Midland, TX – In the first three games of their current series in Midland, the bottom portion of the Tulsa Drillers lineup had been responsible for driving in 9 of their 12 runs scored and had earned 17 of the their 25 hits. In Friday’s matchup, the five through nine positions in the lineup continued to produce, driving in four of the Drillers five runs and earning four of the seven hits, led by Chris Newell’s three-run homer. The output backed five strong innings from starting pitcher Christian Zazueta and led to a 5-3 victory for the Drillers at Momentum Bank Ballpark.
The result evened the series between the Drillers and RockHounds at two wins each with just two games remaining between the teams in the regular season.
The Drillers never trailed in Friday’s victory, taking an early lead in the second inning. With two outs, Elijah Hainline drew a walk and stole second base to move into scoring position. Eighth-place hitter Joe Vetrano brought Hainline home with the game’s first run with a double to right field.
Midland tied the game in a similar fashion in the third inning. With one out, Logan Sauve drew a walk, and after he stole second base, Ali Camarillo hit a double over center fielder Newell’s head to make the score 1-1.
The Drillers used a four-run fifth inning to regain the lead with Josue De Paula earning his 99th RBI of the season. The inning began with nine-hole hitter Taylor Young hitting a triple, and De Paula followed by hitting a ground ball to first baseman Euribiel Angeles, who elected to throw home, but Young scored by sliding around the tag, putting Tulsa ahead 2-1.
Later in the fifth inning, Griffin Lockwood-Powell and Jake Gelof each earned a two-out hits, and fifth-place hitter Newell drove in both with his 22nd home run to give the Drillers a 5-1 lead.
Zazueta closed out his outing with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, and Christian Ruebeck followed and tossed two scoreless innings to keep Tulsa out front.
The Hounds closed the gap by scoring two runs in the eighth inning against Christian Suarez, using a wild pitch and a run-scoring 6-4-3 double play to bring the score to 5-3.
Midland did not score again as Carson Hobbs took over in the ninth inning and retired the side to earn his second save of 2026.
GAME NOTES
*Tulsa has now earned 20 of its 32 hits with 13 of the 17 runs scored this week being produced from the bottom five spots of the lineup.
*Los Angeles Dodgers top pitching prospect, Zazueta made his tenth start for Tulsa and delivered an impressive outing. It marked his seventh start with one or fewer runs allowed as he was charged with one run on three hits and one walk with five strikeouts. The performance earned Zazueta his second Double-A win to even his record at 2-2.
*De Paula is just one RBI shy of being the first Tulsa player to record 100 RBI since Joe Koshansky drove in a franchise record 109 in 2006.
*Newell and Gelof were both 1-4 and both increased their hitting streaks to six straight games.
*Suarez’s wild pitch marked the third time this week that Midland scored a run on a wild pitch. It also set a new Drillers record, giving him 18 wild pitches this season, the most ever in one season for a Drillers pitcher.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will play the fifth game of their six-game series with the RockHounds on Saturday night. Starting time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the pitching matchup is slated to be:
Tulsa – RHP Patrick Copen (7-7, 6.21 ERA)
Midland – RHP Corey Avant (3-6, 5.80 ERA)