O'Brien, Jackson Homer in Loss

Offense was hard to come by on Monday night for the Tulsa Drillers as they faced off against the Midland Rockhounds. Midland starter Kyle Friedrichs pitched six strong and cooled off the Drillers hot bats in a 7-3 win.
A windy Midland evening helped a pair of solo home runs for two of the the Drillers three runs. Peter O'Brien got the scoring started in the top of the third after he smashed a 2-0 pitch over the left-field wall for his first home run and RBI of the season. Drew Jackson added a second Tulsa run in the eighth after he hit his first homer of the season.
Yadier Álvarez got the nod for the Drillers and cruised through the first four innings, only allowing a pair of hits. The starter ran into trouble in the bottom of the fifth after walking the leadoff man and giving up a pair of singles to tie the game at 1-1.
With one out and runners at the corners, Michael Johnson came in and struck out the first batter he faced, but a Midland run scored when second baseman Jackson failed to handle a throw in an attempted steal, giving the Hounds a 2-1 lead.  
Midland would go on to score at least a run in the last four innings to increase its lead to 7-2.
With no outs in the ninth, the Drillers loaded the bases to make things interesting. But the comeback attempt fell short after a double-play ball and a ground out sealed a 7-3 win for the RockHounds in what was the second game of a three-game series.
WHAT YOU MISSED
The have had at least nine hits in each of the first four games of the season but were limited to a season-low seven hits on Monday.
O'Brien hit a homer, while also flashing a little leather. In the 4^th inning, the first baseman made a nice diving stop to his right to record an out.
Alvarez took the loss in this one despite pitching well. The starter gave up only one earned while striking out four in 4.1 innings.
Midland left fielder Tyler Ramirez is red hot against the Drillers. In the first two games of the series, he has had five hits, including three doubles and four RBI.
The Drillers struck out a season-low six times on Monday after striking out at least 10 times in each of the first four games.
The rotation will turn over for the first time this season as Santana will take the mound for Tulsa in the series finale. On opening day, he pitched 4.2 innings and struck out seven, while only giving up one run.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will play the last of a three-game set on Tuesday night in the rubbergame against the RockHounds. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Security Bank Ballpark in Midland. The pitching matchup will be:
TULSA             RHP Dennis Santana (0-0, 1.93 ERA)
MIDLAND        TBD