Drillers Bounce Back with 11-0 Win
TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers bounced back from a tough loss Tuesday night with one of their best performances of the season Wednesday morning and afternoon at ONEOK Field. The Drillers offense backed a strong outing from starting pitcher Ben Casparius with 11 runs from 15 hits and defeated
TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers bounced back from a tough loss Tuesday night with one of their best performances of the season Wednesday morning and afternoon at ONEOK Field. The Drillers offense backed a strong outing from starting pitcher Ben Casparius with 11 runs from 15 hits and defeated the first-place Springfield Cardinals 11-0 before a paid crowd of 7,409.
The shutout was the second this season for the Drillers.
The two teams have now split the first two games of their six-game series that will run through Sunday afternoon.
The bottom of the batting order gave Tulsa an initial lead in the second inning of Wednesday’s matchup that began at 11:00 a.m. Eighth-place hitter Brandon Lewis plated the first run of the game with an RBI single. Ninth-place hitter Bubba Alleyne followed with a drive just inside the right field foul pole for his first homer of the season that gave the Drillers a 3-0 lead.
The lead increased to five runs in the third inning thanks to consecutive run-scoring singles from Yeiner Fernandez and Brendon Davis.
The Drillers made it 6-0 in the fifth when Lolo Sanchez singled home Fernandez.
They added another run in the seventh on Griffin Lockwood-Powell’s solo homer before capping their big day with a four-run eighth inning. The big blow was a towering, three-run homer from Lewis that easily cleared the Budweiser Terrace beyond the left field wall.
It was plenty of offensive support for Casparius and the Drillers bullpen. Casparius turned in his second straight strong outing, blanking the Cardinals for 5.1 innings on only three hits with seven strikeouts.
The UCONN product is 2-0 in his last two starts, allowing 3 runs and six hits in 11.1 combined innings. Casparius now has a 2-1 record on the season with 34 strikeouts in 21.2 innings pitched.
Relievers Antonio Knowles, Juan Morillo and Ben Harris combined to preserve the shutout over the final 3.2 innings without allowing a hit.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The bottom half of the order accounted for much of Tulsa’s offensive production. Davis, hitting in the sixth spot in the order, finished a perfect 4-4 with 3 runs scored, and eighth-place hitter Lewis went 2-4 with his homer and 4 runs batted in. Ninth-place hitter Alleyne finished 2-5 with 3 runs driven in.
*The ninth spot in the batting order has been one of the most productive spots in the lineup for the Drillers. Tulsa hitters batting in the ninth position have a .295 average with ten runs batted in this season. It is the highest ninth spot batting average among all ten Texas League teams, 42 points ahead of second place Arkansas.
*Lockwood-Powell has now homered in three of his last four games.
*The three hits allowed by Tulsa pitchers matched a season low for a Drillers opponent. It was a reversal of Tuesday’s 6-2 loss for the Drillers when they were held to just three hits.
*Tulsa’s two shutouts this season are tied with Midland and Frisco for the most in the Texas League. Wednesday’s nine scoreless innings dropped the Drillers’ staff ERA to 3.86.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers and Cardinals will continue their six-game series with game three on Thursday night. Starting time is set for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
SPR – RHP Edwin Nunez (0-1, 8.44 ERA)
TUL – RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (1-1, 5.59 ERA)