Cards Hold off Drillers
Published on September 1, 2010 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
The Tulsa Drillers have produced five wins in their final at-bat during the inaugural season at ONEOK Field, and they made a bid for number six Wednesday night against Springfield. Trailing the Cardinals by two runs entering the bottom of the ninth, the Drillers loaded the bases with two outs. But, their comeback hopes ended when Cards' reliever Adam Reifer retired Charlie Blackmon on a fly ball to left field to give the Redbirds an important 3-1 win.
The result left Tulsa and Springfield in a second-place tie in the North Division of the Texas League, 2 1/2 games behind the first-place Northwest Arkansas Naturals, who were rained out Wednesday. The Drillers, who must win the division title to claim a playoff berth, have only five games remaining in the regular season.
Tulsa got the kind of pitching performance from Greg Reynolds that you hope for during a pennant race, but unfortunately Springfield got just as strong an outing from its starter Scott McGregor.
The Drillers dropped a 3-1 decision to Springfield Wednesday night at ONEOK Field despite a strong outing from starting pitcher Greg Reynolds. (Rich Crimi)
Reynolds was perfect through the first three innings, retiring all nine hitters he faced, but he ran into trouble in the top of the fourth. Antonio DeJesus broke up the perfect game with a leadoff double, then scored on a base hit by Owasso's Pete Kozma. After Chris Swauger made it three straight hits, Kozma came home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Daryl Jones to give the Cards a 2-0 lead.
The Drillers put runners on base in each of the first four innings against McGregor, but they could not produce a run.
Bronson Sardinha finally ended the shutout with a two-out, solo home run in the bottom of the fifth. Sardinha's blast landed halfway up the berm in right field, and was his 10th homer of the year.
The Cards got the run back in the ninth on a solo homer from first baseman Xavier Scruggs.
In the bottom of the ninth, Reifer retired the first two batters, but he issued a pair of walks before Anthony Jackson singled to load the bases. Blackmon took a called first strike from the Cards' closer before lifting a soft fly ball to left that ended the game.
Except for the fourth inning, Reynolds was superb for the Drillers. He allowed only the two runs on four hits in seven innings of work. He did not walk a batter, while striking out three.
The outing continued a superb stretch for Reynolds. Since August 1, the right-hander has made six starts, winning three times and compiling a 1.90 ERA in 38 innings.
McGregor also worked seven innings, surrendering the one run on five hits to improve his record to 6-5.
The loss dropped Reynolds' record to 7-5.
The Drillers will continue their pursuit of the second-half crown Thursday night with their game of their four-game series with the Cardinals. It will be the final Thirsty Thursday of the season with Jonnathan Aristil (1-1, 2.28 ERA) taking the mound for Tulsa against Nick Additon (9-6, 4.27 ERA) of Springfield. First pitch is set for 7:05PM in downtown Tulsa.
Texas League Stories from September 1, 2010
- Cards Hold off Drillers - Tulsa Drillers
- RockHounds Lose Close Game - Midland RockHounds
- Springfield Pitches Past Drillers 3-1 - Springfield Cardinals
- Abreu Aces Roughriders - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Travs & Naturals Rained Out - Arkansas Travelers
- Naturals Washed Away Wednesday - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Royals Name Robinson as Naturals Player of the Year - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Josh Fields Completes ML Rehab - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Six Naturals Selected by Royals for Fall League - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Freddy Krueger Night At The Ballpark - Midland RockHounds
- Nats Embarrass Travs Tuesday - Arkansas Travelers
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