Drillers Win Streak Ends with Shutout Loss
The Tulsa Drillers were involved in their third straight shutout Wednesday night, but this time they were on the wrong side of the scoreless outing. The Drillers were held to only two hits by four different San Antonio pitchers and dropped a 4-0 decision to the Missions before a sellout crowd of 8,288 at ONEOK Field. The loss ended a season high five-game winning streak for Tulsa.
The shutout spoiled a positive return to the mound for Drillers starting pitcher Chad Bettis. Bettis had not pitched since May 11 because of an oblique injury. The Texas Tech product allowed only two hits and one run in his five innings. The right-hander walked three hitters and struck out three.
Bettis was upstaged by Missions starter Matt Wisler. The right-hander surrendered only two hits and one walk in six shutout innings. He also collected six strikeouts while improving his San Antonio record to 4-3.
Wisler, who began the year at Single A Lake Elsinore, lived up to his billing with the shutout performance. He is rated the 7th best prospect in the San Diego Padres minor league system by MLB.com.
The Missions gave Wisler the only run he would need in the top of the fourth inning. Tommy Medica led off with a double, before consecutive walks from Bettis loaded the bases with no outs. Jake Blackwood lined out to second baseman Angelys Nina, but catcher Rocky Gale followed with a sacrifice fly that plated Medica to put the Missions in front.
The lead remained one run until the ninth inning when San Antonio put the outcome away with a three-run outburst. Yeison Asencio led off with a base hit against reliever Mike Marbry. Blackwood followed with a possible double-play grounder, but shortstop Joey Wong misplayed the ball for an error.
After a sacrifice bunt, Jeudy Valdez dropped a single in front of centerfielder Delta Cleary Jr. to score both base runners and give the Missions a 3-0 lead. Consecutive two-out singles by Rico Noel and Corey Spangenberg upped the margin to four runs.
San Antonio closer Matt Stites worked a quick, 1-2-3 ninth to complete the victory for the Missions and record his ninth save of the season.
The two hits from the Drillers matched a season low. One of the hits came from Tyler Kuhn leading off the bottom of the first, while Kiel Roling produced a two-out single in the fourth for the other one.
Roling represented Tulsa's final base runner in the game as Missions' hurlers combined to retire the last 16 hitters in a row.
The two teams will be back in action Thursday night with a baseball and fireworks doubleheader in celebration of the July 4 holiday. Tim Gustafson (5-5, 4.69 ERA) will take the mound for the Drillers against Donn Roach (5-8, 4.35 ERA) of San Antonio. Starting time is slated for 7:05PM in downtown Tulsa with the second of three straight Fireworks Shows taking place after the game.
NOTES: The sellout was the tenth this season at ONEOK Field, two short of the franchise high of 12 sellouts that was set in the stadium's inaugural season in 2010. . .The two teams wore special edition jerseys in the game. Tulsa's jerseys read "We Are Oklahoma" across the front, while San Antonio's featured "We Support Oklahoma." The Triple A Oklahoma City Red Hawks and Omaha Storm Chasers are also wearing similar jerseys. The Drillers will wear the tops again on Friday before they will be auctioned online with all proceeds benefitting the victims from this spring's tornadoes that struck the Oklahoma communities of Moore and Shawnee.