Drillers Win Fourth Straight
Tulsa, OK – A combination of home runs and a brilliant start on the mound from Jackson Ferris led the Tulsa Drillers to their fourth straight win on Saturday. Tulsa finished with three home runs, two of them courtesy of Griffin Lockwood-Powell. Ferris backed the homers with a quality start
Tulsa, OK – A combination of home runs and a brilliant start on the mound from Jackson Ferris led the Tulsa Drillers to their fourth straight win on Saturday. Tulsa finished with three home runs, two of them courtesy of Griffin Lockwood-Powell. Ferris backed the homers with a quality start to give Tulsa a 4-1 victory over the Northwest Arkansas at ONEOK Field.
The four-game win streak matches the longest of the season for the Drillers, and it marks the third time this year that they have won four straight.
The Drillers continued a recent trend by scoring in the first inning for the fifth game this week. The run was produced on Lockwood-Powell's solo home run to left field.
Two innings later, the Naturals scored their only run of the night on Justin Johnson's solo homer that tied the game at 1-1.
Yeiner Fernandez continued the Drillers power surge in the bottom of the third inning. With Kole Myers at third base, Fernandez hit a two-run homer into the COUNTRY Financial Terrace to put Tulsa up 3-1.
The three runs proved enough for Ferris, who worked delivered his longest Double-A outing in 12 starts with the Drillers. The solo home run was the only run he surrendered in six innings pitched. Ferris also did not issue a walk and struck out five Northwest Arkansas hitters.
Lockwood-Powell gave Tulsa a three-run advantage with his second solo homer in the sixth inning, and this time, he hit it into the Drillers right field bullpen.
Tulsa's bullpen controlled the game over the final three innings. Kelvin Bautista and Antonio Knowles combined to hold the Naturals silent with five strikeouts. For Knowles, it was his third consecutive appearance in which he earned a save and his fourth in the month of May.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The first-inning home run was the fifth straight game in which Tulsa scored a run in the first inning. The Drillers have scored 11 runs in the opening frame against the Naturals this week.
*Ferris' outstanding start added to his run of strong performances at ONEOK Field this season. He is now 2-0 in those starts with a 2.35 ERA.
*Taylor Young's 18-game on-base streak and seven-game hitting streak were snapped as he finished 0-4.
*With his two home runs, Lockwood-Powell joined Damon Keith as the two Tulsa hitters to record a multi-home run game this week.
*Sean McLain continued his hot stretch by earning two more hits. He is batting .280 in May after hitting .082 in April.
*The game took just 2 hours and 11 minutes to complete.
*For the third straight game, the Drillers wore special Chicken Dancers uniforms in recognition of Tulsa’s Oktoberfest festival. The popular chicken dance was unveiled in America for the first time at Tulsa’s 1981 Oktoberfest. Tulsa is 3-0 as the Chicken Dancers.
UP NEXT
The Drillers and Naturals will play the final game of their six-game series on Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. The game will begin at 1:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
NWA – LHP Ryan Ramsey (2-0, 3.90 ERA)
Tulsa – RHP Chris Campos (1-0, 3.00 ERA)