Familiar Face Beats Drillers in Amarillo Opener
AMARILLO, TX – Amarillo’s HODGETOWN has always been known as a hitter-friendly ballpark. Twice in its brief history the Drillers have hit nine home runs in a game at the stadium. But Tuesday night, in the opening game of six-game series, HODGETOWN did not live up to its reputation. In
AMARILLO, TX – Amarillo’s HODGETOWN has always been known as a hitter-friendly ballpark. Twice in its brief history the Drillers have hit nine home runs in a game at the stadium. But Tuesday night, in the opening game of six-game series, HODGETOWN did not live up to its reputation.
In the opener, pitching was the story of the night as Tulsa and Amarillo combined for just six runs. The Sod Poodles accounted for four of them and finished with a 4-2 victory over the Drillers.
Tulsa’s offense in the game came from two swings of the bat. The first was in the top of the second inning when Jose Ramos hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season that gave the Drillers a 1-0 lead.
Kristian Robinson matched Ramos by leading off the bottom of the third with his third home run of the season to tie the score.
Brendon Davis countered by leading off the fourth inning with his fifth homer of the season to put the Drillers back in front 2-1.
Amarillo took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom half of the fourth. Back-to-back singles opened the inning before a force out put runners at the corners with one out. A sacrifice fly from Sheng-Ping Chen tied the game before a two-out double from Robinson gave the Sod Poodles the lead.
An unearned run in the bottom of the eighth closed out the scoring.
A familiar face was on the mound for the Sod Poodles. Cole Percival, who pitched out of the Drillers bullpen during the 2022 and 2023 seasons, made the start for Amarillo and delivered six effective innings.
Percival allowed just three hits and the two runs on the two homers against his former teammates. He walked two batters and struck out eight.
Jared Karros was the tough-luck loser for Tulsa. Karros allowed three runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings. He walked one batter and struck out six.
The Amarillo bullpen was also effective as the homer by Davis leading off the fourth was the final hit of the night for the Drillers. They had just one other base runner after the homer and it came on a walk by Bubba Alleyne in the eighth inning.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The win for Percival improved his season record to 3-4.
*Percival was not the only familiar name and face in the Amarillo lineup. Matt Beaty started at first base for the Sod Poodles and finished 1-4 in the game. Beaty played for the Drillers during the 2017 season and won the Texas League batting title and was named the Texas League Player of the Year.
*The three hits for the Drillers matched a season low. They were also held to three hits by Springfield on April 30 and by Northwest Arkansas on May 31.
*Pitcher Braydon Fisher rejoined the Drillers prior to the game. Fisher began the season with the Drillers before joining Oklahoma City on April 23.
*With his eighth homer, Ramos is now tied with Dalton Rushing for the team lead.
*The game took just 2 hours and 22 minutes to complete, the third fastest nine-inning game at HODGETOWN this season.
UP NEXT:
Tulsa and Amarillo will play the second game of their six-game series on Wednesday night. First pitch at HODGETOWN is slated for 7:05 p.m. and the two starting pitchers are expected to be:
TUL – LHP Justin Wrobleski (3-2, 3.73 ERA)
AMA – RHP Dylan File (2-3, 4.73 ERA)