Ninth-Inning Homer Drops Drillers
Tulsa, OK – Tulsa and Amarillo waged a tight battle Friday at ONEOK Field with the two teams trading runs throughout the night. The game was tied entering the ninth inning, and the Sod Poodles struck last when Christian Cerda led off the top half of the ninth with a
Tulsa, OK – Tulsa and Amarillo waged a tight battle Friday at ONEOK Field with the two teams trading runs throughout the night. The game was tied entering the ninth inning, and the Sod Poodles struck last when Christian Cerda led off the top half of the ninth with a solo home run that sent the Drillers to a 6-5 loss.
The two teams have now traded wins through the first four games of their six-game series.
The game featured the Double-A debut for Tulsa starting pitcher Patrick Copen, and it started impressively with the right-hander striking out the side in the top of the first inning.
The Sod Poodles got their first hit when Caleb Roberts doubled to lead off the second, and an error and a walk loaded the bases with no outs. A sacrifice fly, followed by a run-scoring double from Manuel Pena gave Amarillo a 2-0 lead before Copen got a fourth strikeout and a line out to end the inning.
The Drillers scored three straight runs to take the lead with the first coming on a solo homer from Noah Miller in the bottom of the fourth. It was Miller’s first home run of the season.
Two more runs in the fifth gave Tulsa a 3-2 lead. Frank Rodriguez and Kole Myers opened the inning with consecutive singles. Yeiner Fernandez was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and after a fly out, Miller was also hit to force in the tying run. Damon Keith plated Myers with a sacrifice fly to put the Drillers in front.
It was a short-lived lead. In the top of the sixth, LuJames Groover doubled and scored to tie the score. With the bases loaded, Copen mishandled a comebacker to the mound for an error that allowed the Sod Poodles to go back in front. A sacrifice fly from Pena upped the margin to 5-3.
Once again, the Drillers had a comeback. Myers got one of the runs back in the bottom of the seventh when he led off with a base hit, then stole second and third bases. Jose Ramos made a bid to tie the game with a two-run homer, but Kevin Graham caught the drive in front of the left field fence as Myers tagged and scored on the play.
Base running again factored into the run that tied the game at 5-5. After reaching on an error, Keith swiped second and moved to third on a fly out. Rhodes plated him when a dropped a single into shallow left field.
The final blow in the back-and-forth contest was struck by Cerda leading off the top of the ninth, and it came against reliever Jeisson Cabrera. Cabrera jumped in front 1-2. After Cerda took a second ball, he turned around a 99 m.p.h. fastball and deposited into the grass berm beyond the left field fence.
With one final chance to overcome another deficit, the Drillers were retired in order in the bottom of the ninth.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The homer from Cerda was just the third earned run that Cabrera has allowed this season. It was just the second hit that he had given up to a right-handed batter this season. Right-handers are now hitting just .057 (2-35) against him. Cabrera responded by retiring the next three hitters in order, the final two on strikeouts. His final pitch in the ninth registered 100 m.p.h. on the stadium’s radar gun.
*It was just the Drillers second loss when involved in a tie game after eight innings. The defeat dropped their record to 7-2 in the scenario this season.
*Overall, it was a successful debut for Copen who enjoyed an eventful week. It began with his promotion from Great Lakes to Double-A Tulsa, and yesterday, he was named the Midwest League’s Pitcher of the Month for his work with the Loons in May. In his first Drillers start, Copen worked 5.1 innings and was charged with five runs, but only one was earned. The-right-hander gave up just three hits, but also three walks while striking out nine, a season high for a Tulsa pitcher.
*Taylor Young singled and has now reached base safely in ten straight games. He is now 8-16 in the current series with the Sod Poodles, hitting safely in all four games.
*Myers had a pair of hits to extend his hitting streak to three straight games.
*Catcher Rodriguez had a hit, scored a run and threw out three attempted base stealers. Entering the game, Tulsa catchers had thrown out just 14.4% of base stealers this season.
*Miller has hit safely in seven of the eight games he has played since coming off the Injured List, and it had been almost exactly a year since he had last homered. It was his first home run since he left the yard for Great Lakes on June 5 of last season.
UP NEXT
The Drillers and Sod Poodles will continue their series on Saturday night at ONEOK Field. Starting time for game five of the six-game set will begin at 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
Amarillo – RHP Jose Cabrera (2-2, 5.03 ERA)
Tulsa – RHP Jared Karros (1-4, 7.07 ERA)