Drillers Win Fifth Straight over Naturals
TULSA, OK – Coming into Saturday, the last six Tulsa Drillers games had all been decided by one run, including the previous four with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. That trend ended Saturday night at ONEOK Field as the Drillers’ bats erupted for 12 runs on nine hits in a 12-0
TULSA, OK – Coming into Saturday, the last six Tulsa Drillers games had all been decided by one run, including the previous four with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. That trend ended Saturday night at ONEOK Field as the Drillers’ bats erupted for 12 runs on nine hits in a 12-0 win over the Naturals that ran Tulsa’s winning streak to five straight games.
Ten of Tulsa’s 12 runs scored on home runs as the Drillers hit four in the game, with two three-run homers coming from the bat of Brandon Lewis.
The big night began in the second inning when Lewis hit his first homer to give the Drillers a 3-0 lead.
Tulsa scored four more runs in the third. Eddys Leonard was the Drillers first baserunner of the inning after he reached on an error. Imanol Vargas’ double advanced Leonard to third, and Jose Ramos’ infield single allowed Leonard to score as he slid safely under the tag at the plate. One batter later, Yusniel Diaz hit a towering three-run homer to increase the Drillers lead to 7-0.
Tulsa had another four-run inning in the fifth to raise the lead to 11-0, highlighted by Lewis’ second home run of the night. A walk and a hit by pitch put two runners on base for Kody Hoese, who singled to left to plate a run. Lewis followed with his three-run blast that curved just inside the left field foul pole.
Hoese gave the Drillers their 12th run of the game with a solo home run in the seventh, his first of the season.
HIGHLIGHTS AND HAPPENINGS:
*Saturday’s win marked the third time this season that the Drillers have now won the first five games of a six-game series, all coming in three consecutive series at ONEOK Field. In the two previous occurrences, the Drillers dropped game six on Sunday.
*The win was also the seventh shutout this season from the Drillers pitching staff, the second most in Minor League Baseball. The seven shutouts also matches the Drillers total from the 2022 season.
*Lewis’ second home run came against T.J. Sikkema. In his career, Lewis is now 4 for 6 against Sikkema with three homers and eight RBI.
*Starting pitcher River Ryan had a scoreless outing on Saturday but suffered from control issues. Ryan allowed just one hit, but four walks raised his pitch count as he completed just 3.2 innings.
*Tulsa used four pitchers out of the bullpen as Antonio Knowles, Kevin Gowdy, Tanner Dodson and Jake Pilarski combined to pitch the final 5.1 innings. Only three hits were allowed during that stretch.
*Knowles earned his first Double-A win in his Double-A debut on Saturday night.
*Since the Drillers scored at least seven runs, fans can purchase a large, one-topping pizza from Mazzio's for just $7 all day Sunday. The offer is only good online at Mazzios.com and when you use the code DRILLERS at checkout.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers and the Naturals will conclude their six-game series on Sunday night at ONEOK Field. Starting time for the finale is set for 6:05 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
NWA – RHP Jonathan Bowlan (0-2, 7.13 ERA)
TUL – RHP Emmet Sheehan (2-1, 1.66 ERA)