Springdale, AR – The Tulsa Drillers clinched the first-half, North Division title on Thursday, but you would not have known it by the way they played Saturday night’s matchup with Northwest Arkansas. Trailing by four runs entering the ninth inning, the Drillers rallied to tie the game before Chris Newell’s second homer of the game in the eleventh inning gave the Drillers a 7-5 victory at Arvest Ballpark.
It was the 24th come-from-behind win of the season for the Drillers. It also improved their first-half record to 45-23, the best first-half mark in franchise history.
Starting pitchers Adam Serwinowski and Drew Beam were dominant through the first six innings of the matchup, keeping the game scoreless.
The Naturals finally broke the shutout with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Jack Pineda opened the inning with a leadoff double, and he came into score when Serwinowski committed a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt.
After a pop up, Justin Johnson delivered a run-scoring double to give the Naturals a two-run lead. Myles Caba came on for Serwinowski and gave up a run-scoring double to Colton Becker that gave Northwest Arkansas a 3-0 lead.
The Drillers got on the scoreboard when Frank Rodriguez led off the top of the eighth with his fifth home run of the season, but a two-run double from Canyon Brown in the bottom half of the eighth upped the Naturals lead to 5-1.
Down to their final three outs, the Drillers rallied. Josue De Paula opened the top of the ninth with a base hit, and Mike Sirota followed with a walk. Jake Gelof quickly pulled Tulsa to within one run when he hit his 14th home run of the season.
Chris Newell made it back-to-back homers when he followed Gelof with a solo home run to tie the score at 5-5 and send it into extra innings.
A strange scene took place in the top of the tenth. With one out, De Paula drew a walk after taking a full-count pitch out of the strike zone. At that point, Naturals co-pitching coach Anthony Silkwood came out of the first-base dugout to stage a demonstrative argument with home plate umpire Daniel Bytheway. Silkwood was eventually ejected from the game.
Following the bizarre argument, neither team scored in the first extra inning, sending the game to the eleventh.
The top of the eleventh for the Drillers began with a balk, advancing the placed runner to third base. After Jake Gelof struck out, Newell belted his second home run of the game to give Tulsa its first lead of the night. Newell’s eleventh homer of the year put the Drillers in front 7-5.
The two-run margin was good enough for reliever Antonio Knowles. Knowles, who had worked a scoreless tenth inning, worked around a one-out walk in the eleventh to close out the come-from-behind victory.
Knowles was credited with the win, improving his record to 2-0.
GAME NOTES
*Mike Sirota walked twice in the game to extend his on-base streaks. He has now reached base in all 28 games he has played in since joining the Drillers. Counting his 30-game on-base streak with Great Lakes, he has now reached base safely in 58 straight games. Itis the longest on-base streak this season in all of Minor League Baseball.
*Gelof’s ninth-inning homer increased his on-base streak to 31 straight games. It is the longest on-base streak in the Texas League this season when just counting Double-A games.
*Serwinowski worked 6 1/3 innings and allowed three runs, but just one was earned. He walked two batters and struck out six.
*Newell and Gelof each finished with three RBI.
*Tulsa had just six hits in the game, but four of them were home runs.
*Kole Myers finished 0-5 in the game, ending his seven-game hitting streak.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will play the final game of the first half when they conclude their series with the Naturals on Sunday afternoon. Starting time for the finale is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. and the pitching matchup is expected to be:
Tulsa – RHP Payton Martin (3-2, 4.77 ERA)
NW Arkansas – LHP Hunter Patterson (2-3, 5.47 ERA)