Naturals Drop Drillers to even Series
Springdale, AR – The Tulsa Drillers failed to hold an early 3-1 lead, as three errors and seven walks helped the Northwest Arkansas Naturals hand the Drillers an 8-4 loss on Friday night at Arvest Ballpark. The loss evened the series at two wins for both sides. All was not
Springdale, AR – The Tulsa Drillers failed to hold an early 3-1 lead, as three errors and seven walks helped the Northwest Arkansas Naturals hand the Drillers an 8-4 loss on Friday night at Arvest Ballpark. The loss evened the series at two wins for both sides.
All was not negative for Tulsa in the loss. Jose Ramos continued his tear, earning two more hits, which included his third straight game with a home run.
One of the three errors gave the Naturals the opening lead in the first inning when Yeiner Fernandez’s throwing error allowed Peyton Wilson to score from third base.
Tulsa answered with three runs over the second and third innings. The Drillers first two runs came in the second on Aaron Bracho’s sacrifice fly and Ezequiel Pagan’s solo homer. Ramos struck with his solo shot in third to give Tulsa a 3-1 lead.
Northwest Arkansas took the lead back in the bottom of the third as two walks, two stolen bases and three singles put them up 4-3.
Only one of the Naturals four final runs scored on a hit, with three runs scoring on an error, a passed ball, and a ground out. The lone run-scoring hit was Brett Squires’ triple.
John Rhodes worked one final run across for the Drillers with his RBI single in the eighth inning.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Ramos finished with two hits and increased his hitting streak to nine straight games. The streak ties Rhodes for the longest by a Tulsa player this season, and it is the longest for Ramos in his time with the Drillers. During the streak, he is 13-32 (.406) with six home runs and 12 RBI. Ramos also continues to lead the Texas League with seven home runs on the season.
*Ramos’ three-game home run streak is also the longest since Josh Stowers hit three in as many games on August 20-23, 2023. Two of Stowers’ home runs came against the Naturals.
*Four of the seven walks issued by Tulsa pitchers eventually scored.
*Pagan led Tulsa’s offense with three hits in the game.
*Six of the Naturals eight runs were charged to Tulsa starting pitcher Jerming Rosario, who received his third loss of the season. Only five of the runs were earned.
*Northwest Arkansas starting pitcher Henry Williams completed seven innings and held Tulsa to only three runs while improving his record to 3-0.
UP NEXT
The Drillers and Naturals will play again on Saturday night in game five of the six-game set. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. at Arvest Ballpark and the starting pitchers are scheduled to be:
Tulsa – RHP Jacob Meador (0-3, 9.53 ERA)
NW Arkansas – LHP Ryan Ramsey (2-0, 4.30 ERA)