulsa while Arkansas reliever Zac Curtis earned the victory by tossing the final two innings of the ballgame.
The Drillers will look to start a new winning streak Saturday night as they play the third contest of their four-game set against the Travs. Getting the start for Tulsa will be RHP Yadier Álvarez (0-0, 3.12 ERA) while Arkansas will send out RHP Justin DeFratus (5-5, 4.74 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 PM at Dickey Stephens Park.
