Late Homer Barrage Gives Drillers Win Over Naturals

A familiar theme emerged again Sunday afternoon for the Tulsa Drillers. The Drillers have been the Texas League's most-prolific home run hitting team this season, and that power was on full display in the late innings of Sunday's 8-6 win over Northwest Arkansas at ONEOK Field. In a tightly-contested game, Tulsa got four homers in its final two at-bats to produce the victory and improve its record to 9-6.
The homer barrage began in the seventh inning. After the Naturals erased Tulsa's 3-2 lead with a run off reliever Corey Copping in the top of the seventh, the Drillers provided a quick response in the bottom half of the inning. On the first pitch of the inning from reliever Franco Terrero, Kyle Garlick lined a home run into the first row of the Busch Terrace beyond the left-field fence to put the Drillers back in front 4-3.
Northwest Arkansas answered with another run in the top of the eighth. Elier Hernandez led off by lining a pitch from Copping for a double. With one out, another double by Corey Toups off Josh Sborz plated Hernandez to make it 4-4 and setting up another immediate response from the Drillers.
Just like Garlick the previous inning, Drew Jackson lined the first pitch from Torrero in the bottom of the eighth into the bullpen in right-center field to put Tulsa back in front 5-4.
The Drillers bats made sure this lead would hold. After a two-out walk to D.J. Peters, Garlick, who has been nicknamed the "Sultan of Spice" by the Drillers social media team, struck again with an impressive blast off the hitter's background in straight-away center field to increase the lead to three runs.
Yusniel Díaz capped the uprising with the third homer of the inning. Diaz lofted a towering drive that landed past the Busch Terrace and made it 8-4.
The runs would prove to be valuable as the Naturals did not go down quietly in the top of the ninth, scoring twice and loading the bases with only one out. Newcomer Ariel Hernández escaped the jam by getting a strikeout and a ground out to finally put the resilient Naturals away and close out the win for Tulsa.   
Northwest Arkansas jumped to an early lead in the long game with a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning. A walk and an error by starting pitcher Yadier Álvarez set the stage for a two-out, two-run double from Donnie Dewees.
The Drillers scored in two straight innings to take the lead. A pair of two-out singles, sandwiched around a wild pitch, plated Tulsa's first run in the fourth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Errol Robinson reached on an error, and Luke Raley singled. D.J. Peters followed with a triple into the gap in right-center field that plated both base runners and put Tulsa in front 3-2.
WHAT YOU MISSED
Alvarez made his third start of the season on the mound for Tulsa, and after surviving a shaky first inning, turned in his best outing thus far. He needed 28 pitches to get through the two-run, top of the first inning, and just two pitches from reaching the Los Angeles Dodgers pitch limit for one inning. Alvarez then settled in, as he struck out the side in the second inning and did not allow a hit over his final 2.2 innings on the mound.
Before his homer in the eighth, Jackson had singled in his previous at-bat to extend his hitting streak to 11 straight games. Jackson was held without a hit in the season opener, but has gotten at least one hit in every game he has played since.
Jacob Scavuzzo also extended his hitting streak to nine straight games with a fourth-inning single.
Shea Spitzbarth turned in another solid performance out of the bullpen for the Drillers. Spitzbarth allowed just one base runner, a fifth-inning single by former Drillers infielder Erick Mejia, in 2.1 shutout innings. He was in line for another victory until the Naturals tied the game with the run in the seventh inning.
The high-scoring game lasted 3 hours and 25 minutes. Through seven home games at ONEOK Field this season, games have averaged 3:08 to complete with only two games taking less than three hours to finish.
Tulsa has now hit 29 home runs in just 15 games this season.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will head back on the road to open a four-game series in Little Rock Monday night with the Arkansas Travelers. It will be the first meeting this year between the two teams. First pitch for Monday's opener is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. Former Drillers pitcher Chase De Jong will take the mound for the Travelers:
TULSA              RHP Dennis Santana (0-1, 1.93 ERA)
ARKANSAS       RHP Chase De Jong (1-1, 4.24 ERA)