Drillers Score Late to Take Finale in Amarillo

AMARILLO, TX – A difficult six-game series in Amarillo for the Tulsa Drillers ended on a positive note Sunday afternoon. After losing four of the first five games while giving up 49 runs, the Drillers bounced back with a one-run victory in the finale at HODGETOWN. The Drillers broke a tie game with a run in the top of the ninth inning and posted an 8-7 win over the Sod Poodles.

The Drillers got 12 hits, including homers from Kody Hoese and Ryan Noda, and reliever Mark Washington delivered 2.1 scoreless innings without allowing a hit to post the victory.

The result left the Drillers just 2.0 games behind the second and final playoff spot in the Double-A Central.

Amarillo led through the first half of the game after scoring three runs in the bottom of the first innings against Tulsa starter Landon Knack.

The Drillers got a pair of runs in the second when Noda tripled, and one out later, Hoese hit his second home run of the season.

The Sod Poodles took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the second when Luis Alejandro Basabe led off with a home run.

It remained a two-run game until the fifth inning when the Drillers scored twice to tie it. Hamlet Marte and Jacob Amaya opened the fifth with back-to-back singles. Later in the inning, Michael Busch singled home one run before Justin Yurchak’s two-out single brought home another to tie the game at 4-4.

Tulsa took its first lead of the day with three runs in the seventh. After Busch reached safely on an error, a base hit by Miguel Vargas put runners at the corners. Yurchak produced a sacrifice fly to plate Busch with the go-ahead run, before Noda came through again with his 29th home run of the season to put the Drillers in front 7-4.

The lead did not last long as the Sod Poodles answered with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the seventh. Tulsa relieve Zach Willeman walked the first two batters of the inning before a base hit loaded the bases. An infield ground out plated the first run, and Ryder Jones brought home the next two with a double.

The Drillers winning rally in the top of the ninth began with consecutive singles from Vargas and Yurchak. With runners at first and third, Vargas scored when Noda grounded out for his third RBI of the game.

Washington made sure the lead held by setting the Sod Poodles down in order in the bottom of the ninth.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

*Devin Mann finished 1-4 in the finale but his streak of hitting two home runs in a game ended at three straight games. Mann had a total of seven hits in the series, with six of them homers.

*Busch went 1-5 and extended his hitting streak to nine straight games.

*Washington picked up the win to improve his season record to 6-1. Since July 24, he has allowed just 2 runs in 24 innings, for a 0.75 ERA.

*The home run from Noda was his 29th of the season, the most in all of Double-A this season.

UP NEXT

The Drillers will begin the final series of the regular season at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, September 14 in Midland against the RockHounds. The two teams split a six-game series at ONEOK Field earlier this season.

Neither team has announced a starting pitcher for the opening game of the six game series.