TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Barrage of Naturals Homers Too Much for Drillers

Published on May 1, 2016 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


Cody Bellinger of the Tulsa Drillers
Cody Bellinger of the Tulsa Drillers
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Rich Crimi)

The Northwest Arkansas Naturals came into Tulsa for their series against the Drillers leading the Texas League in home runs with 21 round-trippers as a club over their first twenty games. Saturday night brought more of the same as the Naturals added four more long balls to their season total. The final blast proved to be the decisive one as top Kansas City Royals prospect Raul Mondesi cracked a tie-breaking, three-run homer in the top of the ninth to lead the Naturals past the Drillers 6-3 in front of 8,555 fans at ONEOK Field.

The Drillers actually outhit the Naturals 13-10 on the night. But of the 10 NW Arkansas hits, four went over the fence, while the other six were of the base hit variety.

For the Drillers, Brandon Trinkwon, Alex Verdugo, Lars Anderson, Cody Bellinger and Willie Calhoun all finished the night with multi-hit performances. Trinkwon led all Tulsa batters with three hits.

The game also marked the first action of the year for Bellinger after the highly touted Dodgers prospect missed the first 3 weeks of the season with an injured hip.

Starter Chase De Jong turned in a quality start for the Drillers, tossing six innings of three run ball. But those three runs all came via the solo homer route as the Naturals established a 3-0 lead.

The first blast for NW Arkansas came in the top of the first as Orlando Calixte hit a one-out blast over the left field fence to put the visitors in front 1-0.

It looked as though the Drillers would get on the scoreboard in the second inning as Bellinger and Calhoun led off the frame with base hits to put two men on with no one out. But a fly out and a double play ended that opportunity.

Designated hitter Frank Schwindel added to the Naturals lead in the fourth inning with his fourth homer of the year after De Jong had just picked off Mauricio Ramos off first base.

Stephen F. Austin University alum Hunter Dozier extended the NW Arkansas advantage in the sixth inning with a towering drive to left, putting the Naturals lead at 3-0.

Dozier threatened again in the top of the seventh, coming up to bat with runners on second and third and two outs against Tulsa reliever Logan Bawcom. But Bawcom buckled down and escaped the jam by striking out the dangerous Natural to keep the Drillers within three.

Bawcom's teammates seemed to respond to the stand in the home half of the inning as they broke through with three runs to chase NW Arkansas starter Alec Mills.

Anderson, Bellinger and Calhoun were in the middle of the action as the trio all collected hits in the frame to bring an end to Mills' night. Reliever Eric Stout did not fare much better as Tyler Ogle plated Bellinger with a sacrifice fly followed by an RBI single off the bat of Trinkwon to tie things up 3-3.

The score held there going into the ninth inning as Caleb Dirks came on to pitch for Tulsa. The reliever struck out the first two batters he faced before the inning was extended on a tough-luck error charged to Bellinger at first base. That would come back to haunt the Drillers as Calixte extended the inning with a base hit leading to Mondesi's three-run blast to put the Naturals in front for good 6-3.

The Drillers mounted a rally in the bottom of the ninth, scoring a run and loading the bases with two outs against Andrew Edwards. But the hard-throwing right-hander was able to end the comeback attempt by inducing a force out off the bat of Jacob Scavuzzo to end the game.

Stout ended up with the win for NW Arkansas after settling down to toss a scoreless eighth inning while Dirks took his first loss of the year.

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Images from this story

Cody Bellinger of the Tulsa Drillers
Cody Bellinger of the Tulsa Drillers
(Rich Crimi)		   



Texas League Stories from May 1, 2016


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