Home Stand Ends with Fourth Straight Loss for the Drillers
TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers entered Sunday afternoon’s series finale with the Arkansas Travelers hoping to salvage a second win in the six-game series, but those plans quickly derailed. With two outs and the bases empty in the top of the first inning, six straight Travelers reached base safely
TULSA, OK – The Tulsa Drillers entered Sunday afternoon’s series finale with the Arkansas Travelers hoping to salvage a second win in the six-game series, but those plans quickly derailed. With two outs and the bases empty in the top of the first inning, six straight Travelers reached base safely to produce three straight runs. The early runs set the tone for the day in what was eventually a 9-2 victory for Arkansas.
The defeat left the Drillers with a 1-5 record in their first home stand of the year, and a 4-5 record on the season.
The Drillers entered Sunday’s finale having outscored Arkansas 22-20 in the series despite winning only one of the first five games. Fourteen of their runs came in their game two victory.
The Travelers quickly overturned that overall scoring deficit with the three-run first inning and only added to their advantage from there. They plated three more runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth, totaling ten hits through the first four frames with nine of them being singles.
Tulsa’s first run of the game came in the bottom of the fourth from a welcome source. Jose Ramos, who entered the game 0-14 in the series, hit his second home run of the season to end the shutout.
Doubles from Brendon Davis and Yeiner Fernandez in the seventh accounted for the Drillers’ second run of the day.
INSIDE THE GAME
*In their five losses in the series, Tulsa stranded a total of 59 base runners.
*Ramos also had a single in Sunday’s loss and finished 2-4 in the game.
*Arkansas starting pitcher Juan Mercedes allowed just one run in four innings but fell short of qualifying for the win. While in the middle of warming up for the bottom of the fifth, Mercedes departed the game after a visit from athletic trainer Andy Turner.
*Tulsa starting pitcher Kendall Williams was tagged with the loss, allowing the eight runs on ten hits.
*Dalton Rushing did not play in Sunday’s finale after leaving Saturday’s game following a collision at first base. Rushing’s status has been referred to as day-to-day. With a day off on Monday, he will get the benefit of two days off.
*The six games in the initial home stand of the season at ONEOK Field drew a total paid attendance of 33,352.
UP NEXT:
After a day off on Monday, the Drillers will be in Wichita Tuesday night to open a six-game series against the Wind Surge. First pitch for the opener is set for 7:05 p.m. at Riverfront Stadium, and the starting pitchers are scheduled to be:
TUL - RHP Hyun-il Choi (0-0, 1.25 ERA)
WCH – LHP Rafael Marcano (0-0, 67.50 ERA)