Hope’s Big Night Gives Drillers 7-3 Win

Tulsa, OK – After being named the Texas League’s Player of the Week for his performance last week, Tulsa Drillers outfielder Zyhir Hope continued to swing a hot bat on Wednesday night at ONEOK Field. After falling behind early, the Drillers managed to overcome four errors by using three home runs, with two from the bat of Hope as he drove in five of Tulsa’s seven runs in a 7-3 victory over the Springfield Cardinals at ONEOK Field.

The win was the Drillers second straight and the fourth win over Springfield in their last four matchups.

Tulsa is now in sole possession of first place in the second half, Texas League North Division standings with a 10-4 record. It is the first time the Drillers have been atop the North Division in the second half.

BOXSCORE

The Drillers fell behind early for the second straight night as the Cardinals scored their first run when Tre Richardson III singled to drive in Ryan Campos in the second inning.

One inning later, the Cards produced an unearned run as Dakota Harris reached base on Jake Gelof’s throwing error and scored on Travis Honeyman’s triple for a 2-0 lead.

Tulsa got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third with a three-run, two-out rally. Mike Sirota drove in the first run when he extended his on-base streak with a triple that scored Jose Izarra. Hope was responsible for the next two runs, hitting his first homer to give the Drillers a 3-2 lead.

Another error helped the Redbirds tie the game in the fourth inning. With two outs, Harris reached second base on a fielding error and was again driven in by Honeyman.

The game was not tied for long as Chris Newell put Tulsa back on top 4-3 when he led off the bottom of the fourth with his 16th home run of the year.

Tulsa starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski battled through three errors to complete five innings in his 17th start this season. He was charged with three runs, with only one being earned, and he exited the game with Tulsa holding the lead.

The score remained 4-3 over the next three innings before Hope provided three insurance runs with his second home run of the night to put Tulsa up 7-3.

Roque Gutierrez followed Serwinowski on the mound and kept Springfield scoreless for the next 3.1 innings.

Kelvin Ramirez took over for Gutierrez in the ninth to record the final two outs to close out the game.

GAME NOTES

*For Hope, it was his third multi-home run game this season and his second against the Cardinals. He now leads the Drillers with 18 homers this season. In seven games in July, he is hitting .500 with 5 home runs and 17 RBI.

*It was the 32nd come-from-behind win of the season for Tulsa.

*With his performance, Serwinowski earned his seventh win and his sixth in his last nine starts to improve his record to 7-2. He is now tied with Wyatt Crowell for the second most wins in the Texas League. He also ranks third in the league with 94 strikeouts.

*The two teams combined for seven errors with the Drillers recording four to match a season high for the third time this season.

*The Drillers defense saved two runs with two groundball outs at home plate.

*Sirota’s third-inning triple made it 70 straight games that he has reached base safely. It is the longest single-season, on-base streak in Minor League Baseball since Andrew Velasqez reached base in 74 straight games for Class-A South Bend in the 2014 season. Sirota has reached base in all 40 games he has played in since joining the Drillers on May 19. Before his promotion to Tulsa, the outfielder reached base in his final 30 games with High-A Great Lakes.

*Gelof’s 44 game on-base streak, the longest in the Texas League this season, came to an end as he finished 0-4 with one strikeout.

UP NEXT

The Drillers and Cardinals will continue their series with game three on Thursday night at ONEOK Field. Starting time is again scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:

Springfield – RHP Chen-Wei Lin (2-3, 4.28 ERA)
Tulsa – RHP Payton Martin (4-2, 4.46 ERA)