Drillers Lose Game and Propeller Series to Wichita
August 29, 2021 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Jacob Amaya of the Tulsa Drillers
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Ed Bailey)
WICHITA, KS - The Propeller Series was begun this year between Tulsa and Wichita with the Wind Surge starting play in Double-A Central with the Drillers. The series is set up to continue for future seasons, but it will likely be awhile before a season series between the two teams finishes as close as the one in this opening year. After 29 meetings, the series winner came down to the 30th and final meeting of the regular season on Sunday afternoon at Wichita's Riverfront Stadium. The Drillers twice took early leads, but the Wind Surge scored six straight runs and fought off a ninth-inning rally from Tulsa to claim an 8-6 victory in the game and the win in the Propeller Series.
The season series finished with 15 wins for each team, but series rules dictate that in the case of a tie, the winner of the final game would be awarded the Propeller Trophy from Coors Light.
The loss was doubly painful for the Drillers as it also dropped them five games behind the first-place Wind Surge in the race for a berth in the Double-A Central playoffs. They fell two games behind second-place Frisco, pending the result of the RoughRiders game on Sunday night. The two teams with the best records, regardless of division, will meet in a best-of-five championship series to determine the league winner.
Sunday's finale began just over two hours late because of rain, but the Drillers offense was ready from the start. In the top of the first inning. Michael Busch led off with a base hit, and one out later, Miguel Vargas singled. After a walk to Hunter Feduccia, an infield single by Kody Hoese plated Busch with the game's first run. Devin Mann followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Vargas to give Tulsa a 2-0 lead.
The Drillers had relied on their bullpen to get through three of the first five games in the series, and they were in the same situation for Sunday's final game. Austin Drury made just his second start in professional baseball and pitched effectively for 3.1 innings.
Drury gave up a run in the top of the first on a solo home run by Austin Martin. A walk and a double in the second inning tied the game at 2-2.
The Drillers went back in front with two more runs in the fourth. Mann was hit by a pitch and Jacob Amaya singled. The runners were at second and third when Clayton Daniel delivered the clutch two-out hit. Daniel's double scored both runners and gave the Drillers a 4-2 lead.
The Wind Surge went in front with three runs in the fifth. Andrew Bechtold singled off reliever Cyrillo Watson and Aaron Whitefield doubled. After a strikeout, Justin Hagenman took over for Watson and gave up three straight hits that plated three runs, giving Wichita a 5-4 lead.
The Wind Surge added two more runs against Hagenman in the sixth on solo home runs by Leobaldo Cabrera and Caleb Hamilton.
Cabrera tripled and scored in the eighth to increase the margin to 8-4, but the Drillers battled to the end and made things interesting in the ninth.
Mann opened the inning with a double, but two strikeouts left Tulsa down to its final out. Daniel drew a walk and advanced to second on defensive indifference. Busch plated both Mann and Daniel with a base hit to center, pulling the Drillers to within two runs. With Tulsa home run leader Ryan Noda representing the potential tying run, Jordan Gore came into pitch for Wichita and ended the suspense with a strikeout, giving the Wind Surge the win in the game and in the Propeller Series.
THE HIGHLIGHTS
*Hagenman, who was making his third appearance of the series since returning from the Injured List, suffered the loss to drop his record to 6-4.
*Busch and Vargas led an eight-hit attack for the Drillers with two hits each.
*Tulsa used four pitchers in the game and all four surrendered at least one run.
*Offensively, the Drillers finished with a .211 batting average in their season series with Wichita, their lowest average against any league opponent this year.
UP NEXT
Tulsa will now return home for its final regular season series at ONEOK Field. The Drillers will host Springfield in a six-game series with the opening game scheduled for Tuesday, August 31 at 7:05 p.m. Neither team has announced a starting pitcher.
Watch or listen live on MiLB.tv or AM 1430 The Buzz on the iHeartRadio app.
Images from this story
 Jacob Amaya of the Tulsa Drillers (Ed Bailey) |
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