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Drillers Cap Home Stand with Big Win

Making just his second start of the season, Roque Gutierrez allowed just one hit over five shutout innings to help the Tulsa Drillers to a 9-3 win Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. (Rich Crimi)
By Tulsa Drillers
5:08 PM EDT

Tulsa, OK – An impressive outing on the mound from Roque Gutierrez and a big day at the plate from Zyhir Hope helped lead the Tulsa Drillers to their second straight victory on Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. Making a spot start, Gutierrez delivered five shutout innings and allowed just

Tulsa, OK – An impressive outing on the mound from Roque Gutierrez and a big day at the plate from Zyhir Hope helped lead the Tulsa Drillers to their second straight victory on Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. Making a spot start, Gutierrez delivered five shutout innings and allowed just one hit, while Hope hit two home runs and drove in four runs. The heroics led the Drillers to a 9-3 victory over Springfield.

It was the series finale between the two teams, and despite the two-game winning streak, the Drillers were defeated in a home series for the first time this year. The Cardinals won the first four games of the six-game series before the Drillers claimed victories in the final two games.

BOXSCORE

Tulsa never trailed in the finale after generating the game’s first run in the second inning. Chris Newell worked a walk with one out and moved up 90 feet with his ninth stolen base of the season. Joe Vetrano brought him home with his two-out, opposite-field double.

The Drillers increased their lead to 5-0 with four more runs in the bottom of the third. Kendall George led off the inning with an infield single, and Jose De Paula drew a walk. After wild pitch from former University of Oklahoma hurler Braden Davis, Kyle Nevin plated George with a sacrifice fly.

On the very next pitch, Hope hit a towering, two-run homer down the right field line to increase Tulsa’s lead to 4-0.

The Drillers were not finished as consecutive walks to Newell and Frank Rodriguez set up an RBI single from Vetrano to cap the big inning.

Springfield got on the scoreboard in the sixth inning with help from Tulsa. Reliever Joel Ibarra came into the game for Gutierrez and walked all three batters he faced before being replaced by Myles Caba. Caba limited the damage to just two runs before escaping the inning with Tulsa’s lead trimmed to 5-2.

The Drillers answered with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the sixth. Sean McLain, George and De Paula produced three straight singles on the first five pitches of the inning to load the baes. Nevin’s second sacrifice fly of the game scored McLain.

In a repeat of the third inning, Hope followed and jumped on the first pitch he saw, belting his second home run of the afternoon. The three-run, opposite-field drive hit the top of the outfield wall in the deepest section of left-center field before caroming into the grass berm beyond the fence, giving the Drillers a 9-2 cushion.

It was more than enough offensive support for Gutierrez. In just his second start of the season, the right-hander was magnificent, allowing just one single and one walk while striking out three in his five-inning outing. He threw a total of 66 pitches, 44 for strikes.

Gutierrez improved his record to a perfect 4-0, matching Nick Robertson for the best mark on the team.

GAME NOTES

*Hope has homered in two straight games and now has a team-leading nine home runs on the season. He has reached double figures in homers just once in his professional career, and that was last year when he hit 13 for High-A Great Lakes. Hope joined Newell and Jake Gelof as the only Drillers to have two-homer games this season.

*De Paula and George both extended their hitting streaks to six straight games.

*Hope and De Paula are now tied for the team lead in RBI with 32 each. Nevin is right behind them with 31 runs driven in.

*George scored two more runs in the game and has scored 40 total runs in 36 games this season. He has also gotten at least one hit in 30 of the 36 games.

*Reliever Christian Reubeck closed the game with two perfect innings, retiring all six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth innings.

*Tulsa pitchers limited to the Cardinals to just four hits in the game

*For the second straight game, the two teams featured their alternate-identity names and uniforms. The Drillers played as the Tulsa Ranch Dippers while the Cardinals were the Springfield Cashew Chickens.

UP NEXT

The Drillers will be off on Monday before returning to action on Tuesday when they will open a six-game series in Wichita with the Wind Surge. It will be the first meeting of the season between the two teams and the return of the Coors Light Propeller Series. The Wind Surge is the current holder of the Propeller Trophy after winning last year’s season series.

Starting time on Tuesday is scheduled 6:35 p.m. and neither team has yet to announce a starting pitcher.