Drillers Erupt for 11-1 Win in Home Stand Opener
Published on May 2, 2023 under Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Tulsa Drillers' Eddys Leonard
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Tim Campbell)
Tulsa, OK- The Tulsa Drillers opened their longest home stand of the season Tuesday night, and it began in winning fashion. Jonny DeLuca got things started early, leading off the bottom of the first inning with a home run, and the Drillers never trailed in posting an 11-1 victory over the San Antonio Missions at ONEOK Field.
Tulsa starting pitcher Kyle Hurt continued his impressive start to the season, working three shutout innings. Hurt has yet to give up an earned run this season.
Offensively, Eddys Leonard enjoyed his biggest game of the season, going 4-5 and picking up his first RBIs of the year.
Eddys Leonard finished 4-5 and drove in his first runs of the season on Tuesday. (Tim Campbell)
DeLuca's first-inning homer marked the fourth time this year that he has homered in Tulsa's first at-bat of a game.
Later in the first, Leonard made it a three-run inning when he doubled home two runs to give the Drillers a quick 3-0 lead.
The early runs came against San Antonio starter Jackson Wolf. In the second game of the season, Wolf worked five shutout innings against the Drillers while allowing only one hit.
Wolf's struggles continued into the second inning when Tulsa added a fourth run on a sacrifice fly from Jorbit Vivas.
Jose Ramos added to the margin when he hit his fifth homer of the year leading off the third.
Back-to-back homers in the fifth settled the outcome. After Ramos was hit by a pitch, Diego Cartaya belted his second homer. Leonard followed by hitting a full-count pitch just inside the left field foul pole for his first home run, upping the Drillers lead to 8-0.
Three more runs in the eighth made it an 11-run lead before San Antonio avoided the shutout with a run in the top of the ninth.
HIGHLIGHTS AND HAPPENINGS:
*It was a big night for Leonard who entered the game hitting .129. The second baseman finished 4-5 with three doubles and the homer. It marked his first extra-base hits of the year, and the four runs batted in were also his first.
*DeLuca and Vivas nearly matched Leonard, finishing with three hits each. DeLuca was just a triple shy of the cycle and his homer was his team-leading seventh of the season.
*The four home runs for Tulsa were a season high, while the 12 hits matched a season high.
*Alec Gamboa followed Hurt to the mound and worked three perfect innings to pick up the win, his first of the season.
UP NEXT:
The two teams will continue their series with game two taking place on Wednesday morning. Starting time is slated for 11:05 a.m. and the pitching matchup is scheduled to be:
San Antonio - RHP Duncan Snider (0-1, 3.31 ERA)
Tulsa - RHP Nick Nastrini (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
Images from this story
 Tulsa Drillers' Eddys Leonard (Tim Campbell) |
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