TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Drillers do it Again

Published on August 21, 2007 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


It was a different night against a different team and in a different stadium, but the Tulsa Drillers game Tuesday night closely resembled Monday's game. Less than 24 hours after staging a dramatic ninth-inning rally over the Midland RockHounds, the Drillers used a similar script to defeat the Springfield Cardinals. Trailing 3-1 entering the ninth, Tulsa scored three times, the final two runs courtesy of a two-out home run by Rick Guarno, to post a 4-3 win over the Cards at Hammons Field.

The win moved the Drillers to within two games of the first-place Arkansas Travelers who were idle Tuesday night. It moved them to within ½ game of second-place Springfield.

Prior to Monday night's comeback, the Drillers were 0-50 in games they trailed entering the final inning, but the consecutive rallies have quickly improved the mark to 2-50.

In the win over the RockHounds, it was Christian Colonel who hit a big three-run homer in the ninth inning to give the Drillers the opportunity to gain an 11-inning win.

On Tuesday, extra innings were not necessary. The Cardinals carried a 3-1 lead into the ninth thanks to a two-out, two-run homer by Colby Rasmus, the Texas League's home run leader, in the bottom of the eighth. The Drillers rally began with a leadoff walk to Aaron Rifkin. After the next two batters were retired by Jason Motte, Jordan Czarniecki got the Drillers to within a run with a double off the right field wall that scored Chris Frey who had reached on a fielder's choice. Guarno followed and fouled off two pitches on a 3-2 count before driving a ball over the left field wall to give the Drillers a 4-3 lead. It was Guarno's sixth homer of the year.

Closer Steven Register came on for the bottom of the ninth inning and retired the first two hitters before allowing a two-out single to Reid Gorecki. Register then ended the suspense by getting Mark Hamilton on a ground ball to Rifkin at first to preserve the win. It was Register's 35th save of the year and moved him to within two saves of tying Ryan Speier's franchise record.

The Drillers had the chance for the dramatic rally thanks to a strong outing from starting pitcher Ching-Lung Lo. Lo did not allow a hit until there were two outs in the bottom of the fourth.

The game was scoreless until the top of the sixth when Corey Wimberly singled and scored on a double by Rifkin, but the Cards tied the game when Henry Guerrero led off the bottom of the inning with his second homer of the season.

It remained tied until Rasmus' homer in the bottom of the eighth. The homer ended Lo's night. The right-hander allowed the three hits on only four hits in 7 2/3 innings, his longest outing of the year.

Gerardo Casadiego gained the win in only his second outing with the Drillers by getting the final out of the eighth.

Tulsa will continue its final road trip of the regular season with game two of its four-game series against the Cardinals Wednesday night. Jon Asahina (2-3, 4.63 ERA) will take the mound for the Drillers. He will likely face off against Eric Haberer (11-7, 4.17 ERA), but Todd Wellemeyer is scheduled to make an appearance in the game on an injury-rehabilitation assignment from the St. Louis Cardinals. It is uncertain whether Wellemeyer will relieve or start the game. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10PM at Hammons Field.

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics

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Texas League Stories from August 21, 2007


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