Springdale, AR – The first half of the Texas League season concluded in thrilling fashion for the Tulsa Drillers on Sunday afternoon. Before the ninth inning, Tulsa had just three hits and entered the final frame trailing 4-2. But just like the previous night, the Drillers rallied in the final inning by scoring three runs to rally and defeat Northwest Arkansas 5-4 at Arvest Ballpark.
It was the Drillers second straight game with a ninth-inning comeback, and the club’s 25th comeback win this season.
The victory also secured Tulsa’s ninth series win and the fourth on the road this season.
For the fourth time in the six-game series, Northwest Arkansas produced the game’s first run. In the first inning, Rudy Martin Jr. earned a one-out single and stole second base before he scored on Jack Pineda’s single.
After ending last night’s game with a game-tying home run in the ninth and the game-winning homer in the 11th, Chris Newell picked up right where he left off in the second inning on Sunday, as he produced Tulsa’s first run with a solo homer.
In Newell’s second at-bat in the fifth, he hit another solo home run to put the Drillers ahead 2-1.
Tulsa’s lead did not last long as an error in the fifth inning resulted in two unearned runs on Pineda’s two-run single that gave the Naturals a 3-2 lead.
In the seventh, a leadoff walk came around to score when Spencer Nivens drove in Carson Roccaforte to increase Northwest Arkansas’ lead to 4-2.
The Drillers big ninth inning began with Newell and Kole Myers reaching base with singles. A strikeout followed before Joe Vetrano also singled to load the bases. Hayden Gilliland then hit a groundball to third and beat out the 5-4-3 double play attempt to allow Newell to score. Jose De Paula followed with a shallow, fly ball single to tie that game. Elijah Hainline followed with another single to drive in the go-ahead run that gave Tulsa a 5-4 lead.
The Naturals weren’t finished as the first two hitters in the bottom of the ninth reached base on singles. Daniel Vazquez was next, but he popped out trying to get down a sacrifice bunt.
A base-running mistake led to the game-ending double play. Alberto Rodriguez grounded to third baseman Jake Gelof, who threw to second for the first out, but Rodriguez beat out the throw to first. Pineda, who began the play at second base, failed to run to third and was tagged out between second and third to end the game.
GAME NOTES
*The Naturals finished a perfect 10-10 in stolen base attempts. It was the most steals allowed by the Drillers in a game this season.
*Tulsa finished the first half with a 46-23 record for a .667 winning percentage, which is the best first-half record in Drillers franchise history. It tops the 2005 team that finished the first half 43-27 with a .614 winning percentage.
*Cam Day was credited with the win and Nick Robertson recorded the save. For Day, it was his second win of the season, and it was Robertson’s fourth save.
*Mike Sirota did not appear in Sunday’s game so his 28 game on-base streak with the Drillers and his 58 game on-base streak combined between High A and Double A remained intact.
*Tulsa starting pitcher Payton Martin made his second start of the week on Sunday afternoon. He gave up just one run in four innings with four strikeouts. In his two starts in the series, he gave up just three earned runs and struck out eight in 10.1 innings.
*Gelof’s seventh-inning double increased his on-base streak to 32 straight games. He has reached base 51 total times during the streak. It is the longest on-base streak in the Texas League this season when just counting Double-A games.
*Newell’s two homers brought his season total to 13. It was also his third multi-home run game this season.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will return to ONEOK Field to begin the second half of the Texas League season on Tuesday night against the Corpus Christi Hooks. Starting time for the series opener is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers have not been announced.