Travs' Roth Stops Drillers
Arkansas pitcher Michael Roth appeared in 15 major league games for the Los Angeles Angels last season. Saturday night at ONEOK Field, he pitched like a major leaguer. The Travelers lefthander surrendered only six hits and one walk in seven shutout innings as Arkansas blanked the Tulsa Drillers 4-0.
The loss for the Drillers came before a crowd of 8,060, the second straight sellout at ONEOK Field and the 10th this season. Paid attendance for the four-game series with Arkansas totaled 28,392.
In Saturday's series finale, the Travelers gave Roth an early lead to work with, scoring in each of the first two innings against Tulsa starter Richard Castillo. In the top of the first, Maikol Gonzalez opened the night with a leadoff double and eventually scored on a ground out from Alex Yarbrough.
Designated hitter Eric Komatsu accounted for the scoring in the second inning. With two outs, Jett Bandy singled and Komatsu followed with his second homer of the season to make it 3-0.
Castillo settled in after the early runs, holding the Travs without another run until the sixth inning. Yarbrough opened the sixth with a double and scored on a two-out hit from Kaleb Cowart.
Roth departed after the seventh and the Drillers finally got on the board with a pair of runs off reliever Kurt Spomer in the eighth. Spomer recorded two quick outs before Cristhian Adames walked and Ryan Casteel singled. Another walk to Harold Riggins loaded the bases, and Jayson Langfels followed with a two-run single that cut the Arkansas lead in half.
David Carpenter replaced Spomer and got a ground out from Tyler Massey to end the threat and keep the Travs in front 4-2.
Carpenter worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close the game and pick up his fifth save of the season.
Castillo's record fell to 2-5 with the loss. He was charged with four runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings of work.
Dan Houston, in his first appearance since returning to the Drillers, worked 2.1 scoreless innings in relief of Castillo. Houston allowed only one hit while recording four strikeouts.
The victory for Roth improved his record to 5-4, while the seven shutout innings lowered his ERA to 2.57, the fourth best mark in the Texas League.
Rivera, Langfels and Adames had two hits each, accounting for six of Tulsa's eight hits.
The Drillers will open a four-game series against Springfield Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. Jon Gray (6-3, 3.66 ERA) will take the mound for Tulsa against Sam Gaviglio (3-8, 5.50 ERA) of the Redbirds. Starting time for the series opener is scheduled for 2:05PM.
NOTES: Tulsa made two more roster moves prior to Saturday's game. Outfielder Delta Cleary Jr. was promoted to Triple A Colorado Springs, while outfielder David Kandilas joined the Drillers from Class-A Modesto. Kandilas, a native of Australia, was hitting .264 with 23 extra-base hits and 13 stolen bases for the Nuts. The Drillers also announced that catcher Dustin Garneau was placed on the Disabled List and pitcher Kraig Sitton was activated from the Temporarily Inactive List.