Drillers Top Travs to Close Out 5-1 Home Stand

Tulsa, OK – On a sunny, near-perfect day, the Tulsa Drillers closed out a winning home stand Sunday at ONEOK Field. Jackson Ferris shined on the mound and Jose Ramos and Yeiner Fernandez had big days at the plate to lead Tulsa to a 9-2 victory over the Arkansas Travelers.

The Drillers concluded the six-game series with the Travelers with a 5-1 record, and it marked their second straight series win at home. After opening the season with just one win in its first nine game, Tulsa has gone 11-7 since.

BOXSCORE

Sunday’s series finale began with both starting pitchers cruising through the first two innings before both ran into control issues in the third.

Ferris retired eight of the first nine batters he faced, with five of them going down on strikes. But with two outs in the third, and the bases empty, the lefthander hit a batter and walked another to set up a run-scoring double from Caleb Cali.

Travs starting pitcher Jimmy Kingsbury, who normally works out of the bullpen, opened the game by retiring the first seven batters he faced before a walk, a hit batter and another walk loaded the bases in the third with one out. With the Drillers still looking for their first hit, Nick Senzel drew another walk to force in a run before a sacrifice fly from Ramos gave them a 2-1 lead.

The score remained unchanged until Ramos struck again in the bottom of the fifth, delivering Tulsa’s first hit of the game. The centerfielder belted his Texas League leading ninth home run of the season, a towering, 409-foot, drive that cleared the fence just to the right of straightaway centerfield. The two-run homer gave Tulsa a 4-1 lead.

The Drillers second and third hits in the game came when Fernandez and John Rhodes opened the sixth with consecutive singles. A walk and a wild pitch brought Fernandez home.

A two-run homer from Fernandez, his first of the season, upped Tulsa’s lead to 7-1 in the seventh.

Victor Labrada homered in the eighth for the Travelers second run.

The Drillers closed the scoring in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a throwing error and a RBI double from Senzel.

The third-inning run was the only spot on Ferris’ line. He worked five innings and allowed just the one run on three hits and three walks while striking out six. The outing gave him his first win of the year.

INSIDE THE GAME

*After a run of bad weather to start the season, Sunday’s game was played on a cloudless day in downtown Tulsa with temperatures remaining in the low 70s throughout the afternoon.

*With his two hits, Ramos has now reached base safely in 19 straight games, the second-longest, on-base streak in the Texas League this season. His big game continued a hot spell for the outfielder. In his last 17 games, Ramos has 7 homers and 18 RBI.

*Fernandez also had a two-hit game, marking his eighth multi-hit game of the year. The catcher had to depart the contest in the eighth inning when he was struck on the hand by the bat on a swing from Nick Raposo. It was the third time in the home stand that Fernandez had been called for catcher’s interference.

*Arkansas pitchers combined to walk 12 batters in the game.

*Tulsa’s Aaron Bracho drew four walks in five plate appearances. It was the first four-walk game for a Drillers batter since Austin Gauthier drew four free passes against Springfield on June 14, 2022.

*Travs third baseman Ben Ramirez, who played for Tulsa’s Texas Collegiate league team in 2020, took the mound and got the final out in the bottom of the eighth inning.

*The three weekend games of the series drew a total paid attendance of 21,316 to ONEOK Field.

UP NEXT

The Drillers will be off on Monday before opening a six-game series in Amarillo on Tuesday. The six-game series with the Sod Poodles will mark Tulsa’s first action this season against a team from the Texas League’s South Division.

Tuesday’s series opener will be a morning game with first pitch scheduled for 11:05 a.m. at Hodgetown. Neither team has yet to announce its starting pitchers for the series.