Springdale, AR – The Tulsa Drillers had an opportunity on Wednesday night to clinch the first-half title in the Texas League’s North Division and guarantee their spot in the league’s postseason, but Northwest Arkansas had other ideas. Entering Wednesday’s matchup, the Drillers were a perfect 7-0 in seven meetings between the two teams this season, but that streak ended with a 7-2 loss for Tulsa at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, Arkansas.
The defeat was just the third for the Drillers in their past 20 games.
Despite the loss, there was still some good news from the evening. Arkansas, who is still battling Tulsa for the North Division title, split a doubleheader in Frisco, dropping the second game to the RoughRiders. With the loss by the Travs, the Drillers magic number for clinching the first-half crown was reduced to just one.
There are four games remaining in the first half of the Texas League schedule which will end on Sunday. Any loss by the Travelers or any win by the Drillers over the next four days will clinch the division title for Tulsa.
Tulsa never led in Wednesday’s loss after the Naturals opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the first inning against Tulsa starting pitcher Patrick Copen. It marked the sixth consecutive game that the opposition has scored first against the Drillers.
It took just four pitches for the Naturals to get on the scoreboard. Copen hit leadoff batter Carson Roccaforte with his third pitch of the night. On the next pitch, Jack Pineda lined a single into centerfield, and when Mike Sirota’s throw to third base was off target, Roccaforte came home.
Following another single, Pineda scored on a sacrifice fly from Spencer Nivens to make it 2-0.
The Drillers pulled even with two runs of their own in the third. Josue De Paula opened the inning with his 12th home run of the season.
Sirota followed De Paula and singled sharply into left field. Sirota moved to second on a ground out before advancing the final 180 feet on two wild pitches to tie the score at 2-2.
The Naturals went back in front to stay with a four-run fourth inning. Copen retired the first batter before Rudy Martin Jr. bunted for a base hit. Martin Jr. stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error on the steal. Connor Scott singled him home to give the Naturals a 3-2 lead.
Two walks and a sacrifice fly brought Scott home. A wild pitch set up a two-run single from Pineda that upped the Northwest Arkansas lead to 6-2 and ended Copen’s outing.
The only other run of the game came from the Naturals in the eighth inning.
GAME NOTES
*Sirota drew a walk in the top of the first inning to extend his on-base streaks. The Tulsa outfielder has now reached base in all 25 games he has played in since his promotion to the Drillers. Prior to his move, Sirota had a 30-game on-base streak with High-A Great Lakes and has now reached base safely in 55 straight games, the longest on-base streak in all of Minor League Baseball this season.
*Jake Gelof also extended his on-base streak by drawing a walk in the first inning. Gelof has reached safely in 28 straight games which is the longest on-base streak this season when just counting Drillers games. It is tied for the longest on-base streak in the Texas League this season.
*Copen’s outing marked the seventh time in his past eight starts that he has failed to work five innings. He was charged with six runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings pitched. Copen was 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA in five starts in April, walking just 14 batters in 28.0 innings. In eight starts since, he has walked 30 batters in 31 2/3 innings.
*Kyle Nevin was removed from the game after flying out in the fifth inning. Nevin was 0-3 at the plate, ending his nine-game hitting streak.
*Reliever Carson Hobbs turned in an impressive outing. Hobbs retired all six batters he faced in fifth and sixth innings, with four of them going down on strikes.
*With his third-inning homer, De Paula has hit safely in 20 of his last 23 games and his hitting .417 in that stretch. He narrowly missed a second home run in the ninth inning, but Roccaforte robbed him with a catch at the centerfield wall.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will look to bounce back on Thursday night at Arvest Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
Tulsa – RHP Peter Heubeck (0-1, 5.19 ERA)
NW Arkansas – RHP Steven Zobac (0-1, 3.86 ERA)