Drillers Beaten in 10 Innings in Road Trip Opener

The Tulsa Drillers opened a nine-game road trip Tuesday night in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">North Little Rock with a meeting against the Arkansas Travelers, and the closely contested game needed an extra inning to determine a winner.   After the Drillers failed to score in the top of the tenth, the Travelers needed just two batters in the bottom half of the inning to produce a win. Joe DeCarlo's RBI single brought home the winning run in a 4-3 victory for the Travs.
It was the third time that <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Arkansas had taken a lead in the game.
The Travelers went in front for the first time with a run in the top of the third inning off <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa starter Devin Smeltzer, then doubled the margin with another run in the fourth.
The Drillers cut the lead in half with their first run in the top of the fifth. D.J. Peters led off with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error. Luke Raley delivered the big, two-out hit with a single to right that scored Peters to make it 2-1.
Connor Joe leveled the score in the sixth. Joe's ninth home run of the season, a solo shot, made it 2-2.
<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Arkansas went back in front in the seventh. Yonathan Mendoza and Braden Bishop opened the inning with consecutive singles against Drillers reliever Andrew Istler. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mendoza eventually came home with the Travs third run of the night on Eric Filia's base hit.
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa's Yusniel Díaz erased the Travs' lead again with his third homer of the year with one-out in the eighth that tied the game at 3-3, setting the stage for extra innings.
As per the new rules in Minor League Baseball, the Drillers opened the top of the tent with a base runner on second. But, after a sacrifice bunt, Diaz and Joe both popped out to leave the score tied.
The Travelers did not waste their chance at a win as Chris Mariscal opened the inning with an infield hit that put runners at first and third. DeCarlo followed with his third hit of the game, a base hit to center, that brought home the winning run.
The result dropped the Drillers record to 2-2 in extra innings this season.
 
WHAT YOU MISSED
Smeltzer was charged with the two runs on eight hits in five innings of work. He walked just one batter and struck out two.
Outfielder Jacob Scavuzzo rejoined the Drillers on Tuesday. Scavuzzo had been in Triple-A, hitting .200 with 2 homers in 16 games. To make room on the roster, outfielder Tyler Colvin was placed on the disabled list.
The night began with only 1 ½ games separating the four teams in the Texas League's North Division standings. With the loss, <st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa falls 2 ½ games behind first-place <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Springfield with 14 games remaining in the first half.
<st1:state w:st="on">Arkansas out-hit <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa 14-6 in Tuesday's opener with no Drillers player collecting more than one hit.
*Dylan Baker was charged with the tough-luck loss, dropping his record to 3-4. 
WHAT'S NEXT
The Drillers and Travelers will continue their series Wednesday with a doubleheader at Dickey-Stephens Ballpark. The doubleheader was scheduled after the two teams were rained out on April 25. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 5:10 p.m. in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">North Little Rock. The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:
Game 1
TUL    Logan Bawcom (0-3, 4.43 ERA)
ARK   Max Povse (1-1, 4.58 ERA)
Game 2
TUL    Parker Curry (0-0, 2.70 ERA)
<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">ARK   TBA