Late Rally Falls Short for Tulsa in 3-2 Loss
July 30, 2016 - Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
For the second straight night, the Tulsa Drillers and the Arkansas Travelers battled in a one-run ballgame. Unfortunately, the Drillers were left with nothing to show for their efforts as they were defeated by the Travs 3-2 Saturday for the second straight night at ONEOK Field.
The loss marked the third straight for the club as they have now lost 8 of their last 10 ballgames. Despite their recent struggles though, the Drillers are still only three games out of first place in the Texas League North Division with 32 games remaining in the second half.
The Drillers got on the scoreboard first Saturday in the bottom of the first inning.
Tim Locastro began the frame with a leadoff walk before Willie Calhoun brought him home with a booming double into the right-center field gap. Calhoun then moved to third on a single by Kyle Farmer and Tulsa looked primed and ready to jump out to a big lead.
But Arkansas starter Victor Alcantara was able to get Alex Verdugo to pop out to short before inducing an inning-ending double play off the bat of Kyle Garlick to minimize the damage. Riding the momentum from the end of the opening frame, Eric Aguilera led off the top of the second inning with his second homer in as many nights to tie the game at 1-1. Aguilera's 13th home run of the season landed in almost the same place his previous one had Friday night, beyond the right field grass berm and onto the concourse sidewalk. The Travs would put their next two men on base, but Tulsa starter Tim Shibuya was able to duplicate his counterpart's efforts as he kept any more runs from scoring in the inning. Shibuya and Alcantara proceeded put up shutout innings over the next two frames as both sides utilized double plays to silence their opponent. Arkansas pulled ahead in the top of the fifth inning when Shibuya was his own worst enemy. With Bo Way on second and one out, Shibuya uncorked a wild pitch that moved Way to third. Anthony Phillips then hit a chopping grounder to the mound that Shibuya bobbled before shoveling home to try and cut down Way at the plate. But the throw home glanced off the glove of Kyle Farmer as Way slid home safely to put the Travs in front 2-1.
Tulsa outfielder Joey Curletta collected an outfield assist for the second straight night Saturday after throwing out another Arkansas base runner attempting to stretch a single into a double. (Rich Crimi)
The score held there over the next several innings as Shibuya tossed a scoreless sixth inning before Michael Johnson, Gus Schlosser and Jeff Malm combined to hurl two shutout innings of their own out of the Tulsa bullpen. But the Travs did the same as Chris O'Grady came on for Alcantara to start the fifth inning and went on to toss three innings of shutout baseball. The Drillers mounted a rally in the eighth inning though against O'Grady as Kyle Garlick delivered a two-out, RBI base knock to plate Calhoun from second and knot the game up at 2-2. But the game would not remain tied for long. Chris Anderson came on to pitch the ninth but was greeted by a stubborn Jose Briceno. The Arkansas catcher worked an 11-pitch at-bat out of Anderson to earn a walk to begin the inning. Briceno would then move to second when Farmer was charged with a passed ball before coming home to score on a two-out, RBI knock by Anthony Phillips. The base hit for Phillips highlighted the huge series the Arkansas shortstop has enjoyed thus far against Tulsa. In the first three games of the series, the South African native has gone 7-11 with 2 walks, 3 runs scored and 4 RBIs. Tulsa would not go down without a fight though as it put runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Tyler DeLoach. But the Arkansas southpaw would escape the jam as he retired Locastro and Calhoun to send the Drillers to their third straight loss. O'Grady was credited with the victory for Arkansas while Anderson took the loss for Tulsa. DeLoach earned his third save of the year with his work in the ninth. The Drillers and Travs will complete their 4-game set tomorrow afternoon at ONEOK Field as Tulsa looks to avoid being swept. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM in a game that will feature RHP Alfredo Figaro (0-0, 18.00 ERA) for Tulsa and RHP Alex Blackford (7-4, 3.18 ERA) for Arkansas. NOTE: With his base hit in the first inning, Farmer extended his personal hitting streak to nine games. BOXSCORE 1gA5wh8ysUQ==] ~~~~~
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