Drillers Ride Big First Inning to Victory Over Travs

The Tulsa Drillers bats came into Saturday night's game very hot against the Arkansas Travelers. A huge first inning and a great start by Frank Duncan was all the Drillers needed to secure an 8-2 victory in front of a sellout crowd at ONEOK Field.
The Drillers offense sent ten men to the plate and exploded in the bottom of the first. Luke Raley and Connor Joe each singled to start things off, and then Zach Reks and Ceal Brockmeyer each knocked in a run with singles. Tyler Goeddel then smashed a two-run double, and Peter O'Brien capped the inning off with a line drive homer to left that had an exit velocity of 113 MPH to give Tulsa an early 6-0 lead.
Raley started another Drillers rally in the bottom of the fourth by singling. D.J. Peters then doubled to left-center that plated Raley, but Peters was caught in between second and third trying to leg out a triple and was thrown out. Joe then doubled, and Reks singled him home to extend the lead to 8-0.
After the probable starter was scratched shortly before the game, Frank Duncan got the nod on the mound on short notice and dominated the Travelers for six innings. He had allowed a man to reach second in each of the first and fourth innings, but that was as close as the Travs came to scoring against the righty.
The only runs of the night for the Travelers did not come until the top of the ninth when Joe DeCarlo hit a two-run homer to put Arkansas on the board. But it would not be nearly enough, as the Drillers took the 8-2 victory from the Travs.
WHAT YOU MISSED
Duncan's only other quality start of the season came against the Travelers at ONEOK Field on May 1. He picked up the no-decision in that contest after six scoreless innings of work while only giving up three hits.
After Raley's two hits tonight, he extended his hitting streak to a season-best ten games.
Reks knocked in two runs which marked his consecutive multi-RBI night. He has five RBI in the last two nights, and seven in his nine games with Tulsa.
Brian Moran only gave up one hit over two scoreless innings out of the pen.
*The Dodgers made a roster move before the game that activated Duncan and sent Vinny Santarsiero to extended spring training.
NEXT UP
The Drillers will go for the series win on Sunday afternoon when they take on the Travelers and game three of the series. First pitch at ONEOK Field is scheduled for 1:05 PM, with the probable starters being:
ARK        Andrew Moore (2-1, 2.84 ERA)
TUL        TBA