Late Rally Falls Short for Tulsa
Springdale, AR – Offensive struggles for the Tulsa Drillers continued for seven innings Wednesday night at Northwest Arkansas. Needing an offensive spark, the Drillers were served a golden opportunity in the eighth when three walks loaded the bases. The opportunity produced three runs, but it still left the Drillers one
Springdale, AR – Offensive struggles for the Tulsa Drillers continued for seven innings Wednesday night at Northwest Arkansas. Needing an offensive spark, the Drillers were served a golden opportunity in the eighth when three walks loaded the bases. The opportunity produced three runs, but it still left the Drillers one run short in a 4-3 loss to the Naturals at Arvest Ballpark.
Now through five games of their extended, nine-game road trip, the Drillers have a 1-4 record. Even with the three-run eighth inning, Tulsa has scored a total of just 14 runs in the five games.
The Naturals got a lead they never lost by scoring a first-inning run for the second straight night. With one out, Diego Hernandez singled off starting pitcher Ben Casparius. Hernandez stole both second and third and scored on a two-out single by Jorge Bonifacio.
Another run in the second doubled the lead before a two-run triple from leadoff batter Tyler Tolbert in the fourth upped the Northwest Arkansas lead to 4-0.
In the top of the eighth, Naturals reliever Jacob Wallace walked the bases loaded before giving up a run-scoring single to Jose Ramos.
Brett de Geus took over for Wallace and was greeted with a lined single to right field by Imanol Vargas that plated two more runs and pulled Tulsa to within 4-3.
Eddys Leonard kept the rally going with an infield hit that again loaded the bases with one out. The Drillers would leave the three runners stranded as de Gues retired Diego Cartaya on a foul pop and struck out Carson Taylor on a called third strike to end the threat with Tulsa trailing by one run.
In the ninth, Brandon Lewis was hit by a pitch with one out to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate, but a fly out and a ground out.
HIGHLIGHTS AND HAPPENINGS:
*Vargas finished 2-4 to extend his hitting streak to seven straight games. He is hitting .385 in the streak.
*With his infield single in the eighth, Leonard has now reached base in 19 straight games.
*After being hit with the pitch in the ninth, Lewis was removed from the game and escorted to the locker room by athletic trainer Jesse Guffey.
*Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas have split 14 meetings this season.
*The Drillers are now 17-15 in one-run games.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers and Naturals will continue their six-game series with game three on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. at Arvest Ballpark, and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
Tulsa – RHP Nick Nastrini (4-2, 3.92 ERA)
NW Arkansas – LHP Noah Cameron (0-6, 5.70 ERA)