Drillers Held to Two Hits in Loss
TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers have struggled against left-handed pitching this season, and that trend continued Saturday night. Tulsa entered the night with a 5-8 record against left-handed starters and hitting just .235 against all southpaws. On Saturday, the Drillers could manage only two hits in six innings off
TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers have struggled against left-handed pitching this season, and that trend continued Saturday night. Tulsa entered the night with a 5-8 record against left-handed starters and hitting just .235 against all southpaws. On Saturday, the Drillers could manage only two hits in six innings off Arkansas Travelers southpaw Danny Wirchansky. Their final hit of the game came in the second inning, as Arkansas pitchers retired the final 20 Tulsa hitters in order. The result was a 3-0 loss for the Drillers at ONEOK Field.
It was a crucial game as Tulsa entered the contest trailing first-place Arkansas by 2.5 games. The loss gave the Travelers a 3.5 games lead over the Drillers and a 1.5 games lead over second-place Springfield in the Texas League’s North Division with seven games left in the first half.
Unlike the night before, the Travelers gained an early 2-0 advantage in the game. Ben Williamson led off the first inning with a bloop single to right and swiftly advanced to third base with a steal of second and a balk. Cole Young drew a walk, and ball four was a wild pitch from Tulsa starting pitcher Jacob Meador, allowing Williamson to score.
Alberto Rodriguez added the second run with a solo homer onto the right field berm.
Harry Ford singled to score Williamson in the fifth inning and increase the Travs lead to 3-0.
Wirchansky departed his scoreless start after the sixth inning, and the Travelers used three relievers to close the game. Jared Bayless, Travis Kuhn and Troy Taylor each tossed a scoreless inning, with Taylor recording his 12th save of the season and his seventh with the Travs.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The loss dropped Tulsa’s record back to a .500 record at 31-31.
*The two hits were a new season low for Tulsa hitters.
*The shutout loss was the was the Drillers fifth of the season.
*Relievers Sauryn Lao, Antonio Knowles, Edgardo Henriquez and Ben Harris held Arkansas scoreless over the final 4.2 innings. The four pitchers combined to strike out four batters.
*Meador made his Double A debut in a spot start after scheduled starter Jared Karros was placed on the Development List. It was a tough assignment for the right-hander as he was up at 3 a.m. on Saturday to make the trip to Tulsa from Dayton, Ohio. Meador completed 4.1 innings and gave up three runs on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
It, however, was not the first time the Dallas Baptist product has pitched in ONEOK Field. In 2020, when the Drillers fielded a team in the Texas Collegiate League while Minor League Baseball was shut down by COVID, he pitched for the Frisco RoughRiders in the opening game of the season and lost 3-2 to the Drillers.
*Dalton Rushing threw out two attempted base stealers in the game. It was the third time that he has spoiled two stolen base attempts in a game this season.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers and Travelers will play the final game of their six-game series on Sunday afternoon. Starting time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at ONEOK Field, and the starting pitchers are slated to be:
ARK – RHP Jimmy Joyce (0-2, 3.71 ERA)
TUL – LHP Justin Wrobleski (4-2, 3.41 ERA)