Scavuzzo Stays Hot, Leads Drillers to Big Win

The Jacob Scavuzzo show continued Monday night at ONEOK Field for the Tulsa Drillers. One night after producing three hits, two homers and six runs batted in, Scavuzzo continued his red-hot run with four more hits, including two more homers, and five runs batted in to the lead the Drillers to an 11-3 victory over Arkansas.
The big night extended Scavuzzo's hitting streak to 18 straight games, the longest streak for a Tulsa player since Cole Garner hit in 19 straight games during the 2009 season. In the past two games, the Tulsa outfielder has 7 hits in 9 at-bats with 4 homers and 11 runs batted in.
The victory was the fifth straight for the first-place Drillers and their 11th victory in their past 12 games.
The sizzling Scavuzzo got the Drillers on the scoreboard early. Errol Robinson led off the bottom of the first with a double, and Luke Raley drew a walk. After a fly out, Scavuzzo deposited his first home run of the night onto the outfield berm beyond the left-center field fence to give Tulsa a quick 3-0 lead.
The two teams traded runs in the second inning. Dario Pizzano got the Travelers on the scoreboard when he led off the top of the second with his sixth homer. Tulsa got the run back when Wes Darvill led off the bottom half of the inning with a double that scooted past the glove of first baseman Joey Curletta. Darvill advanced to third on a fly out and scored on Robinson's ground out.
The Travelers cut the Drillers lead to 4-2 in the fourth with a second run off starting pitcher Tony Gonsolin, who was making his Double-A debut, but it would be all Drillers from there.
Two more solo home runs upped the Drillers lead to 6-2. Luke Raley hit his 15th homer in the fifth, and D.J. Peters delivered his Texas League-leading 19th in the sixth.
The offensive fireworks continued after the blast from Peters as a walk and a pair of singles loaded the bases. Raley brought home one run with a ground out, and Will Smith plated two more with a base hit to centerfield. Scavuzzo followed with his second homer of the night to swell the lead to 11-2. The blast cleared the centerfield wall and was the 15th homer of the year. Seven of those homers have come during the month of July.    
The Travelers added a third run in the eighth inning to close out the scoring.
Gonsolin took advantage of the offensive support to get the victory in his Tulsa debut. The right-hander worked six innings, allowing two runs on eight hits. More impressively, Gonsolin did not walk a batter while striking out eight.
WHAT YOU MISSED
The Drillers have now reached double figures in runs scored in three straight games and four of their past five. In the last three games, they have scored a total of 35 runs.
The Drillers have now hit at least one home run in a season high 17 straight games. In those 17 games, they have hit 35 homers and have now hit 137 on the season.   
Tulsa made one roster move on Monday, sending reliever Andrew Istler to Triple A and adding reliever Zach Pop from Class-A Rancho Cucamonga.
The Drillers played their third straight game without the services of catcher Keibert Ruiz and outfielder Yusniel Díaz. The duo have been in Washington D.C. to participate in Sunday's Futures Game. Diaz hit a two homers in the game for the World Team, while Ruiz's day was cut short when he was hit on the hand by a foul tip.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will continue their series with Arkansas Tuesday night with the third game of the four-game set at ONEOK Field. Starting time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the pitching matchup will be:

ARK     Johendí Jiminian (4-4, 3.54 ERA)
TUL      Mitchell White (2-4, 5.50 ERA)