Drillers Hit Seven Homers in Comeback Victory
Tulsa OK – The Tulsa Drillers entered Tuesday morning’s series opener against San Antonio with a season high three-game losing streak, a stretch in which breaks didn’t seem to go the Drillers way. But back at home at ONEOK Field, the Drillers were on the right side of a huge
Tulsa OK – The Tulsa Drillers entered Tuesday morning’s series opener against San Antonio with a season high three-game losing streak, a stretch in which breaks didn’t seem to go the Drillers way. But back at home at ONEOK Field, the Drillers were on the right side of a huge break that helped them end the losing streak.
Trailing by a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, an inning-ending double play was negated by catcher’s interference that instead put runners at first and second. With the inning extended the Drillers took advantage of the good break when on the very next pitch, Jake Gelof blasted a three-run homer that put Tulsa in front to stay.
Gelof ignited a home run parade as two pitches later, Chris Newell made it back-to-back homers. From there, Tulsa hit three more homers, including another from Newell, and rallied for a 17-7 victory over the Missions, ending the three-game skid.
Tulsa totaled seven homers on the day, its most in a game since setting a regular season, franchise record with nine homers on May 17, 2022 at Amarillo. The 17 runs set a new season high, while 15 hits matched the season high.
The Drillers received offensive production throughout the lineup, with five players getting at least two hits.
One those five was Zyhir Hope, and he started Tulsa’s big day with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the first inning.
The Missions went in front 2-1 before Newell tripled and scored on a throwing error in the bottom of the third. Later in the inning, Hope belted a two-run homer that put the Drillers back in front 4-2.
A four-run fourth put the Missions on top again, but Josue De Paula got one of the runs back with a solo homer in the fifth inning. His drive to right-center carried 426 feet and easily carried the fence. It was his second home run of the season and cut the Missions lead to 6-5.
It stayed that way until the key events in the bottom of the sixth. With one out and Elijah Hainline at first, Joe Vetrano appeared to hit into an inning-double play, but on the swing, Vetrano’s bat made contact with the catcher’s glove. The catcher’s interference gave the Drillers a lifeline, and Gelof took advantage with his three-run homer that put Tulsa back in front.
Newell followed with a liner that cleared the fence just inside the right-field foul pole, upping the Drillers lead to 10-6.
San Antonio offered an immediate response, taking advantage of three walks and a base hit against Joel Ibarra to score a run and cut into the Tulsa lead. With the bases loaded and no outs, manager Eric Wedge called on Lucas Wepf and the right-hander delivered with a pair of strikeouts and a shallow fly out to leave the three base runners stranded and protect the Drillers 10-7 lead.
Tulsa finally put the game away with seven runs in the eighth inning. Kyle Nevin doubled home the first run before Vetrano hit a grand slam. Newell capped the big inning with his third hit and second home run of the day.
The victory improved the first-place Drillers record to 15-7.
GAME NOTES
*Every spot in the Tulsa lineup contributed to the big offensive day with eight of the nine spots recording at least one hit. Hainline was the only player without a hit, but he was on base three times with three walks.
*Newell and Kendall George led the attack with three hits each. It was the tenth multi-hit game of the season for George and his third three-hit game. It was the first three-hit game of the year for Newell and the sixth multi-homer game of his career.
*Gelof now has five home runs, tied for second-most in the Texas League.
*Vetrano’s grand slam was the second this season for a Tulsa hitter. Hope hit the first on April 12 at Springfield.
*Nevin’s RBI was his 21st in 21 games played.
*Starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski worked the first four innings and was charged with six runs on seven hits and two walks. The lefthander recorded five strikeouts.
*Reliever Myles Caba picked up the win for the Drillers in his Double-A debut. The lefthander allowed just one hit in two shutout innings, getting strikeouts on five of the six outs he recorded.
*Wepf nearly matched Caba’s line, allowing one hit in two scoreless frames while getting four strikeouts.
UP NEXT
The Drillers and Missions will play a second straight day game on Wednesday. First pitch for game two of their six-game series is set for 12:05 p.m. and the starting pitchers are scheduled to be:
SA - RHP Victor Lizarraga (0-3, 13.50 ERA)
TUL – LHP Evan Shaw (0-0, 5.00 ERA)