Drillers Fall to Hooks in Season Finale

Jose Ramos hit his 19th home run of the season in the bottom of the ninth inning of Sunday's season finale but the Drillers fell 7-2 to Corpus Christi at ONEOK Field. (Rich Crimi)

September 17, 2023

TULSA, OK – The 2023 season concluded Sunday evening for the Tulsa Drillers with a 7-2 loss to the Corpus Christi Hooks at ONEOK Field. The Hooks took command of the game with five runs in the second inning, and the Drillers were held scoreless until the bottom of the

TULSA, OK – The 2023 season concluded Sunday evening for the Tulsa Drillers with a 7-2 loss to the Corpus Christi Hooks at ONEOK Field. The Hooks took command of the game with five runs in the second inning, and the Drillers were held scoreless until the bottom of the ninth inning.

Paid attendance for the finale was 5,204, upping the season total at ONEOK Field to 356,002. It will mark the first year since 1999 that the Drillers will lead the Texas League in attendance.

BOX SCORE

The game was decided with the Hooks’ big second inning. It came against Tulsa starter Orlando Ortiz-Mayr and featured the five runs on five hits. The biggest was a three-run homer from Garrett Wolforth.

Ortiz-Mayr allowed only one other hit in his five innings of work, but he suffered the loss that dropped his Double-A record to 3-8.

The Drillers were limited to four hits in the defeat. Half of the four came on back-to-back solo homers from Ismael Alcantara and Jose Ramos in the bottom of the ninth.

Umar Male, a 22-year-old from Uganda, finished 0-3 in his Double-A debut Sunday night.Rich Crimi

Corpus Christi starter Julio Robaina picked up the win to improve his record to 10-6. Robaina allowed just two hits in six shutout innings while collecting nine strikeouts.

With the defeat, the Drillers finished the year with an overall record of 65-73.

HIGHLIGHTS & HAPPENINGS

*The ninth-inning homer from Ramos was his 19th of the season.

*Tulsa finished the second half with a 24-45 record. The 24 wins were the fewest in a half for the Drillers in over 25 years. The 1997 Drillers squad won just 23 games in the first half of the 1997 season.

*Umar Male was Tulsa’s designated hitter in the finale and finished hitless in three at-bats. The 22-year-old Male is from Uganda, and was one of the first Ugandan-born players to sign a professional baseball contract when he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2022.

*On June 4, the Drillers were 19 games over .500 but finished with a 30-57 record over the final 87 games.

UP NEXT:

The Drillers are scheduled to open the 2024 season on Friday, April 5 at Northwest Arkansas. The 2024 home opener is set for Tuesday, April 9 when the Drillers will host the Arkansas Travelers at ONEOK Field.