Tulsa, OK – Offensive power has been on prominent display for the Tulsa Drillers this week against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. The Drillers entered Friday night with the second most home runs in Double A this week, and they added to that total with more five homers, including two from Zyhir Hope. The five homers accounted for 9 of the Drillers 14 runs in a 14-7 victory over the Naturals at ONEOK Field, extending their winning streak to four straight games.
The victory helped the Drillers pick up a game on first-place Springfield, and they now trail the Cardinals by one game in the second-half, division standings.
Tulsa also clinched its 11th series victory of the season and its sixth at ONEOK Field with the win.
The Drillers continued to produce in the early innings as they scored in the first inning for the third consecutive game. They scored four of the first seven runs of the game on homers, but the first run of the night came on Jake Gelof’s sacrifice fly. Zyhir Hope added two more with his first home run, and Frank Rodriguez drove in Tulsa’s fourth run of the first inning with his RBI single.
In the second, Josue De Paula increased the Drillers lead to 6-0 with his two-run blast. Later in the inning, a wild pitch from Naturals starter Steven Zobac allowed Mike Sirota to score, putting Tulsa up 7-0.
The Los Angeles Dodgers top left-handed pitching prospect and 2025 first-round draft pick, Zach Root, made his Double-A debut on Friday. Root cruised through the first two innings, allowing just two baserunners in eight batters faced, but the University of Arkansas product struggled in his third inning. After Root earned the first two outs, the Naturals loaded the bases on two singles and a walk before Daniel Vazquez hit a three-run double. Omar Hernandez followed with a second double that scored NW Arkansas’ fourth run, ending Root’s night.
The offense continued as Tulsa added three more runs in the fifth to increase the lead to 10-4, with the three runs coming on Hope’s second home run and RBI doubles from Chris Newell and De Paula.
The Naturals remained in the game, scoring three times in the sixth on Canyon Brown’s two-run homer and Luke Pelzer’s single.
Elijah Hainline put the game out of reach when he hit the Drillers fourth homer of the night to score two more and make the score 12-7.
Sirota supplied Tulsa’s final homer with his two-run blast in the seventh to drive in the 13th and 14th runs.
*It was the 100th game of the season for the Drillers, and the win improved their record to 65-35. The 65% winning percentage puts them on an historic pace as no Drillers team has ever won 60% of its games for an entire season, and it has been nearly 100 years since a Tulsa professional team has won at a better pace. One needs to go back to 1932 to find a better winning percentage for a Tulsa squad. The 1932 Tulsa Oilers, who played in the Class A Western League, finished with a 98-48 record and a .671 winning percentage and were the last Tulsa team to win at a higher percentage. The winningest Drillers team by total wins was the 2019 squad that finished with 78 victories (78-51). The Drillers team with the best winning percentage was the 1992 team. They finished with a 77-59 record and a .566 winning percentage.
*Root officially completed 2 2/3 innings and was charged with four runs on four hits and three walks. He also struck out three.
*Hope’s two homers were his 23rd of the season and his tenth in July. He has now recorded 86 RBI for the season and 28 for the month. He also finished July hitting .372, the highest average in the Texas League for the month. It was also his fifth multi-homer game of the season.
*Myles Caba was credited with the victory after he pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings following Root to improve his record 3-1.
*Tulsa’s 15 home runs this week have accounted for 25 of its 40 runs scored.
*De Paula’s homer was his 17th, Hainline’s was his 10th and Sirota’s was his 9th with the Drillers this season.
*Jake Gelof and Jose Izarra each earned a hit to extend their hitting streaks to six consecutive games.
*Kelvin Ramirez and Carson Hobbs each had scoreless outings on Friday. The duo has not allowed a run in 17.1 combined innings pitched this season against the Naturals.
UP NEXT
The Drillers and Naturals will meet in the fifth game of their six-game set on Saturday night at ONEOK Field. Starting time is set for 7:00 p.m. and the pitching matchup is expected to be:
NW Arkansas – LHP Hunter Patteson (5-4, 4.38 ERA)
Tulsa – RHP Christian Zazueta (0-0, 2.14 ERA)