Late Midland Rally Stuns Tulsa

The Drillers came into Saturday night winners of 8 of their last 10 contests to put themselves just a single game out of first in the Texas League North Division. But the South Division-leading RockHounds mounted a late rally as Midland came from behind to steal a 5-4 win against Tulsa at Security Bank Ballpark.

Midland jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Three straight singles by the RockHounds plated the first run of the game followed by a two-out, RBI single from Ryon Healy to score the second run of the frame off Tulsa starter Chris Anderson.

Facing Midland starter and Oklahoma native Dillon Overton in the fourth, Tulsa tied things up.

Brandon Dixon, playing in his first game back with the Drillers since being recalled from Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, hit a two-run bomb to the opposite field to knot things up at 2 apiece.

The blast was Dixon's 6th of the year with the Drillers and his 17th overall home run between his time with Tulsa and Rancho Cucamonga this season.

Kyle Farmer and Erisbel Arruebarrena kept the rally going with consecutive base knocks before Yadir Drake scored Farmer with an RBI single of his own to put the Drillers up 3-2.

Back-to-back, extra-base hits extended the Tulsa lead in the sixth off reliever Jeff Urlaub. A Brandon Trinkwon triple followed by a double from Farmer pushed the Driller lead to 4-2 as things appeared promising for a Drillers victory.

Momentum seemed to be firmly on the Tulsa side in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Drillers made several strong defensive plays, highlighted by a spectacular double play that was started thanks to a diving play from Arruebarrena at third.

But the RockHounds proved baseball can be a funny game sometimes as they tied things up in the bottom of the seventh inning thanks to a costly throwing error by the same Arruebarrena.

After recording two quick outs, Bruce Maxwell kept the inning alive for Midland with a two-out base hit. Anderson looked as though he would be able to work around the hit as he induced a ground ball to third off the bat of Wade Kirkland. Arruebarrena fielded the ball on one knee and decided to make an ill-advised throw to second before getting back up to his feet. The throw sailed into right field, allowing Maxwell and Kirkland to move to second and third.

The shift in momentum prompted Tulsa manager Razor Shines to summon reliever Caleb Dirks from the bullpen to try and preserve the Drillers advantage. But Nick Rickles foiled the strategy as he knocked both runners home with a full-count, two-out, RBI single to center that knotted things up at 4-4.

Although Dirks gave up the base hit, the runs were charged to Anderson who had turned in a rugged performance. Making his fifth start in search for his elusive 10th win of the season, Anderson ended up with a no-decision following the late Midland comeback.

Juan Jaime came in to pitch the eighth inning for Tulsa, but began the inning by issuing a four-pitch walk to Colin Walsh. That walk would prove costly as Chad Pinder eventually knocked in Walsh with the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly. The run also gave Pinder his Texas League-leading 78th RBI of the year.

Seemingly stunned by the late RockHounds rally, the Drillers were retired in order in the eighth and ninth innings to end the ballgame and complete the Midland comeback.

Ryan Doolittle picked up the win for Midland as he pitched a clean top of the eighth inning, striking out all three Tulsa batters he faced. Seth Frankoff then came in and picked up his 7th save of the year with the 1-2-3 ninth.

The Drillers will look to bounce back from the tough loss Sunday afternoon as they wrap up the series and the road trip against the RockHounds with the game scheduled to begin at 2:00PM. MLB veteran Eric Stults (3-2, 2.72 ERA) will get the starting nod for Tulsa while Sean Manaea (2-1, 3.51 ERA) will oppose him for Midland.