Tulsa, OK – Josue De Paula has delivered a lot of big hits for the Tulsa Drillers this season, and he did it again on Tuesday night at ONEOK Field. After failing to hold a pair of leads in the opening game of a series with Amarillo, the Drillers were trailing by one run in the bottom of the tenth inning. De Paula promptly overturned the deficit and ended the game with a three-run blast onto the grass berm in right field to give Tulsa an 8-6 walk-off victory over the Sod Poodles.
It marked the 42nd come-from-behind win of the season for the Drillers. They have now won seven of their past eight games and have a total of 74 wins on the season.
The victory allowed Tulsa to remain in a first-place tie with Springfield in the second-half, North Division standings of the Texas League. There are just 23 games remaining in the regular season. The Drillers won the first-half title and have never won both halves in one season.
De Paula’s 23rd home run of the season marked the end of a game that had gone back and forth throughout.
After two scoreless innings, Amarillo took an initial three-run lead in the top of the third. Tulsa starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski walked the first two batters of the inning, and after a sacrifice bunt, both runners scored on a base hit from Avery Owusu-Asiedu. Jansel Luis followed with a run-scoring double that gave the Sod Poodles a 3-0 lead.
The Drillers also got on the scoreboard in the third, scoring a single run in the bottom half of the inning. With two outs and the bases empty, Kole Myers doubled into the left field corner. Taylor Young made it two straight two-out hits when he lined a single into centerfield to score Myers.
Tulsa produced its own three-run inning in the fifth to go in front. Chris Newell started the rally when he homered on the first pitch of the inning. Newell had just been activated from the Injured List earlier in the day.
After a strikeout, Joe Vetrano drew a walk to set up a two-run homer from Myers that gave the Drillers a 4-3 lead. Myers’ liner just cleared the right field wall a few feet inside the foul pole, caroming off the metal railing above the wall.
Pitching with the lead for the first time in the game, Serwinowski walked the leadoff hitter in the top of the sixth inning, Druw Jones, on four pitches to end his outing.
Cam Day came on and got two outs, but Jones was able to advance to third on a balk and a ground out. It set up a two-out, run-scoring double from Danny Serretti that tied the game at 4-4.
The Drillers went back in front in the bottom of the seventh. Nelson Quiroz and Vetrano drew consecutive walks to open the inning. Myers laid down a bunt and may have beaten it out for a hit, but the throw to first from pitcher Logan Mercado struck him in the back, but Myers was ruled to have been inside the running lane and was called out for interference.
Young followed and drew the third walk of the inning to load the bases and set up a sacrifice fly from De Paula that gave Tulsa a 5-4 lead.
It lasted until there were two outs in the top of the ninth inning. Protecting the one-run lead, Lucas Wepf struck out the first two batters of the inning before Torin hit a slow roller up the third base line. Torin, who was credited with an infield single, advanced to third when Logan Wagner’s throw to first skipped past Vetrano.
With Torin in scoring position, Wepf got two quick, swinging strikes on Owusu-Asiedu before the Amarillo outfielder lined a single into centerfield that tied the game at 5-5.
In the top of the tenth and the placed runner at second base, Kelvin Ramirez struck out the first two batters of the inning, but Alberto Barriga delivered another clutch two-out hit when he lined the first pitch he saw into center for a run-scoring single.
Trailing by a run, Young patiently worked a six-pitch walk to put runners at first and second for De Paula. The outfielder swung over a first pitch changeup from Alfred Morillo for strike one. Morillo tried another changeup on pitch two in almost the exact same spot, and De Paula was ready. His towering fly ball was a no-doubt three-run homer that gave Tulsa the win.
De Paula now has a Texas League-leading 91 RBI and 93 runs scored on the season. Only four Drillers players have ever totaled 100 RBI in a season, and only five have scored 100 runs in a season. Only Carlos Pena, in 2000, has accomplished both in the same season.
GAME NOTES
*With the victory, the Drillers moved 33 games above .500 for the first time this season with a 74-41 record. The all-time franchise record for wins by a Drillers team is 78, set by the 1998 and 2019 teams.
*The homer for Newell was his 19th of the year. The University of Virginia product has hit at least 20 home runs in each of his three full seasons in professional baseball.
*Vetrano finished 0-2 with two walks, ending his streak of hitting a home run in three straight games.
*The ninth-inning run against Wepf was unearned, but it ended his eight-game scoreless streak.
*Ramirez received credit for the win, improving his record to 6-2.
*Outfielder Mike Sirota has been placed on the Injured List, retroactive to August 16. The outfielder was struck on the elbow by a pitch in Friday’s game and missed the two weekend games with Arkansas. Outfielder Chris Newell was activated from the Injured List to replace Sirota on Tulsa’s roster.
UP NEXT
The Drillers and Sod Poodles will play the second game of their six-game series on Wednesday night at ONEOK Field. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the pitching matchup is slated to be:
Amarillo – RHP David Hagaman (0-1, 1.54 ERA)
Tulsa – LHP Zach Root (1-0, 9.49 ERA)