Drillers Fall to Naturals Again
Tulsa, OK – A difficult, season-opening home stand for the Tulsa Drillers came to an end Sunday afternoon at chilly ONEOK Field with the Drillers dropping their third straight game to Northwest Arkansas in a 13-3 defeat. Tulsa lost all three games to the Naturals despite holding leads in two
Tulsa, OK – A difficult, season-opening home stand for the Tulsa Drillers came to an end Sunday afternoon at chilly ONEOK Field with the Drillers dropping their third straight game to Northwest Arkansas in a 13-3 defeat. Tulsa lost all three games to the Naturals despite holding leads in two of the three games.
The contest concluded the short, three-game series and wrapped up the home stand for the Drillers. They will now travel to Arkansas to begin the first road trip of the season on Tuesday evening.
Sunday’s finale began positively for Tulsa when Taylor Young led off the bottom of the first with a base hit, and he eventually scored the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly.
After the Naturals tied the score in the top of the second, doubles from Yeiner Fernandez and Young in the bottom of the inning put the Drillers back in front, 2-1.
From there, eight unanswered runs from the Naturals erased the lead and solidified the outcome.
Northwest Arkansas outscored the Drillers in the three games 35-19 and out-hit them 26-45. The Naturals reached double figures in hits in all three games.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Sunday’s game was played under overcast skies and temperature at the start was 48 degrees. It was the first game of the series that was played completely without any form of precipitation falling.
*It is the first 0-3 start to a season for the Drillers since 2019. That was also the last time they began 0-3 at home.
*Three different Naturals totaled three RBI each in the game.
*The Drillers provided a candidate for the defensive play of the year to end the second inning. With the bases loaded, shortstop Sean McLain made a diving backhanded stop of a sharp grounder from Kyle Hayes and quickly relayed to second baseman Yeiner Fernandez to start an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
*In the season opener, Tulsa outfielder Damon Keith went 0-5 with five strikeouts. Since then, Keith has gone 3-5 and is now hitting .300 for the season.
*Fernandez was 2-3 in the series finale with both hits going for doubles. He upped his average to a team best .571
*In the three games, Tulsa pitchers had a 10.90 ERA.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers will now embark on their first road trip of the season. They will travel to Little Rock for a six-game series with the Arkansas Travelers, with the opening game scheduled for Tuesday evening. First pitch for the opener is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. and the starting pitchers are slated to be:
Tulsa – RHP Jerming Rosario (Season Debut)
Arkansas – LHP Adam Seminaris (Season Debut)