Drillers Drop Second Straight to Arkansas
TL Tulsa Drillers

Drillers Drop Second Straight to Arkansas

July 11, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


Tulsa Drillers' Patrick Copen on the mound
Tulsa Drillers' Patrick Copen on the mound
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Braeden Botts)

North Little Rock, AR - Pitching took center stage on Friday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. The Tulsa Drillers and Arkansas Travelers both received stellar outings from their starting pitchers and scoreless outings from their bullpen in the fourth game of their six-game series. Unfortunately for the Drillers, Arkansas was able to squeak one more run across as Tulsa failed to come up with a timely hit in a 2-1 defeat.

The loss was the Drillers second straight, even though they have outhit the Travs 22-12 in the defeats. Tulsa's record at Dickey-Stephens Park in the past four seasons dropped to 6-22 with the defeat.

The Drillers entered the game having scored in the first inning in four straight games, but it was the Travelers who got on the scoreboard in the first. Patrick Copen made his seventh start on Friday and struggled in the opening inning as he walked the first two batters. Both baserunners advanced to second and third base on a double steal and scored on Jared Sundstrom's single to give the Travs a 2-0 lead.

Tulsa got a run back in the second inning when Chris Newell hit a solo home run to right field.

After Sundstrom's two-RBI single in the first inning, Copen quickly recovered to retire 17 of the next 18 Arkansas batters, but the Drillers were unable to provide any offensive support.

Travs starting pitcher Dylan File held Tulsa off the scoreboard for the remainder of his outing after he allowed the home run in the second inning. File completed 6.1 innings and tallied eight strikeouts.

The Drillers missed two key opportunities to score in the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Tulsa had runners at first and second with no outs, but the threat ended following two fly outs and a strikeout.

One inning later, the Drillers had runners at first and third with two outs, but a strikeout ended the threat.

Despite outhitting the Travelers 7-3 for the game, Tulsa's offense was kept off the scoreboard for the remainder of the night after Newell's second-inning homer. The Drillers finished 0-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners on base.

INSIDE THE GAME

*Copen completed six innings and posted a solid pitching line. He allowed only two runs on two hits and two walks. He totaled five strikeouts and was charged with his second Double-A loss.

*Newell's home run was his tenth of the season, which matched Jose Ramos for the most on the Drillers this year. Ramos was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City on July 8

*Taylor Young earned another hit on Friday to extend his hitting streak to 13 straight games. The streak is the longest by a Tulsa hitter this season and the longest active hitting streak in the Texas League.

*After not recording a stolen base the previous two games, Arkansas stole six bases on Friday. The Travs have now swiped 53 bases against the Drillers the season, the most of any opponent.

*Jerming Rosario and Jeisson Cabrera combined to pitch the final two innings, with the two relievers not allowing a run in one inning pitched each.

*The game took 2 hours and 11 minutes to complete.

UP NEXT

The Drillers and Travelers will continue their series on Saturday night with game five at Dickey-Stephens Park. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. and the starting pitchers are slated to be:

Tulsa - RHP Roque Gutierrez (1-0, 9.58 ERA)

Arkansas - RHP Marcelo Perez (2-0, 3.18 ERA)

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics




Images from this story

Tulsa Drillers' Patrick Copen on the mound
Tulsa Drillers' Patrick Copen on the mound
(Braeden Botts)		   



Texas League Stories from July 11, 2025


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