Drillers Lose, Reduce Magic Number to 3
TL Tulsa Drillers

Drillers Lose, Reduce Magic Number to 3

Published on September 11, 2025 under Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


Sean McLain at bat for the Tulsa Drillers
Sean McLain at bat for the Tulsa Drillers
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Tim Campbell)

Tulsa, OK - The Tulsa Drillers ninth-inning comeback fell short Thursday night as they dropped their second straight game to Arkansas, but they were still able to inch slightly closer to a spot in the 2025 Texas League playoffs.

While the Drillers were falling 7-5 to the Travelers at ONEOK Field, Corpus Christi provided some good news by beating Wichita 2-0. The loss by the Wind Surge dropped Tulsa's magic number for clinching a playoff berth to three.

The Drillers and Wind Surge are battling for second place in the TL's North Division and a meeting with Springfield in the division playoff. Each team has three games remaining in the regular season with the Drillers facing the Travelers and the Wind Surge playing the Hooks. Any combination of Tulsa wins and Wichita losses totaling three would land the Drillers in the playoff spot.

The Drillers struggled for much of Thursday's defeat to get the offense clicking.

They did start quickly as Kole Myers led off the bottom of the first inning with a base hit, and he advanced to third on another hit from James Tibbs III. Myers came home when Chris Newell grounded into a force out.

The Travelers delivered an immediate response when Caleb Cali belted a two-run homer off Ryan Fox in the top of the second.

Sean McLain tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom of the third when he hit his fifth home run of the season into the COUNTRY Financial Terrace in left field.

The Travelers second homer of the night, a solo blast from Jared Sundstrom in the sixth, put them back in front.

The score remained 3-2 until the ninth inning when both offenses came to life. The Travelers appeared to set up a comfortable victory when they scored four runs in the top half of the inning. All four runs scored on four straight two-out singles as the Travs batted around, sending nine batters to the plate.

But, the Drillers did not go quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Newell led off with his 20th homer of the season to cut the deficit to 7-3.

The next two batters were retired before Zyhir Hope extended the game with his first Double-A hit, doubling to the base of the wall in left-center field. After an infield single by Taylor Young put runners at first and third, McLain and Myers delivered consecutive, run-scoring singles to pull the Drillers to within 7-5 and get the potential, game-winning run to the plate.

With two runners on base, Yeiner Fernandez fouled the first pitch off before fouling out to the first baseman to end the game.

The Drillers finished the game with 11 total hits, 4 of them coming in the three-run ninth.

INSIDE THE GAME

*Myers and Tibbs III both extended their hitting streaks to six straight games with their first-inning singles.

*Newell's ninth-inning homer gave him a 20-20 season with 20 home runs and 23 stolen bases.

*Young stole his Texas League-leading 42nd base in the game. Bill Knight of the Travelers is second in the league with 40 steals. Young is attempting to lead the Texas League for the second straight season.

*Hope, who joined the Drillers on Tuesday, is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the second-best prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers minor league system. His ninth-inning double was close to being his first Double-A home run as his fly ball carried to the bottom of the wall in the deepest section of left-center field.

*Tulsa starting pitcher Fox set a career high with seven innings pitched. Fox was charged with three runs on seven hits. The most impressive part of his performance was that the lefthander did not walk a batter while striking out seven.

*The Drillers record in two-run games dropped to 11-19 with the loss. Conversely, they are very good in games decided by a single run, compiling a 22-17 mark that includes a 13-7 record at ONEOK Field.

UP NEXT

The Drillers and Travelers will play the fourth game of their six-game series on Friday night at ONEOK Field. The game will feature a pair of big promotions with Friday Night Fireworks and Oklahoma City Thunder Night. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are scheduled to be:

Arkansas - LHP Reid VanScoter (4-5, 5.00 ERA)

Tulsa - LHP Wyatt Crowell (0-1, 3.07 ERA)

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics

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Images from this story

Sean McLain at bat for the Tulsa Drillers
Sean McLain at bat for the Tulsa Drillers
(Tim Campbell)		   



Texas League Stories from September 11, 2025


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