TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Drillers Lose Shootout in Springdale 11-10

Published on June 11, 2015 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


Coming into the game Wednesday night, one could easily have predicted a pitcher's duel. With flamethrowers Jose De Leon and Christian Binford squaring off, very few fans would have predicted that neither starting pitcher would make it past the fifth inning. The expected duel quickly turned into an offensive shootout however, and it was the Naturals who ended up on top 11-10 in a wild game in Springdale.

The offensive outburst was not surprising coming from the Naturals, as the club came into the game leading the Texas League in home runs while ranking second in team batting average. The Drillers on the other hand, entered the night ranked last in team batting average while averaging less than three runs per ballgame. But don't tell that to the Naturals pitching staff as the Drillers pounded out 16 hits and 10 runs in a game where every Tulsa starter had at least one hit.

Despite the sixteen knocks, the Naturals actually outhit the Drillers 18-16 as six of their nine starters had multi-hit performances, led by Alex Liddi's 4-5 effort.

De Leon suffered through his toughest Double-A outing of the year as he gave up six earned runs in just three innings, tossing 73 pitches. He would not receive the loss though as there was still plenty of scoring left to be done.

Binford had a strange night himself as he recorded 9 strikeouts over the first three innings, accounting for every Driller out via the punch out. But the Drillers touched up the right-hander for eight runs, seven earned, over his four innings of work before Binford's night was done.

The Drillers and Naturals traded blows back and forth all night at Arvest Ballpark. After leaving runners on the corners in the top of the first, the Drillers scored at least one run in each of the next six innings.

Northwest Arkansas put Tulsa in an early hole as the Naturals roughed up De Leon from the beginning as they scored five runs in the bottom of the first highlighted by a 3-run homer by Texas League home run leader Mike Bianucci. The blast that sailed over the center field fence was Bianucci's 11th of the year.

Tulsa's offense managed to scratch across a run in the second when Ali Solis began his best offensive night as a Driller as he lined a one-out single to right to score Daniel Mayora from third to begin the Drillers scoring.

Solis finished his night going 3-4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.

The Drillers would go on to score two runs in each of the third and fourth innings before plating three runners in the fifth to take a temporary 8-7 lead, ending Binford's night. But the Naturals answered right back in the bottom half of the inning as they scored two runs thanks to a wild pitch from reliever Mike Thomas and a run-scoring triple from catcher Parker Morin to retake an 8-7 lead.

Undeterred, Tulsa scratched across a run in the sixth and seventh innings respectively to take a 10-9 lead to the home half of the seventh before bringing in Jorge De Leon to try to protect the advantage. For a minute, it looked as though De Leon would do just that as he retired the first two batters to face him. But De Leon hung a breaking ball on a 1-1 count to Lane Adams who promptly deposited the ball over the left field wall to knot the game up at 10 apiece. Raul Mondesi then continued the two-out rally with a base knock and a stolen base before coming home on Liddi's RBI double to give NW Arkansas the lead by an 11-10 margin.

From there, the Naturals' bullpen clamped down on the Drillers offense, tossing two scoreless innings to secure the victory while ending Tulsa's season-high, 4-game winning streak.

NW Arkansas reliever Malcom Culver picked up the win with two scoreless innings before handing the ball to Benino Pruneda Jr. who set the Drillers down 1-2-3 to end the game in a somewhat anti-climatic style to earn his second save of the year.

Jorge De Leon was saddled with the loss as he allowed two runs in his one inning of work.

Tulsa and NW Arkansas will continue its series as the two clubs return to Tulsa for the final three games of the series Thursday and Friday nights. The nationally televised game on the CBS Sports Network on Thursday will feature big-league veteran Eric Stults (1-0, 0.00 ERA) getting the start for the Drillers while the Naturals will send Luke Farrell (0-1, 3.07 ERA) to oppose him. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05PM at ONEOK Field.

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics

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Texas League Stories from June 11, 2015


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