Mann’s Hit Gives Drillers 3-2 Walk-Off Win

TULSA – The Tulsa Drillers and Midland RockHounds have now met five times this season with four of those games being tightly-contested with the winner not determined until the late innings. Saturday’s game was another close battle that was literally decided by inches. The winner wasn’t determined until the bottom of the ninth inning when Devin Mann grounded a hit just inches inside the third base bag, bringing Clayton Daniel home with the winning run in a 3-2 walk-off victory for the Drillers.

Mann provided the game winning hit by inches, but that was not the entire story.

The two teams traded runs through the first seven innings, each scoring two times.

The RockHounds scored only two runs, thanks to Tulsa right fielder Romer Cuadrado. Cuadrado reached above the four-foot fence in right field to take a home run away from Max Schuemann in the third inning, and he did the same to JJ Schwarz in the sixth. If either drive would have travelled a few more inches, Midland would have claimed its third straight victory in the series. Instead the Drillers have now won three of the five games.

Tulsa never trailed in the low-scoring affair. After starting pitcher Michael Grove set the RockHounds down in order in the top of the first, the Drillers took a 1-0 lead with the game’s first run in the bottom half of the inning. Three singles from Michael Busch, Miguel Vargas and James Outman produced the run.

The RockHounds took advantage of a one-out walk, followed by two straight singles, to tie the game in the third.

Ryan Noda continued his recent hot streak with his team-leading 18th home run of the season in the third. The opposite-field, solo blast gave the Drillers a 2-1 lead.

Tulsa held its one-run lead until the seventh. Devin Foyle greeted reliever Nick Robertson with a leadoff double and eventually scored on a double by Logan Davidson to tie the game at 2-2.

It stayed tied until Mann’s walk-off heroics in the ninth.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

*Noda continues to hit home runs at a torrid pace. He has now hit homers in 5 of his past 6 games and 7 in his past 11.

*Grove was outstanding, turning in his longest outing of the year, but he finished one out short of qualifying for a win. He pitched 4.2 innings and gave up just one run on four hits, while walking two and striking out six.

*Mark Washington was the third Tulsa reliever in the game, and he was overpowering. Washington worked two perfect innings with four of the six outs coming via strikeouts and picked up the win to improve his record to 4-1.

*Members of a Crawford Family Reunion attended on Saturday and were recognized during the game. The reunion attendees were descendants of James K. Crawford who was a successful, Tulsa oilman in the 1900s. In 1919, Mr. Crawford became an owner of Tulsa’s professional baseball club and operated the Oilers through the 1929 season. It was a period of great success for the franchise as the team won five Western League Championships.

UP NEXT

Tulsa will conclude its two-week homestand in the series finale with the RockHounds Sunday afternoon.
Midland at Tulsa on Sunday, August 1 at 1:05 PM at ONEOK Field.
The pitching matchup will feature Midland LHP Jared Koenig (5-1, 2.60 ERA) against Tulsa RHP Gus Varland (0-1, 4.22 ERA).