Wichita, KS – The Tulsa Drillers have been a team of comebacks this season and they staged another one on Thursday night in Wichita. The Drillers twice trailed by three runs in the game and were down by one entering the ninth inning, but Zyhir Hope’s fourth hit of the game and Jake Gelof’s grand slam overturned the deficit and propelled the Drillers to an 11-7 come-from-behind win over the Wind Surge at Equity Bank Ballpark.
They won despite five home runs from the Wind Surge.
It marked the 28th time this season that Tulsa has come from behind to win a game.
With the dramatic victory, Tulsa is now on the verge of clinching this year’s version of the Coors Light Propeller Series between the two teams. The Drillers hold a 12-3 lead in this year’s series and need just one more win in the final nine meetings between the teams to win back the Propeller Trophy.
The game started promisingly for the Drillers with three runs in the top of the first inning. Josue De Paula opened the game with a leadoff double, and Mike Sirota followed with a base hit. With runners at the corners, Elijah Hainline plated both of them with his first triple of the season. Gelof’s sacrifice fly scored Hainline to give Tulsa a 3-0 lead.
The Wind Surge answered against Tulsa starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski with three runs in the bottom half of the first. The runs came via a solo home run from leadoff batter Andrew Cossetti on Serwinowski’s second pitch of the game. Later in the inning, a two-run homer from Billy Amick tied the score at 3-3.
Cosseti put Wichita in front with his second home run of the game in the second inning. His two-run shot gave the Wind Surge a 5-3 lead.
A solo homer from Jose Salas in the bottom of the third increased the margin to 6-3.
Hope pulled the Drillers to within two runs when he led off the fourth inning with his 14th home run of the year.
Wichita’s Jorel Ortega matched Hope with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 7-4.
The Drillers made things interesting in the eighth inning. Hope led off with a base hit and Gelof followed with a double. With Hope at third and Gelof at second, Kole Myers brought them both home with his opposite-field double.
Trailing by just a run and Myers at second with no outs, Tulsa’s hopes of rallying for a win seemed to disappear when Wichita reliever Kyle Bischoff got a pair of strikeouts and line out to the third baseman to end the threat.
But like so many times this season, the Drillers did not go away. De Paula drew a walk to leadoff the top of the ninth and Sirota followed with a base hit. After De Paula stole third base, Hainline drew a walk to load the bases.
Hope’s fourth hit of the night, a lined single to right, brought De Paula home to tie the game and bring Gelof back to the plate. The Tulsa infielder fell into a 1-2 hole, and after staying alive on a foul ball, he delivered his 16th home run of the year. The grand slam gave the Drillers an 11-7 lead.
Antonio Knowles took it from there. He worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to wrap up the victory and clinch the 28th come-from-behind win of the year for the Drillers.
GAME NOTES
*Sirota ‘s first-inning single extended his on-base streak to 66 straight games. It is just eight games short of the recent Minor League Baseball record of reaching base in 74 straight games set by Andrew Velasquez of South Bend in 2014. Sirota has reached base safely in all 36 games he has played in with the Drillers. Before his promotion to Tulsa, the outfielder reached base in his final 30 games with High-A Great Lakes.
*Gelof waited until late to extend his own on-base streak. Prior to his ninth-inning slam, he singled in the seventh inning and has now reached base in 40 consecutive games. It is the longest on-base streak in the Texas League this year, when just counting league games.
*Gelof’s grand slam was the sixth this season for a Tulsa batter.
*It was a rare off night for Serwinowski. The lefthander was charged with six runs on six hits in three full innings while walking two batters and striking out six. Serwinowski entered the game after posting a 1.63 ERA in five starts during the month of June.
*Roque Gutierrez followed Serwinowski to the mound and delivered five relief innings to get the win that improved his record to a perfect 6-0. Gutierrez allowed just one run on two hits while striking out five. The five innings matched his longest outing of the season.
*Knowles has yet to allow a run since joining the Drillers roster. His scoreless streak now extends to 11 games and 14.0 innings.
*The home run from Hope was his first since June 7. He finished with four hits in the game and now has a three-game hitting streak, going 6-14 in the streak.
*De Paula’s first-inning double was his only hit in the game, but he has seven total hits over his last three games.
*The Drillers now has a 52-26 record on the season. They have identical home and away records at 26-13.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will be back in action Friday night in Wichita with the fourth game of their series with the Wind Surge. Starting time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the pitching matchup is expected to be:
Tulsa – RHP Payton Martin (4-2, 4.11 ERA)
Wichita – RHP Chris Vallimont (0-1, 5.79 ERA)