Little Saves Drillers
May 18, 2024 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Tulsa Drillers' Justin Wrobleski in action
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Rich Crimi)
TULSA, OK - Saturday's matchup at ONEOK Field between the Tulsa Drillers and Wichita Wind Surge featured strong outings from starting pitchers Justin Wrobleski and Travis Adams, setting up a battle of the bullpens. Both pens struggled at times, but Jack Little came up big for the Drillers when they most needed it.
Leading 4-3 in the ninth, the first two Wichita batters reached base safely on a walk and a base hit, leaving runners at second and third with no outs. Little came on and dramatically struck out three straight batters to end the game and preserve a 4-3 victory for the Drillers.
It was their second straight win and gives them a chance at a series split against the Wind Surge with another victory in Sunday's series finale.
The only damage against Wrobleski and Adams came in the second inning when both teams plated runs to open the game's scoring. In Wichita's top of the second, Kala'i Rosario led off with a double and scored on a one-out single from Jake Rucker.
The Drillers answered in the bottom half of the second. Taylor Young led off with a base hit, and with two outs in the inning, had only advanced 90 feet. Yeiner Fernandez delivered the big, two-out hit with an RBI double to right that tied the score at 1-1.
More clutch, two-out hitting gave the Drillers the lead in the sixth inning. With one out, Young drew a walk and then stole second and third bases. After Jose Ramos went down on strikes for the third out, Griffin Lockwood-Powell drilled an opposite-field double into the right field corner to bring Young home. Fernandez followed with a grounded single into left field to make it a two-run rally and give Tulsa a 3-1 lead.
Reliever Ronan Kopp replaced starter Wrobleski to open the seventh and quickly ran into trouble. The lefthander walked the first batter he faced and Jorel Ortega followed with a two-run homer that promptly tied the game.
Tulsa was gifted what proved to be the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Four straight walks to open the inning handed the Drillers a 4-3 lead that would hold through the dramatic ninth inning.
Sauryn Lao worked a scoreless eighth inning for the Drillers, but walked Rucker to open the ninth before giving up a base hit to Ortega that put runners at second and third for the Wind Surge.
Tulsa manager Scott Hennessey called on Little from the bullpen and the right-hander came through. He needed just 13 pitches to strike out the three hitters, throwing ten for strikes. It was the third save of the season for the Stanford product.
Wrobleski pitched well enough to collect his third win, but had to settle for a no decision. The former OSU hurler allowed just one run on three hits, walking one batter and striking out nine. Wrobleski matched a season high with 89 total pitches, topping out at 98 m.p.h. on the stadium radar gun during the outing.
INSIDE THE GAMES
*Three of the Drillers runs came on two-out hits with runners in scoring position. Entering the game, Tulsa was hitting just .165 in that situation.
*Two of the three RBI came from Fernandez who finished 2-4 and extended his on-base streak to 25 consecutive games.
*The nine strikeouts from Wrobleski were a season high for a Tulsa hurler.
*Paid attendance at ONEOK Field for Friday and Saturday's games totaled over 14,000.
*Thanks to Little's heroic performance, Lao extended his scoreless streak to ten straight games.
*Young now has 15 stolen bases on the season, second most in the Texas League.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers will wrap up their six-game series with the Wind Surge on Sunday afternoon at ONEOK Field. First pitch for the finale is set for 1:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
WCH - RHP Pierson Ohl (2-2, 3.65 ERA)
TUL - RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (1-3, 6.53 ERA)
Images from this story
 Tulsa Drillers' Justin Wrobleski in action (Rich Crimi) |
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