Offense Quieted Again in 4-1 Defeat
After beginning their five-game series against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Wednesday tied for first place and coming off a four-game sweep of the Springfield Cardinals, the Tulsa Drillers felt pretty good about their chances in the first-half pennant race. But four days later, those positive feelings were nowhere to
After beginning their five-game series against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Wednesday tied for first place and coming off a four-game sweep of the Springfield Cardinals, the Tulsa Drillers felt pretty good about their chances in the first-half pennant race. But four days later, those positive feelings were nowhere to be found as Northwest Arkansas completed a five-game sweep of Tulsa to clinch the first-half title in the Texas League North Division as they defeated the Drillers 4-1 in front of a sellout crowd Saturday night at ONEOK Field.
The five-game sweep marked the first time that the Drillers have been swept in a five-game set at ONEOK Field. The last time the Drillers lost five straight to the same team was back in 2006 at Drillers Stadium where they dropped a five-game series to the Springfield Cardinals.
Over the five games, the Drillers offense batted just .220 compared to a .266 clip for the Naturals. Tulsa scored just 11 runs in the series while Northwest Arkansas crossed the plate 24 times. The Naturals had 5 players bat over .300 for the series, led by
Sopko worked in and out of trouble over the first three innings as the Naturals had a runner on third in each of the first three innings. But Sopko managed to wiggle out of trouble each time while keeping the Naturals off the board. Ogando on the other hand was dominant as he didn't allow a Drillers baserunner to reach second until the fourth.
The game changed in the sixth though as
The Drillers did get a run back in the home half of the inning.
But that would be as close as the Drillers would get as
Spitzbarth saw his record drop to 0-2 with his second loss of the series while Ogando improved his season record to 4-4 in the division-clinching victory.
The Drillers will now head to Springfield where they will play a four-game series against the Cardinals that will both wrap up the first half and begin the second half. Tulsa has yet to announce a starter for Sunday's series opener while Springfield is scheduled to send out RHP