Drillers’ offense explodes for 14 runs in series finale victory

July 28, 2024 – Texas League (TL)
Press Release from Tulsa Drillers

FRISCO, TX – The Tulsa Drillers had scored just 15 runs in seven games of their extended road trip Sunday night. In the first five games of the series with Frisco, the Drillers had scored just 11 runs. That trend ended Sunday night when Tulsa broke out of its slump by scoring 14 runs on a season-high 20 hits in a 14-4 victory at Riders Field.

The win in the final game of the series gave the Drillers their third victory of the road trip and their second against Frisco. It also lifted the Drillers’ season record above the .500 mark to 48-47, just 2.5 games behind top-seeded Springfield in the second half of the standings. The Drillers and Cardinals will face off in a six-game series beginning Tuesday at ONEOK Field.

Damon Keith put Tulsa on the board first again in the second inning on Sunday with a solo home run, his second in as many days.

Abimelec Ortiz responded in the second half with his own solo homerun to tie the score.

The Drillers finally found their first offensive spark of the road trip in the third inning. Tulsa went around and scored six runs in the process to take a 7-1 lead. Griffin Lockwood-Powell drove in the first two runs with a single. Jose Ramos drove in the next two runs with a double to center field. The final three runs were scored with two outs on Brandon Lewis’ two-run homer and Alex Freeland’s RBI single.

The Drillers extended their lead in the fourth inning when Keith stole the ball and Lewis Ramos singled in.

In his third rehab appearance against the Drillers, Texas Rangers infielder Josh Jung produced two runs for the RoughRiders with a double to make it 9-3.

Cody Freeman hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to score Frisco’s fourth run of the night.

Ramos extended the lead in the eighth inning with a two-run homerun to center field.

The Drillers didn’t slow down in the ninth inning, earning six more hits and scoring three runs on an RBI single by Yeiner Fernandez and a two-run homer by Dalton Rushing.

A solid performance from the Drillers pitching staff matched the offensive performance. Kendall Williams made his 19th start of 2024 and allowed three runs on five hits and four walks. He didn’t qualify for the win, completing just four innings.

Christian Suarez got the win after a perfect fifth inning following Williams. It was his third win with the Drillers.

Antonio Knowles, Lucas Wepf and Edgardo Henriquez were the last pitchers brought in. Wepf and Henriquez threw a scoreless inning.

WITHIN THE GAME

*Tulsa finishes the road trip with a 3-5 record.

*Keith had three more hits to finish 4-5. It was his first four-hit game in his professional career. The home run was his sixth in July, tying Amarillo’s Tim Tawa for the most in the month.

*Lewis finished 3-5 with three RBI on Sunday. The home run was his first hit in 10 games and his first home run since June 20.

*Lockwood-Powell finished with five hits. It was the first five-hit game by a Tulsa hitter since Jacob Amaya on April 23, 2022, in a 16-8 win over Springfield.

*The Drillers hit four home runs, tying a season record.

*Ramos finished with four runs batted in and two hits in six at bats.

*The 14 runs put Tulsa 15-0, with more than 10 runs this season.

*Eight of Tulsa’s nine batters had a hit.

NEXT ONE:

The Drillers return to ONEOK Field to begin a six-game series against the Springfield Cardinals on Tuesday, July 30. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the pitching matchup is expected to be:

Springfield – TBA

Tulsa – RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (4-6, 5.53 ERA)

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