Drillers Dropped in Extra Innings by Amarillo
June 4, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Damon Keith of the Tulsa Drillers gets all of it
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Rich Crimi)
Tulsa, OK - After falling behind by three runs in the early innings, strong pitching, timely hitting, and stellar defensive plays allowed the Tulsa Drillers to mount a three-run comeback and tie Wednesday's game with Amarillo in the seventh inning. It remained deadlocked until the tenth inning when the Sod Poodles scored four runs and defeated Tulsa 7-3 at ONEOK Field.
Jackson Ferris made his tenth appearance on the mound for the Drillers and had an uncharacteristic, short outing as he exited the game with one out in the fourth inning. Ferris was charged with 3 runs on 5 hits over his 68 pitches thrown. It was his shortest start of the season.
The Sod Poodles scored their first run in the second inning when a 5-4-3 double play allowed Jose Fernandez to score from third base.
In the third, LuJames Groover drove in two more with a two-run homer to left field to give Amarillo a 3-0 lead.
Tulsa's offense struggled for most of the night against Amarillo southpaw Avery Short. Entering the sixth inning, the Drillers had earned only three hits against Short with five strikeouts.
That changed with two outs in the sixth when Damon Keith broke through with a two-run homer.
A timely fielding error on a soft groundball to Fernandez at short allowed Kole Myers to score and tie the game at 3-3 in the seventh inning.
Amarillo needed just one pitch to break the tie in the tenth inning when Kristian Robinson singled in the placed runner. After Robinson stole second, he scored on Groover's base hit. Manuel Pena added to the big inning with a two-run blast to give the Sod Poodles a 7-3 lead.
The Drillers were unable to mount a second comeback as they were retired in order to end the game.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The loss left the Drillers with a 6-4 record in extra-inning games this season.
*Antonio Knowles was charged with the loss, dropping his record to 2-1.
*Keith's home was his seventh of the season and ended his 14-game home run drought.
*Christian Suarez and Ronan Kopp were crucial in allowing Tulsa to rally from three runs down. The hurlers combined to hold Amarillo scoreless for 4.1 innings.
*Noah Miller earned two more hits and is now 10-24 (.400) in seven games with Tulsa this season.
*Tulsa saw two sparkling defensive plays to preserve the tie game in the eighth inning. The first came from Ezequiel Pagan, who made a leaping catch in deep right field before crashing into the wall. The second came from second basemen Taylor Young as he made a diving stop to his right and shoveled the ball with his glove to shortstop Miller, who was covering second base to record the force out.
*The Drillers made more roster moves on Wednesday. Nick Biddison was transferred to Triple-A Oklahoma City, and catcher Frank Rodriguez was reinstated from the Development List. Tanner Kiest was also released by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will continue home stand and their series with Amarillo on Thursday night at ONEOK Field. Game three of the six-game series will begin at 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are scheduled to be:
Amarillo - RHP Roman Angelo (0-4, 6.26 ERA)
Tulsa - RHP Chris Campos (2-2, 5.09 ERA)
Images from this story
 Damon Keith of the Tulsa Drillers gets all of it (Rich Crimi) |
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