Drillers Open Road Trip with 7th Straight Win

North Little Rock, AR - The Tulsa Drillers opened their final road trip of the regular season Tuesday night by extending their winning streak to a season-best seven straight games with a 7-1 victory over the Arkansas Travelers in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Little Rock.
The win allowed the Drillers to keep pace with first-place <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Springfield. The Cardinals remained one game in front of <st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa in the North Division standings of the Texas League with a victory over <st1:place w:st="on">Northwest Arkansas. There are only 13 games remaining in the TL's regular season schedule.
The Drillers scored in three straight innings and never trailed in Tuesday's victory over the Travelers. They opened the scoring in the second when Kyle Garlick led off with a base hit against former Drillers pitcher Chase De Jong. A double by Erick Mejia put runners at second and third, setting up a sacrifice fly from Garrett Kennedy that scored Garlick to put <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa in front 1-0.
In the third, Errol Robinson and Matt Beaty drew consecutive walks from De Jong, before a one-out single by Yusniel Díaz loaded the bases. Garlick then hit a groundball to third that could have been an inning-ending double play, but second baseman Nelson Ward's relay throw to first was wild, allowing Robinson and Beaty to both score to make it 3-0.
Johan Mieses upped the lead to four runs when he led off the fourth inning with his 13^th homer of the year.
<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tulsa starting pitcher Josh Sborz blanked the Travelers through the first five frames. His shutout bid ended in the sixth when <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Arkansas loaded the bases with three singles, and Seth Mejias-Brean brought home a run with a sacrifice fly.
The Drillers extended their lead to 7-1 when the first five batters in the top of the seventh reached safely against reliever Blake Perry. Kennedy drew a walk, and Drew Jackson was hit by a pitch from Perry. After Robinson singled to load the bases, a base hit by Beaty plated Kennedy. Rehabbing Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier followed with a two-run single that gave Tulsa a six-run lead.
It was plenty of offensive support for Sborz, who collected his fourth straight win to improve his record to 8-7. The right-hander allowed only four hits and one run in six innings of work.
De Jong, who opened the year in the majors with the Seattle Mariners after being named the Texas League Pitcher of the Year last season while with the Drillers, allowed six hits and three earned runs in four innings. The defeat dropped his Double-A record to 0-2.
The Drillers will look to continue their winning streak Wednesday evening with the second game of their four-game series with the Travelers. Andrew Sopko (3-6, 4.26 ERA) will take the mound for <st1:city w:st="on">Tulsa against Aaron West (0-2, 2.19 ERA) of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Arkansas. First pitch at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Dickey-Stephens <st1:placetype w:st="on">Park is scheduled for 7:10 p.m.