TL1 Tulsa Drillers

Drillers Walk-Off in 11th, Win 8-7

Published on June 14, 2015 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release


Saturday night's four hour contest featured a little bit of everything with a combined four home runs, a 25 minute rain delay, two wild pitches, a batter's interference double play, and a steal of home.

Despite seeing a 7-2 lead evaporate late, the Drillers persevered as they walked off in the bottom of the eleventh inning, defeating the Springfield Cardinals 8-7 at ONEOK Field.

With a 1-5 record in the six extra-inning games Tulsa has played in the 2015 season, things didn't look good when the game went into extras. But the Drillers pushed past their track record and found a way to get the win.

The walk-off victory came with two outs in the bottom of the eleventh. Peter Lavin got things going with a leadoff single before moving to second on a wild pitch. With first base open and one out, the Cardinals elected to intentionally walk Lars Anderson for the second time of the night. The strategy appeared to pay off when Ronnie Shaban got Brandon Dixon to fly out to left to get within one out of escaping the jam. But Luis Mateo had other ideas and grounded a 2-2 pitch past a diving third baseman to score Lavin from second and set off the Drillers celebration.

Chris Anderson began the game strong as he retired the Cardinals in order in the top of the first before his teammates went to work with the bats. Adam Law continued his hot hitting ways, leading off the home half of the first with a single up the middle. Following a fly out and a walk, Anderson cashed everyone in as he launched his team-leading 6th home run of the year. One batter later, Dixon followed suit sending the pitch from Springfield starter Kurt Heyer soaring over the left field fence to give the Drillers a quick 4-0 lead.

The back-to-back home runs from Anderson and Dixon marked the first time the Drillers have done so since Corey Seager and Brian Burgamy accomplished the feat back on April 30th, the last day Seager was with the club before being promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Springfield and Tulsa traded runs in the second inning before fans got to witness some unique scoring on both sides in the third.

Cardinals' outfielder Charlie Tilson led off the third with a walk before attempting a steal of second. Catcher Ali Solis' throw skipped into center field and when centerfielder Peter Lavin attempted to throw Tilson out at third, his throw sailed into the Cardinals' dugout allowing Springfield to score without the benefit of a hit.

In the Drillers half of the frame, Tulsa produced a run of their own in unusual fashion. Heyer recorded two quick outs before Dixon and Mateo cracked consecutive singles to put runners on the corners. For the second night in a row, Drillers manager Razor Shines called for a double steal. When Springfield catcher Mike Ohlman fired to second to try and throw out Mateo, Dixon broke for home and slid in safely under the tag to give the Drillers consecutive nights with a steal of home. The daring baserunning exploits gave Tulsa a 6-2 advantage.

Jeremy Rathjen added to the score as he led off the bottom of the fourth with his third home run of the year into the left field terrace putting the score at 7-2. But the lead would not last.

The Cardinals began the fifth with a walk and a Drillers error to put their first two men on base. Former Driller Jeremy Hazelbaker brought them both around to score as he laced a double to center. Hazelbaker was then plated himself when Jonathan Rodriguez grounded an RBI single into center to bring the score to 7-5.

Ryan Dennick relieved Anderson to begin the sixth and retired the Cardinals in order before running into trouble in the seventh. After issuing a one-out walk to Hazelbaker, Rodriguez burned the Drillers for the second straight at-bat as he deposited Dennick's offering into the berm in left-center for his seventh homer of the year. The blast knotted the game up at 7-7.

Springfield threatened to take the lead in the inning as the Cardinals put men on first and second with two outs. But Ralston Cash came in and put out the fire to keep the score evened up.

There was a tense moment in the ninth as the Redbirds had a man on first and one out with Aledmys Diaz at the plate and Jacob Rhame on the mound. The Cardinals called for a steal on a full count pitch and Solis' throw flew into center field. But the home plate umpire ruled that Diaz interfered with Solis after he had swung and missed for strike three, resulting in an inning-ending double play.

The game then remained tied until Mateo's 11th inning heroics gave Tulsa the walk-off win.

The Drillers and Cardinals will be back in action Sunday afternoon with the game set to begin at 2:05PM. Getting the start for Tulsa will be Jeremy Kehrt (4-4, 2.92 ERA) while Springfield will counter with Arturo Reyes (3-2, 2.25 ERA.)

Check out the Tulsa Drillers Statistics

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