Another Late Rally Keeps Drillers in First Place
Published on July 10, 2026 under Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Tulsa, OK - Tulsa and Springfield entered Friday night's game in a first-place tie atop the Texas League's North Division standings. For six innings, it appeared as if the Drillers were headed to their second straight loss and a drop into second place in the division race. But, as they have done numerous times this season, the Drillers staged a rally.
Trailing by three runs, the Drillers scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh and tacked on another in the eighth and posted a 7-5 come-from-behind win at ONEOK Field. It marked the 33rd time this season that Tulsa has rallied from a deficit to claim a win.
The Drillers have won three of the first four games in their six-game series with the Cardinals, and they have come from behind in all three.
Tulsa now has an 11-5 second-half record, while Springfield is 10-6.
The Cardinals led most of the night after taking advantage of a Drillers miscue to score the game's first run in the second inning. With one out and Won-Bin Cho at first via a walk, Miguel Ugueto hit a fly ball to fairly deep left-center field. Centerfielder Kendall George ranged to his right to make the catch, but the ball deflected off his glove for a two-base error. Brody Moore followed with a sacrifice fly that put Springfield in front 1-0.
The Drillers quickly tied the score with a two-out rally in the bottom of the second. After a fly out and a strikeout, Jose Izarra extended the inning with a base hit. Izarra moved into scoring position with a steal of second base, then scored when George lined a base hit into left field.
The two teams traded runs again in the third inning. After a two-out walk to Jesus Baez, Springfield's Ryan Campos followed with a ground-rule double. With runners at second and third, Deniel Ortiz delivered the clutch hit with a two-out, two-run single that put the Redbirds in front 3-1.
Jake Gelof got one of the runs back for the Drillers in the bottom half of the third. With two outs and the bases empty, Gelof hit a towering home run that cleared the Country Financial Terrace beyond the left field fence. It was the infielder's 17th homer of the season.
Rainiel Rodriguez gave the Cardinals their biggest lead of the night with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. The opposite-field drive put the Redbirds in front 5-2.
The score remain unchanged until Tulsa's big seventh inning. The game-deciding rally began with one out when Izarra walked and George singled. Josue De Paula plated Izarra with a double to left field.
Following a line out, and with runners at second and third, Zyhir Hope continued his red-hot July with a two-out single that plated both runners and tied the score at 5-5.
After Hope stole second base, Gelof walked to bring Kyle Nevin to the plate. Nevin hit a chopper about 45 feet up the third base line. Springfield reliever Andrew Schultz raced over to field the grounder, and in an attempt to end the inning, his quick throw to first was wide of the base, allowing Hope to race home with the run that put Tulsa in front for the first time at 6-5.
The Drillers flirted with disaster in the top of the eighth inning. Cho led off with a slicing liner off reliever Lucas Wepf that De Paula seemed poised to catch, but the ball deflected off his glove for a two-base error. After a fly out, the Drillers appeared to have picked Cho off second base, but as the runner broke to third, second baseman Taylor Young's throw was high and off the retaining wall for an error that left Cho safe at third base.
After a walk, Wepf bounced a pitch in the dirt that skipped to the backstop. Cho broke for home on the apparent wild pitch, but the ball deflected directly back to catcher Frank Rodriguez. After a brief rundown, Cho was tagged for the second out of the inning.
With a runner still at third base, Wepf escaped the inning by striking out Tre Richardson III, keeping the one-run lead in place.
George and De Paula combined to give Tulsa an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. George worked a two-out walk, stole second base and scored when De Paula lined a single into centerfield, his third hit of the game.
Antonio Knowles made sure there was no comeback from the Cardinals, setting the side down in order in the ninth to collect his second save of the season.
Carson Hobbs made just the second start of his professional career in Friday's matchup with Springfield. Hobbs gave up just one hit and one unearned run in his two innings of work.Tim Campbell
GAME NOTES
*Mike Sirota extended his impressive on-base streak in the victory. Sirota was hit by a pitch in the first inning and has now reached base safely in 72 straight games. He has reached base safely in all 42 games that he has played in with the Drillers, and before his promotion to Tulsa, he had reached base in his final 30 games with High-A Great Lakes. The 72-game streak is the longest single-season, on-base streak in Minor League Baseball since Andrew Velasquez reached base in 74 straight games for Class-A South Bend in the 2014 season.
*Sirota's streak will be on hold for several days. He and De Paula will head to Philadelphia on Saturday to participate in the All-Star Futures Game that will be played on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. With Minor League Baseball taking a four-day break for the Major League All-Star Game, Sirota will not return to regular season action until Friday, July 17 when the Drillers open a road series in Frisco against the RoughRiders.
*Hope increased his Texas League-leading RBI total with his two-run single in the seventh inning. The Tulsa outfielder now has 80 RBI in 80 games played this season. In nine games this month, the outfielder is hitting .474 with 18 hits, including 6 home runs, and 21 RBI.
*Reliever Evan Shaw made the comeback possible, delivering three scoreless innings out of the bullpen. The former University of Kansas hurler walked two batters but did not allow a hit while striking out four. Shaw was credited with the win, improving his record to 2-1.
*Knowles has been scored against in just 1 of his 13 games with the Drillers this season. He has a 1.13 ERA across 16 innings pitched.
*Through four games of the series, only one run separates the two teams. Tulsa has scored a total of 24 runs while Springfield has scored 23.
UP NEXT
The two teams will be back in action on Saturday night for the fifth game of their six-game series. Starting time at ONEOK Field is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. and the pitching matchup is slated to be:
Springfield - LHP Cooper Hjerpe (0-1, 15.43 ERA)
Tulsa - RHP Peter Heubeck (0-2, 9.16 ERA)
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