Tulsa Splits Doubleheader with Arkansas.
Tulsa, OK – The Tulsa Drillers and Arkansas Travelers played a doubleheader Thursday night at ONEOK Field, and the two games followed similar scripts but had much difference results. In the first game, the Drillers held off a late rally from the Travelers to post a 6-5 victory. In game
Tulsa, OK – The Tulsa Drillers and Arkansas Travelers played a doubleheader Thursday night at ONEOK Field, and the two games followed similar scripts but had much difference results.
In the first game, the Drillers held off a late rally from the Travelers to post a 6-5 victory. In game two, Tulsa again held a lead heading into the final two innings, but the Travelers erupted for six late runs and rallied for a 7-2 victory, giving the two teams a split of the twin bill.
With the two results, Tulsa is 2-1 in the first three games of a six-game series with the first-place Travelers.
In Thursday’s opener, the Drillers scored in only one inning, but they made it a big one, plating six runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The six runs matched their largest inning of the season and that came the day before in a 12-10 win over the Travelers.
Arkansas used a balk to score the opener’s first run in the top of the first inning, and the game remained 1-0 until Tulsa’s six-run outburst.
In that game-deciding fifth inning, newcomer Nick Senzel accounted for the first runs. With the bases loaded and no outs, the former major league infielder lined a double into left field that scored two runs and put the Drillers in front.
After an infield ground out scored a third run, Damon Keith blasted a three-run homer that upped the Tulsa lead to 6-1. Keith’s blast traveled 460 feet and had an exit velocity of 115 m.p.h.
After the first-inning balk, Tulsa starting pitcher Jared Karros blanked the Travs over the next four innings. That streak ended when Nick Raposo homered leading off the top of the sixth.
After the homer, the Drillers called on Lucas Wepf from the bullpen. Wepf gave up consecutive hits that produced another run for the Travelers, before another balk gave them their fourth run.
Wepf escaped the sixth, and Antonio Knowles came on for the seventh and final inning to protect the 6-4 lead. After a strikeout, Josh Hood made things even more uncomfortable for the Drillers, hitting a solo homer that trimmed the lead to just one run.
Knowles recovered and got a ground out and a pop out to preserve the win for Tulsa.
In the second game, the Drillers again carried a lead into the later innings, but they were unable to hold off the Travelers for a second time.
Tulsa’s only offense in the nightcap came in the second inning against Arkansas starter and former Detroit Tigers pitcher Garrett Hill. John Rhodes doubled home Keith, who had singled, for the game’s first run. A two-out single from Chris Newell gave the Drillers a 2-0 lead.
Arkansas did not score in the first two innings despite putting multiple runners on base in both. Tulsa starter Jerming Rosario continued to work into trouble in the third. A pair of walks eventually set up a run-scoring grounder for the Travelers that cut the Drillers lead in half.
The game remained 2-1 until the top of the sixth when the Travelers took the lead with a pair of runs against reliever Ronan Kopp. Two singles, followed by a wild pitch and another single, plated the two runs.
A four-run seventh for the Travs, highlighted by a three-run homer from Julio E. Rodriguez, put the game out of reach.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Karros was credited with his first win of the season in game one, improving his record to 1-1. The right-hander officially worked 5.0 innings and was charged with two runs on eight hits and two walks.
*Tulsa pitchers were called for three balks in the doubleheader.
*Senzel was added to the Tulsa roster on Thursday afternoon after signing a minor league, free agent contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He replaced Bubba Alleyne, who was released by the Dodgers. Senzel was the second pick in the 2016 amateur draft out of the University of Tennessee and has played six seasons in the majors. He spent five seasons with the Cincinnati Reds and split last season with the Washington Nationals and Chicago White Sox.
*Former Drillers reliever Michael Hobbs worked two scoreless innings behind Hill to collect his third save of the season.
*In the second game, the two teams were a combined 5-24 with runners in scoring position.
*Kopp was charged with the loss in game two, dropping his season record to 0-3.
*Keith was a combined 4-7 in the two games.
UP NEXT
Tulsa and Arkansas will continue their series on Friday night at ONEOK Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the pitching matchup will be:
Arkansas – LHP Adam Seminaris (1-1, 1.47 ERA)
Tulsa – RHP Jacob Meador (0-3, 7.80 ERA)