TULSA - The Tulsa Drillers perfect start to the second half of the season came to an end by inches Friday night at ONEOK Field. Josh Thole's bid for a game-winning, two-run hit in the bottom of the ninth inning was ruled inches foul before he grounded out on the
TULSA - The Tulsa Drillers perfect start to the second half of the season came to an end by inches Friday night at ONEOK Field. Josh Thole's bid for a game-winning, two-run hit in the bottom of the ninth inning was ruled inches foul before he grounded out on the next pitch to end a 4-3 defeat to the Amarillo Sod Poodles.
It was the first loss of the second half for the Drillers, dropping their record to 3-1.
Trailing 4-2, the Drillers made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. After Amarillo closer David Bednar retired the first two batters, Drew Avans drew a walk and Carlos Rincon singled. Jared Walker made it two straight hits when he lined a single into right field, scoring Avans to make it a one-run game.
Thole was summoned to pinch hit for third baseman Eric Peterson. With Rincon at third and Walker at first, Thole worked a 2-2 count before making a bid for a game winner by dropping a blooper into shallow left field, but home plate umpire Kyle Wallace ruled the ball fell just inches foul. As both Rincon and Walker crossed homeplate, the foul call brought boos from the sellout crowd and an argument from Tulsa manager Scott Hennessey.
After the runners returned to their bases, Thole grounded back to Bednar on the next pitch to end the game.
The Sod Poodles jumped to a 2-0 lead with the first run coming on a solo homer from Peter Van Gansen in the top of the third inning. The second run scored in the fourth when one-out singles by Brad Zunica and Ruddy Giron put runners at the corners. Van Gansen then delivered a perfectly executed safety-squeeze bunt that plated Zunica to make it a two-run game.
It took just one swing of the bat for the Drillers to level the score in the fifth inning. Rincon struck out but reached safely when the pitch rolled to the backstop. That set the stage for pinch hitter Chris Parmelee. Parmelee deposited the first pitch he saw from reliever Nick Kuzia into the right field bullpen for a two-run homer that tied the score at 2-2.
The third home run of the night put Amarillo back in front. Ivan Castillo led off the top of the seventh by lining a pitch from reliever Michael Boyle inches inside the left-field foul pole for his third homer of the season.
After Boyle retired the next batter, he was replaced by Ryan Moseley. Owen Miller drove Moseley's third pitch over the Busch Terrace in left field for the second homer of the inning, restoring the Poodles initial two-run lead.
WHAT YOU MISSED
Tulsa starting pitcher Victor Gonzalez turned in another good outing. In his seventh start since being promoted from Single A, the lefthander worked five innings, surrendering the two runs on five hits. He walked just one batter while striking out four. Gonzalez has now allowed two runs or less in six of those seven starts with the Drillers.
Former University of Oklahoma right-hander Blake Rogers, who normally pitches out of the bullpen, got the start on the mound for the Sod Poodles and blanked the Drillers in his four innings. He surrendered just two hits and did not issue a walk in what was just his third professional start.
Rincon's ninth-inning single with two out in the bottom of the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 13 straight games, a season high for a Drillers batter.
Reliever Edward Paredes made his 2019 debut, working the ninth inning for the Drillers. Paredes, who has pitched in 25 major league games with the Los Angeles Dodgers, allowed the first two batters to reach safely but retired three straight to keep Amarillo off the scoreboard.
*The loss for the Drillers was just their second this season at ONEOK Field to a South Division opponent. They are now 10-2 at home against South teams.
UP NEXT: Amarillo at Tulsa, Saturday, June 22, 7:05 PM at ONEOK Field. LHP Nick Margevicius (0-0, 4.50 ERA) versus RHP Dustin May (3-5, 4.11 ERA).
