Ramos Drills Walk-Off Homer as Tulsa Outlasts Arkansas
April 30, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Jose Ramos celebrates with Tulsa Drillers teammates
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Paige Grider)
Tulsa, OK - Rain delayed the start of the Tulsa Drillers matchup with Arkansas by three hours on Wednesday afternoon, but the game proved to be worth the wait as the two teams traded the lead throughout, eventually needing extra innings to determine a winner. Jose Ramos finally ended the long day with a walk-off, two-run homer in the bottom of the tenth to give the Drillers a 12-10 victory over the first-place Travelers.
It was the Texas League leading eighth home run of the season.
It was also the biggest offensive output of the season for the Drillers, topping the 11 runs they scored in an opening night loss to Northwest Arkansas.
Every player in the Tulsa lineup had at least one hit in the victory with Ramos and Aaron Bracho the top performers. The homer from Ramos was his third hit of the game and gave him three runs batted in. Bracho finished 2-4 with a home run and four runs driven in.
The Travelers jumped out to a quick lead in the game with runs in both the first and second innings.
Trailing 2-0, the Drillers scored four straight runs to take the lead. They got their first run in the bottom of the second when Bracho doubled and scored on Ezequiel Pagán's two-out base hit.
Bracho delivered a bigger hit in the fourth after Yeiner Fernandez and Ramos opened the inning with consecutive singles. After a fly out, he deposited a pitch into the bullpens beyond the right-center field fence for a three-run homer that put the Drillers in front 4-2.
Arkansas erased the lead with back-to-back homers in the top of the sixth. The first came when Hunter Fitz-Gerald led off the inning with his first home run of the season.
Following that homer, reliever Tanner Kiest took over for starter Chris Campos, and he was greeted with a blast from Caleb Cali that cleared the Country Financial Terrace in left field to tie the game at 4-4. It was the first home runs of the season for both Fitz-Gerald and Cali.
The Travelers were not done in the sixth, plating two more runs to retake the lead at 6-4.
Tulsa responded with its biggest inning of the season, scoring six runs in the bottom of the seventh to go back in front 10-6. A sacrifice fly from Fernandez brought home the first run before a double from Ramos tied the game at 6-6.
A sharp single from Damon Keith plated the third run to put the Drillers in front, and a sacrifice fly from Bracho upped the margin to two runs.
John Rhodes doubled home another run, and Pagán capped the big inning with a run-scoring single.
The Travelers promptly made things uncomfortable for the Drillers with three runs against Jose Rodriguez in the top of the eighth inning to pull within one run.
Kelvin Ramirez came on for Rodriguez and recorded the final out in the eighth and got the Drillers to within one out of a win when he retired the first two batters in the ninth. But a walk and a ground-rule double put runners at second and third and set up a passed ball that tied the game at 10-10.
Christian Suarez set up the walk-off win by keeping the Travelers' placed runner from scoring in the top of the tenth inning.
After Fernandez popped out to open the tenth, Ramos line a 0-2 to the opposite field that just cleared the fence in right field for a two-run homer that gave the Drillers a victory and put an end to a long day for both teams.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The Drillers are now 2-5 versus the first-place Travelers this season.
*Starter Campos labored through the first two innings, but he settled in and turned in a good outing for the Drillers. His final line was 5.0 innings pitched with three runs allowed on five hits. Campos walked two batters and struck out three.
*Tulsa used six pitchers in the game, and Arkansas five.
*Suarez picked up his first win of the season. The lefthander lowered his ERA to 0.68.
UP NEXT
The two teams will continue their series on Thursday with a doubleheader that became necessary when Tuesday's series opener was rained out. The two games are both scheduled for seven innings and the first one will begin at 5:00 p.m. Game two will start 30 minutes after the first game concludes. The pitching matchups are expected to be:
Arkansas - TBA & RHP Garrett Hill (0-0, 1.02 ERA)
Tulsa - RHP Jared Karros (0-1, 9.98 ERA) & RHP Jerming Rosario (1-3, 6.75 ERA)
Images from this story
 Jose Ramos celebrates with Tulsa Drillers teammates (Paige Grider) |
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