Drillers Streaks End in Loss to Travs

TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers saw several streaks come to an end Friday night in a 7-4 loss to Arkansas at ONEOK Field. Most importantly, the defeat ended the Drillers four-game winning streak, one short of matching a season high, but it was not all bad news for the Drillers.

Despite the loss, they remain in the thick of a three-team race for the first-half North Division title in the Texas League. First-place Springfield lost its fifth straight game on Friday, allowing Arkansas to move into sole possession of first place. With the two results, the Drillers lost only ½ game in the standings and trail the Travelers by 2 ½ games with 8 games remaining in the first half.

BOX SCORE

The Tulsa pitching staff entered Friday’s contest with a 22-inning scoreless streak and kept the Arkansas offense scoreless through the game’s first five frames.

The Drillers got an unlikely run in the top of the first inning to score the first run of the night. With two outs and the bases empty and Austin Beck at the plate, the outfielder injured himself on a check swing. He was forced to leave the game and Bubba Alleyne inherited his 2-0 count and worked a walk. With Griffin Lockwood-Powell at the plate, Alleyne broke for second and the Tulsa first baseman hit a liner off the glove of Travelers’ shortstop Cole Young. The ball rolled into shallow center field, and the speedy Alleyne raced around the bases to score from first on the single.

Three straight two-out singles in bottom of the fifth gave Tulsa a 2-0 lead with Dalton Rushing driving in the run.

Arkansas ended the scoreless streak for Drillers pitchers at 27 straight inning in the top of the sixth. After reliever Michael Hobbs struck out the inning’s leadoff batter, a walk and a base hit put runners at first and second. Two pitches later, Morgan McCullough quickly turned the game around with this fourth home run of the season to give the Travelers a 3-2 lead.

A throwing error on an attempted double play upped the Arkansas lead to 4-2 in the top of the seventh, but the Drillers responded in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and a runner at first base, Alex Freeland hit his sixth Double-A home run to promptly tie the score at 4-4.

The late offensive surge from the Travelers continued as they scored for the third straight inning in the eighth to take the lead for good. Jared Oliva led off with a base hit, stole second base and scored on a base hit from Blake Rambusch. Two hit batters, an error and a sacrifice fly gave the Travelers two more runs, the final offensive output of the game.

Defensively, the Drillers committed three errors in the contest, also ending a four-game errorless streak.

INSIDE THE GAME

*The loss and the end of the streaks overshadowed a positive Double-A debut for Jerming Rosario. The lefthander was an emergency starter for Tulsa after scheduled starter Hyun-il Choi was scratched with a blister. Rosario worked the first 4.2 innings and held the Cardinals scoreless on just two hits.

*Freeland finished with three hits in the game. His home run was his sixth with the Drillers but his eighth overall. He hit two homers with Great Lakes before his promotion to Double A.

*Arkansas pitcher Logan Evans worked 1.1 scoreless, relief innings and was credited with the victory to improve his record to 7-2. He becomes the first seven-game winner in the Texas League this season.

*The Drillers wore special T Town Clowns uniforms in the game to pay tribute to Tulsa’s Negro league team.

UP NEXT:

The Drillers will look to establish a new set of streaks on Saturday night when they continue their series with the Travelers. Starting time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at ONEOK Field, and the starting pitchers are slated to be:

ARK – LHP Danny Wirchansky (2-3, 3.98 ERA)
TUL – RHP Jared Karros (2-1, 4.21 ERA)