Tulsa, OK – Mired in a five-game losing streak, the Tulsa Drillers were the only team in Double A to have not hit a home run this week. The Drillers ended the homerless drought on Saturday night with four long balls in a matchup with Springfield, and the power display helped them also end the losing streak.
Tulsa came from behind, overturning an early four-run deficit thanks in large part to home runs from Josue De Paula, Zyhir Hope, Kyle Nevin and Jake Gelof. The power surge led to a 10-6 victory for Tulsa, ending the season-high losing streak.
The game began as if it were going to be a pitcher’s duel. Tulsa starting pitcher Adam Serwinowski breezed through the first two innings, and seemed headed to an easy third. He struck out the leadoff batter in the inning, and had the second one in a 0-2 count before hitting him with a pitch.
It opened the door for what turned out to be a big inning. Noah Mendlinger and Jon Jon Gazdar both singled to load the bases for Miguel Ugueto. The Springfield centerfielder went the other way with an elevated pitch from Serwinowski and lined a grand slam homer over the right field fence.
Abruptly down four runs, the Drillers quickly got one of them back in the bottom half of the third. Gelof opened the inning with a base and advanced to third with a stolen base and a throwing error on the catcher. He would later score on a wild pitch.
Tulsa took its first lead with a four-run fifth inning. The rally began with a one-out single from Kendall George. De Paula followed with an impressive opposite-field homer into the Country Financial Terrace beyond the left field fence to pull the Drillers to within 4-3.
Following the home run, Elijah Hainline was hit by a pitch before Hope grounded into a force out for the second out of the inning. Singles by Nevin and Griffin Lockwood-Powell prolonged the inning and loaded the bases for Joe Vetrano. The Tulsa first baseman doubled off the left field wall, plating two runners and almost a third, but Lockwood-Powell was thrown out attempting to score to end the inning with the Drillers holding a 5-4 lead.
Reliever Maddux Bruns maintained the lead with an impressive sixth inning that included two strikeouts.
Asked to work a second inning, Bruns struggled in the top of the seventh, walking the first two batters and hitting the third.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Tulsa called on Kelvin Ramirez to take over, and he nearly escaped the jam. He got a pop out and a strikeout before walking Dakota Harris to force home the tying run. Ramirez recorded another strikeout to end the inning with the score tied at 5-5.
The Drillers again answered. In the bottom of the seventh, Sean McLain, who replaced Hainline in the lineup after his hit by pitch, singled into right field. Hope followed with another blast into the left field terrace, landing not far from where De Paula’s homer had landed. The two-run shot from Hope was his team-leading seventh of the season and put Tulsa back in front 7-5.
Nevin followed Hope to the plate and made it a three-run lead when he delivered his fifth home run of the year. His liner carried 392 feet, just inside the left field foul pole.
The homer display continued in the eighth inning. Springfield’s Jeremy Rivas led off the top half of the inning with his third homer of the series, but Gelof answered in the bottom of the eighth with his sixth of the year.
The Drillers added their tenth and final run later in the eighth before Nick Robertson closed out the win with a scoreless ninth.
GAME NOTES
*The matchup was also a food fight with the two teams playing under their alternate identities. The Drillers played as the Tulsa Ranch Dippers while the Cardinals turned into the Springfield Cashew Chickens.
*Lockwood-Powell’s fifth-inning single extended his hitting streak to seven straight games.
*De Paula and George extended their hitting streaks to five games.
*The grand slam adversely affected Serwinowski’s final line, but he turned in one of his best outings of the season. The lefthander was charged with four runs on five hits in his five-inning outing, but he walked just one batter and struck out a season high nine.
*Much to the displeasure of the two teams, both sides were issued warnings by the umpires following the hit by pitch from Bruns in the seventh inning. The warning was administered despite Bruns obviously struggling with his control. The hit by pitch did not appear to have any intent and loaded the bases with no outs and Tulsa holding just a one-run lead.
*Robertson turned in another scoreless outing and has yet to give up a run this season over 18.0 innings and 12 games.
*McLain finished a perfect 2-2 at the plate after entering the game in the fifth inning.
*He was one of three Tulsa batters to record multi-hit games. Gelof also finished with two hits, while Nevin had three.
*The Drillers struck out 17 times in the game and have struck out 37 times over the past two games.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will be back in action Sunday afternoon for the final game of their series with the Cardinals and for the final game of their home stand. Starting time for the finale is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at ONEOK Field and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
SPR – LHP Braden Davis (0-2, 6.28 ERA)
TUL – RHP Roque Gutierrez (3-0, 6.53 ERA)