Landon and McKinstry Homer in Drillers Victory
June 1, 2019 - Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR - After dropping its first five series against the Arkansas Travelers in 2019, the Tulsa Drillers have earned a series win in Little Rock with a 4-2 victory on Saturday night. The pair of wins over the last two nights allowed Tulsa to gain two games on the first-place Travelers, trimming the deficit to 5.5 games with 15 left to play in the first half of the season.
The turning points of the game came in the seventh and eighth innings for the Drillers. Tied 2-2 in the seventh, Logan Landon crushed a solo homer over the left field wall. An inning later, Zach McKinstry skied a long, fly ball that landed in the bullpen in right field to give Tulsa a 4-2 lead.
The Drillers got the scoring started in the top of the second. After a leadoff walk by Keibert Ruiz, DJ Peters crushed a ball to left center, the deepest part of Dickey Stevens Park, easily scoring Ruiz. Peters ran around second, and in an attempt to get him at third, Mike Ahmed hit Peters on the relay throw. The ball got away which allowed Peters to score, giving Tulsa a 2-0 lead.
Arkansas cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth on a solo shot by Nick Zammarelli, but that would be all the Travs would get off Drillers starter Ben Holmes. The southpaw allowed only the one run on eight hits while striking out three in his five innings.
After the solo-homers by Landon and McKinstry, the Drillers bullpen took it the rest of the way. Yordy Cabrera struck out a pair in two scoreless innings, and picked up his second win of the season. Marshall Kasowski struck out the final batter of the night in his scoreless inning, picking up his second save of the season and preserving the win.
WHAT YOU MISSED:
Peters has hit safely in 10 of his 12 games, and over that stretch is hitting .300.
After his late inning heroics on Friday night, Cody Thomas stayed hot with another hit on Saturday. He now has a five-game hitting streak and is 8-21 in the stretch.
The Drillers have a chance to complete the series sweep against the Travs on Sunday afternoon. Although Tulsa is currently 5.5 games behind first place Arkansas, the two teams still have five head-to-head games remaining in the first half.
UP NEXT: Tulsa at Arkansas, Sunday, June 2 at 2:10 PM at Dickey Stevens Ballpark in North Little Rock, AR. RHP J.D. Martin (2-4, 5.72 ERA) vs. RHP Justin Dunn (4-2, 3.53 ERA).
Texas League Stories from June 1, 2019
- Bachar, Bullpen Lead Sod Poodles Past RockHounds - Amarillo Sod Poodles
- Naturals Claim Series with 12-5 Win over Springfield - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Tulsa Tops Travs, 4-2 - Arkansas Travelers
- Landon and McKinstry Homer in Drillers Victory - Tulsa Drillers
- Saturday's Game Postponed by Rain - Frisco RoughRiders
- Frisco Rebounds Following Toro Slam - Corpus Christi Hooks
- 3-Run Homer in Ninth Sinks Cardinals in Front of Sellout Crowd - Springfield Cardinals
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