Dickerson Slams Springfield

Game 2 of a four game set between the Drillers and the Springfield Cardinals on Saturday night was supposed to feature a pitching matchup of 2 players who have spent significant time in the major leagues this season. After Tyler Chatwood was recalled to the Rockies in the afternoon, Joe Gardner was announced as the new Tulsa starter to square off against Jamie Garcia of the Cards. Although most of the pre-game build up was geared towards pitchers, it was Corey Dickerson's night at the plate that made the difference. The lefty blasted 2 homeruns, including a grand slam to lead the Drillers to a 7-3 victory.

The first couple innings looked as if runs would be very hard to come by with both pitchers cruising through the opposing lineups. That is until the game's hero stepped to the plate for his second at-bat.

Dickerson ruined Garcia's perfect game and shutout bid with one swing of the bat to lead off the top of the fourth inning. The Tulsa left fielder drove Garcia's offering deep over the right field fence for his 8th homerun of the season with the Drillers.

Dickerson drove in another run in the very next inning to give the Drillers a 2 run advantage. Warren Schaeffer and Joe Gardner both registered hits with 2-outs to set the table for Dickerson. The single for Gardner was his second base hit of the season.

Gardner was not only sharp in the batter's box; he retired 14 of the first 15 Cardinal hitters that he faced. The one mistake that the Tulsa starter made came in the bottom of the fifth and it allowed Springfield to tie the game at 2. After Gardner hit Audry Perez with a pitch, Adam Melker stepped to the plate and delivered his 7th homer of the season.

Nolan Arenado gave the Drillers the lead back in the top of the sixth with a homerun of his own. The blast was Arenado's 9th of the season and put Tulsa up by the score of 3-2.

The Cardinals came back to tie the score in the bottom of the ninth off of reliever Josh Sullivan. Texas League All-Star Game MVP Oscar Taveras led off the inning with a single and then stole second base. An errant throw by Jose Gonzalez allowed Taveras to reach third base with nobody out. Sullivan was wild with a pitch 2 batters later that got past Gonzalez and led to Springfield's third run of the night.

After two scoreless extra innings, the Drillers finally broke through and put the game out of reach. Chris Petit doubled to begin the 12th and advanced to third after a single and a sacrifice bunt. Pinch hitter Ben Paulsen was intentionally walked to load the bags for Dickerson who made reliever Keith Butler pay. Dickerson belted his second homer of the night to right field, this time he cleared the bases for a grand slam.

Zach Simons came in to finish the game for Tulsa and secure the 7-3 win. Joe Torres, who pitched 2 brilliant innings of relief, earned his second win of the season.

Garcia's final pitching line was 4 and 1/3 inning, 2 hits, 1 earned run, and 6 strikeouts. Butler earned the loss for Springfield, his first of the season.

Game 3 between these two teams will be on Sunday night with a first pitch scheduled for 6:08PM.