North Little Rock, AR – The Tulsa Drillers picked up their second straight win over the Arkansas Travelers on Wednesday in a similar fashion to how they earned the first victory the night before. The Drillers took an early lead, this time using a four-run first inning, and four pitchers combined to keep the lead as Tulsa topped the Travelers 5-3 at Dickey-Stephens Park.
The win was the Drillers' second straight over Arkansas and the 60th overall this season, which is the second-most in all of Minor League Baseball.
It also moved Tulsa back into first place in the second-half standings of the Texas League North Division, one game in front of Springfield who fell to Northwest Arkansas.
Tulsa’s big first inning proved to be enough for the victory as it began with Kendall George’s base hit, and he reached third base by stealing second and advancing on an error. Josue De Paula followed with a walk and Mike Sirota singled home George for the Drillers first run.
Jake Gelof and Frank Rodriguez were responsible for the next two runs with a pair of RBI singles. After an error loaded the bases, newcomer Sam Mongelli was hit by the first pitch he saw at the Double-A pitch level to force home the inning’s final run to give Tulsa a 4-0 lead.
Arkansas also scored in the first inning when consecutive doubles allowed Charlie Pagliarini to drive in Felnin Celesten.
Pagliarini was responsible for the Travs second run in the third inning as his RBI single made the score 4-2.
Tulsa scored a fifth run in the fifth inning when Taylor Young grounded into a force out with the bases loaded to score Sirota.
Patrick Copen made his 16th start in the game and worked one of his better outings in the past two months. The Marshall University product completed four innings and kept Tulsa in the lead as he allowed only two runs and struck out six. It was also the first time this season that Copen has not issued a walk.
Christian Suarez preserved the three-run lead as he was perfect in his three innings of work. The Venezuela native retired all nine batters he faced and struck out five, matching his season high for strikeouts in a single appearance.
Arkansas cut the deficit to two in the eighth when a walk and an RBI double scored the Travs third run. That run was charged to Antonio Knowles, who pitched just one inning.
Kelvin Ramirez was summoned in the ninth and quickly shut down the Travs on two strikeouts and a groundout to end the game and record his fifth save.
GAME NOTES
*The victory gave Tulsa its 31st road win this season for a 31-16 record away from ONEOK Field.
*With his performance, Suarez was credited with the win to improve his record to 6-3.
*Zyhir Hope’s fifth inning hit extended his on-base streak to 17 straight games and increased his hitting streak to 5 games.
*The loss was charged to Arkansas starter Ryan Hawks who entered Wednesday having not allowed a run in 10.0 innings in his two previous starts against the Drillers.
*Tulsa now leads the season series between the two teams, 8-6.
*Mongelli was added to the Drillers roster for his Double-A debut on Wednesday, and he finished 0-2 with a walk. Mongelli replaced Kyle Nevin who was placed on the Injured List.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will continue their series with the Travelers on Thursday night at Dickey-Stephens Park with game three of the six-game set. Starting time is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. and the pitching matchup is expected to be:
Tulsa – RHP Payton Martin (4-3, 5.45 ERA)
Arkansas – RHP Nico Tellache (5-6, 4.83 ERA)