Simmons' Slam Gives Drillers First Win of Second Half
June 26, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Noah Miller of the Tulsa Drillers at third base
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Homero Amador)
Frisco, TX - When a team is struggling to score runs like the Tulsa Drillers have been, a home run can be a welcome sight. On Thursday night in Frisco, Kendall Simmons did just that. Simmons came through with a grand slam home run in the third inning that turned a Tulsa deficit into a lead. The Drillers held the lead for the rest of the night, surviving a nail-biting bottom of the ninth, and defeated the RoughRiders 7-6 at Riders Field.
The much-needed victory was the Drillers first in the second-half of the season and just their third in their past 18 games. They are now 1-2 in the second half.
For the first time this week, the Drillers scored first by opening the game with three straight hits in the top of the first inning. Ezequiel Pagan and Yeiner Fernandez both singled in the first six pitches of the game. On the eighth pitch, Noah Miller brought both home with a triple to right.
An unearned run in the bottom of the first cut Tulsa's two-run lead in half.
The lead disappeared after four more runs from the RoughRiders in the second inning. The Riders loaded the bases with one out thanks to a base hit and a pair of walks. The Drillers gave up a run for an out on an infield grounder that tied the score, but Frisco was not finished. Aaron Zavala battled to a full count against Drillers starting pitcher Peter Heubeck before hitting his seventh home run of the year to give the Riders a 5-2 lead.
The Drillers quickly answered in the top of the third courtesy of Simmons. Fernandez led off the inning with a base hit and Miller walked. After a strikeout, Jose Ramos reached on an error to load the bases. Simmons cleared them when he hooked a drive around the left field foul pole for a grand slam home run that put Tulsa back in front 6-5. It was Simmons' first homer since joining the Drillers, and it was Tulsa's second grand slam of the season.
Heubeck recovered from the big second inning and worked a total of five frames to qualify for his second win of the season. The home run from Zavala was the last hit he allowed, and he retired the last eight batters he faced.
Jerming Rosario replaced Heubeck to open the top of the sixth. Rosario, who has struggled to adjust to his new role as a reliever, turned in one of his best outings since moving to the bullpen.
He gave up a leadoff walk in the sixth and a leadoff single in the seventh, but both runners were erased on groundball double plays as Rosario completed two scoreless innings.
Pagan singled and scored on a base hit by Miller in the seventh to give the Drillers an insurance run that upped their lead to 7-5.
Jeisson Cabrera replaced Rosario and struck out the side in a 1-2-3 eighth inning.
Antonio Knowles made things interesting but got the job done in the bottom of the ninth to pick up his team-leading fifth save. Knowles walked two batters before giving up a two-out, run-scoring single to ninth-place hitter Aaron Antonini that trimmed the lead to just one run. That brought leadoff batter Zavala to the plate with runners at first and second, and on a 2-2 count, Knowles got a called third strike on a breaking pitch to complete the win.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Griffin Lockwood-Powell did not play in the game, holding his streak of reaching base safely at 27 straight games. Lockwood-Powell has matched Michael Busch (2021) and Daniel Mayora (2009) for the second-longest on-base streak for a Tulsa player in the last 17 seasons. Only Yeiner Fernandez has a longer streak, reaching base in 36 straight game last year.
*Fernandez enjoyed a big night in Thursday's win, going 3-5 with two runs scored, while Pagan and Miller had two hits each. It was 18th multi-hit games for both Fernandez and Pagan, tops on the team.
*Miller has had multiple hits in 10 of the 23 games he has played for the Drillers this season.
*Simmons is 8-19 with 7 RBI over his past six games.
*The win improved Heubeck's record to 2-4.
*The seven runs for the Drillers were the most they had scored in a game since a 7-4 win over Amarillo on June 5. The last time they scored more than seven runs was on May 28 in a 10-7 win over Wichita that went ten innings.
*In their stretch of 15 losses in 17 games, the Drillers averaged just 2.3 runs per game in the losses.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will look to make it two wins in a row when they face the RoughRiders again on Friday night. First pitch at Riders Field is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
TUL - LHP Jackson Ferris (3-5, 6.14 ERA)
FRI - RHP David Davalillo (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
Images from this story
 Noah Miller of the Tulsa Drillers at third base (Homero Amador) |
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