Tulsa, OK – In the first two games of their current series with Springfield, the Tulsa Drillers rallied from behind to claim victories. In game three on Thursday night, the Cardinals made sure there would not be a third straight rally. The Cards took a big, early lead, thanks primarily to a six-run second inning, and coasted to a 12-6 win over the Drillers at ONEOK Field.
The result left the two teams with identical 10-5 records in the second half of the season and tied atop the Texas League’s North Division standings. The loss for Tulsa was just its second in its last nine games.
Tulsa starting pitcher Payton Martin worked a 1-2-3 first inning, but he quickly ran into trouble in the second with the first six batters reaching safely. Tre Richardson III accounted for half of the six runs in the inning with a three-run homer.
The Cardinals eventually scored in four straight innings, including three more runs in the third. One of the runs came on the first of two solo home run from Won-Bin Cho.
Single runs in the fourth and fifth innings from the Redbirds gave them 11 runs before Cho capped their big offensive night with his second home run in the eighth inning.
There were a couple of offensive highlights for the Drillers with one coming courtesy of the red-hot Zyhir Hope. He got Tulsa on the scoreboard when he led off the bottom half of the second with his 19th home run of the season. The impressive drive traveled 436 feet before landing on Elgin Avenue, well outside the stadium’s perimeter fencing.
Another came from Mike Sirota when he led off the bottom of the sixth with a clean single to centerfield. The hit not only extended his long, on-base streak to 71 consecutive games, it set up a two-run inning from the Drillers.
Kyle Nevin followed Sirota and lined a double to left field to put runners at second and third. Hope’s ground out plated Sirota before Chris Newell singled to bring home Nevin.
Another came from Mike Sirota when he led off the bottom of the sixth with a clean single to centerfield. The hit not only extended his long, on-base streak to 71 consecutive games, it set up a two-run inning from the Drillers.
Kyle Nevin followed Sirota and lined a double to left field to put runners at second and third. Hope’s ground out plated Sirota before Chris Newell singled to bring home Nevin.
Nevin and Hope struck again in the eighth inning. Nevin led off with his second double of the game, and Hope reached on an infield single. Newell’s base hit scored Nevin and Kole Myers’ sacrifice fly plated Hope for Tulsa’s fourth and fifth runs.
The Drillers added a final consolation run in the ninth inning when Josue De Paula led off with a base and advanced to third on a pair of errors from Springfield centerfielder Miguel Ugueto. De Paula eventually scored on Nevin’s infield ground out.
GAME NOTES
*Hope continued his phenomenal start to July, finishing 2-5 with his homer and 2 runs batted in. In eight games this month, the outfielder is hitting .486 with 17 hits, including 6 home runs. Hope already has 19 RBI in the month and has a Texas League-leading 78 for the season in 79 games played.
*Sirota’s impressive 71-game, on-base streak has took place at two different levels. He has now reached base safely in all 41 games that he has played in with the Drillers, and before his promotion to Tulsa, he had reached base in his final 30 games with High-A Great Lakes. The 71-game streak is the longest single-season, on-base streak in Minor League Baseball since Andrew Velasquez reached base in 74 straight games for Class-A South Bend in the 2014 season.
*Both teams reached double figures in hits in the game with Springfield totaling 15 and Tulsa 11.
*Hope, Nevin, Newell and Taylor Young all finished with two hits in the game.
*Newell has hit safely in five of his last six games with a .333 batting average in the stretch. He has picked up 32 RBI in his last 30 games.
*Martin was charged with the loss, ending his four-game winning streak. It was his first defeat since April 24 in Frisco.
*Tulsa used five pitchers in the loss, with Cam Day the only one to not allow a run. Day worked a scoreless ninth inning.
*Springfield’s Cho has hit 9 home runs in just 12 games with the Cardinals.
UP NEXT
The two teams will play the fourth game of their six-game series on Friday night at ONEOK Field. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
Springfield – SHP Jurrangelo Cijntje (3-4, 5.21 ERA)
Tulsa – RHP Carson Hobbs (2-0, 4.34 ERA)