Drillers Outscored in Midland Finale

Midland, TX – The Tulsa Drillers closed out a road trip to west Texas on Sunday afternoon with a 13-10 loss to the Midland RockHounds. Despite the closing defeat, the Drillers finished with a 3-3 record in the series at Midland’s Momentum Bank Ballpark.

Tulsa will now return home for its final home stand of the 2026 regular season. The Drillers will open a six-game series with Wichita on Tuesday night at ONEOK Field.

BOXSCORE

In Sunday’s series finale, the RockHounds built a 6-1 lead by scoring in each of the first four innings. Luke Fox got the start on the mound for the Drillers after being activated from the Injured List Sunday morning. In the bottom of the first inning, Fox surrendered three singles and four walks while recording just two outs as Midland jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

The Drillers got on the scoreboard in the top of the second when Chris Newell walked, stole second and scored on a base hit from Frank Rodriguez.

Single runs from the RockHounds in each of their next three at-bats increased the lead to five runs, but the Drillers completely erased it in the seventh inning.

With two outs in the seventh and runners at first and second, six straight walks forced home five runs and tied the score at 6-6.

Any hopes of a Tulsa comeback quickly disappeared in the bottom half of the seventh. Ali Camarillo singled home the tiebreaking run before Cameron Leary delivered a three-run homer that put the RockHounds in front 10-6.

Three more runs in the bottom of the eighth against Tulsa reliever Myles Caba made it a seven-run lead.

Midland used infielder Euribiel Angeles to pitch the ninth inning and the Drillers took advantage to score four final runs. The first came on Jake Gelof’s 29th home run of the season.

Elijah Hainline, Jose Izarra and Taylor Young produced run scoring singles that brought Josue De Paula to the plate representing the potential game-tying run. De Paula swung at the first pitch from Angeles and grounded into a game-ending double play.

GAME NOTES

*With the loss, the Drillers remain on 78 victories for the season. They need one more win to break the franchise record for most victories in a season.

*Although he avoided being charged with the loss, it was a tough outing for Fox who was making just his third appearance after spending over three months on the injured list. Before his injury, the lefthander was 1-0 with a 2.29 ERA in four starts in April.

*De Paula finished 2-6, but he did not drive in a run, leaving him with 99 RBI. He needs one more RBI to become just the second Drillers player to have 100 runs scored and 100 RBI in the same season.

*Young and Newell joined De Paula with two hits each in the game. Newell also stole two bases and has 22 steals on the season.

*Gelof’s 29 home runs put him in a five-way tie for the fifth most homers in one season in Drillers franchise history. Joe Koshansky is in solo fourth place with 31 home runs in 2006. Tim Wheeler holds the franchise record with 33 in 2011.

*Midland pitchers combined to issue 11 walks in the game. In the last two games of the series, Tulsa batters walked 20 times.

*It was a crazy day of offensive numbers. Tulsa scored its 10 runs with 10 hits, 11 walks and 11 strikeouts. Midland scored its 13 runs on 15 hits and 8 walks. Of the 18 players who batted in the game, all but three had at least one hit.

UP NEXT

The Drillers will return to Tulsa and will open their final home stand of the regular season on Tuesday night at ONEOK Field. They will host the Wichita Wind Surge in a six-game series in the resumption of the Coors Light Propeller Series. The Drillers have already clinched the Propeller Trophy for this season’s series, holding a 14-4 lead after 18 matchups.
Tuesday’s opener will begin at 7:00 p.m. Pitching plans for the series have yet to be announced by either team.