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Drillers Drop 3rd Straight

May 16, 2012 - Texas League (TL) Tulsa Drillers

The Tulsa Drillers appeared to catch a break prior to Wednesday morning's meeting with Northwest Arkansas when it was revealed that two of the Naturals best players, outfielder Wil Myers and scheduled starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi, had been promoted to Triple A. But, the departures appeared to have little impact as the Naturals continued their dominance of the Drillers with a 6-2 victory before a sellout crowd at ONEOK Field.

The loss of Myers, who had hit six homers in six games against Tulsa this season, was covered by Paulo Orlando who broke a scoreless tie with his first home run of the season in the top of the fifth inning to put the Naturals in front 1-0.

Northwest Arkansas added to its lead in the sixth. With one out Sharlon Schoop doubled and Johnny Whittleman walked. After a ground out advanced the runners to second and third, both came home to make it 3-0 when Eric Duncan lined a base hit into centerfield.

The Drillers cut into the lead in the bottom half of the sixth. Angelys Nine drew a walk and first baseman Kiel Roling belted his seventh home run of the year to pull Tulsa to within 3-2.

The Naturals ended the Drillers hopes of a comeback with a three-run eighth inning. Whittleman doubled in front of a run-scoring hit by Mario Lisson, and Duncan followed with his first home run of the season to increase the Naturals lead to 6-2.

As a team, it was the 14th home run for Northwest Arkansas in only 7 meetings with Tulsa this season. The power display has helped the Naturals win 6 of the 7 games between the two teams, including 3 in a row.

The loss was the third straight for the Drillers, matching a season high, and dropped their first-place lead to only two games in the North Divisions standings.

Tulsa starting pitcher Dan Houston pitched well but was tagged with his fourth loss, evening his record at 4-4. Houston worked six innings, allowing seven hits and three runs. He walked two batters and matched a season high with seven strikeouts.

Ryan Dennick was the fill-in starter for Odorizzi and was outstanding. Making only the third start of his professional career, Dennick lasted five innings and shut the Drillers out on only three hits. The right-hander did not walk a batter and struck out four.

Tulsa was limited to only five hits in the defeat with Kent Matthes accounting for two of them with his second straight two-hit game. In the three losses to the Naturals this series, the Drillers have been held to only 17 hits and a .185 team batting average.

The Drillers will look to salvage the final game of the four-game series with Northwest Thursday night. Major leaguer Jorge Del Rosa (0-0, 36.00 ERA), who is on an injury rehabilitation assignment from the Colorado Rockies, will pitch for Tulsa against Noel Arguelles (1-3, 6.61 ERA) of the Naturals. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05PM in downtown Tulsa.

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Texas League Stories from May 16, 2012


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