9th Inning Rally Leads Drillers Past Roughriders
May 29, 2015 - Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Things didn't look good for the Drillers as they found themselves trailing the Roughriders 1-0 heading to the ninth Friday night. Tulsa came into the game with a 0-19 record when trailing going into the last inning. On top of that, the Drillers had gone 25 straight innings without scoring a single run. But that was all forgotten as Tulsa rallied in the ninth, scoring three runs, while the bullpen hung on to defeat Frisco 3-1 at Dr. Pepper Ballpark.
Jose De Leon turned in a solid Double-A debut in his last outing as he went six innings, allowing 3 earned runs while collecting 8 strikeouts. But in his second start for the Drillers in Frisco, De Leon was brilliant as he set a new Drillers 2015 single-game high for strikeouts with 11 over seven strong innings.
The young, right-hander had the Frisco hitters guessing all night as he mixed his entire arsenal to keep the Roughriders off balance at the plate. One mistake in the first inning was the lone blemish for De Leon on the night.
After De Leon struck out Nick Williams to begin the Roughriders first, Jorge Alfaro stepped up to the plate. Alfaro, who is ranked by MLB.com as the #2 overall prospect in the Rangers organization, hit a deep fly ball to left that just stayed fair and just cleared the left field fence to give the Roughriders a quick 1-0 advantage. The score would remain the same for the next eight innings as the game developed into a fine pitcher's duel.
As good as De Leon was, Frisco starter Frank Lopez matched him pitch-for-pitch. The left-handed hurler collected 7 strikeouts of his own over seven shutout innings before turning the game over to his bullpen with the slim 1-0 lead.
The Drillers offense continued their May struggles for the first eight innings in Frisco and particularly so with runners in scoring position. Three different Drillers reached third base during that time, but each time they were left stranded.
Frisco threatened to put the game out of reach in the eighth as it loaded the bases with two outs against Drillers reliever Jacob Rhame. But Ryan Dennick came on and struck out Nomar Mazara to keep the deficit at one and give the Drillers some much needed momentum going to the ninth.
Following back-to-back singles from Brandon Dixon and Lars Anderson to begin the ninth, Tulsa had men on the corners with no one out. But Dixon was then thrown out at home when he tried to score on a chopper to third and it looked as though the Drillers' scoreless drought would continue. Yadir Drake made sure that wouldn't happen though as he lined a single into center to score Anderson from second and tie up the ballgame. One batter later, Tulsa took the lead as Daniel Mayora dropped a single to right to score Jarek Cunningham. Drake also came around to score after Frisco carelessly threw the ball away at third and the Drillers found themselves with a 3-1 lead.
The win would not come easily as the Roughriders loaded the bases again off reliever Juan Gonzalez with one out in the bottom of the ninth. But like Dennick, Jeremy Horst came in and put out the fire as he struck out Jake Skole and Nick Williams to preserve the win and earn his well-deserved third save of the year.
Dennick picked up his second win of the year for Tulsa with his late heroics while David Martinez suffered his second loss and first blown save of the year for Frisco.
The Drillers and Roughriders will continue their series Saturday night in Frisco. Tulsa will send P.J. Walters (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the hill to start the game Saturday. Walters will be making his first start with the Drillers after starting the year with Oklahoma City. Frisco will counter with southpaw Andrew Faulkner (2-3, 5.49 ERA.) First pitch is scheduled for 7:05PM.
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