Team Effort from the Drillers Snaps Skid
May 24, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Tulsa Drillers' Chris Campos in action
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Tim Campbell)
Tulsa, OK - The Tulsa Drillers' five-game losing streak came to an end Saturday night with nail-biting win over Springfield. The 3-2 victory came thanks to a three-run homer from Chris Newell, a strong outing from starting pitcher Chris Campos and nine difficult outs recorded by the bullpen. It was Tulsa's first win in five meetings with the Cardinals this season.
The game began like the majority of the previous meetings with the Cards. For the fourth time in the five games of the series, the Redbirds scored in the first inning to take a quick lead. With one out, J.J. Wetherholt doubled and scored on a base hit by Leonardo Bernal.
It remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fourth inning. Griffin Lockwood-Powell and Yeiner Fernandez opened the frame by drawing consecutive walks. Newell followed with his third home run in his last six games to give Tulsa a 3-1 lead.
After laboring though the 22-pitch, 1-run first inning, Campos settled in. He blanked the Cards over the next five innings, allowing just two more hits.
Springfield made things interesting in the seventh inning when the Drillers turned to the bullpen. Reliever Livan Reinoso retired the first batter he faced before giving up a single, a walk and another single that loaded the bases.
Jorge Benitez came on for Reinoso and got a slow roller up the first base line from Noah Mendlinger. Benitez quickly fielded the grounder but his throw to the plate was low, and the error gave the Cardinals a run that cut the Tulsa lead to 3-2.
The Drillers escaped the jam when Benitez got a double play grounder from Wetherholt that ended the inning with Tulsa holding a slim 3-2 lead.
Benitez got the first two outs in the Springfield eighth inning, and Jeisson Cabrera recorded the final out of a 1-2-3 inning.
Cabrera went back to the mound for the ninth and retired the first two Cards' batters before a walk put the potential game-tying run on base. Cabrera fell behind nine-hole hitter Darlin Moquete before the Springfield left fielder swung at the 3-0 pitch and lofted game-ending fly ball into left field.
Even that out did not come easily for the Drillers. Newell drifted under the fly but slipped to the ground before recovering to make the game-ending catch that ended the losing streak.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Campos was outstanding in his eighth outing of the season, improving his record to 2-1. In his six full innings, he allowed just the one run on four hits. He walked one batter and struck out four while throwing a season high 92 pitches, 60 of which were strikes.
*Ezequiel Pagán singled and Lockwood-Powell walked to both extend their on-base streaks to 13 straight games.
*With his four-out outing, Cabrera picked up his first save of the season.
*Damon Keith went 2-4 to record his team high twelfth multi-hit game of the year.
*Thanks to their first-inning scoring, entering Saturday's game, the Cardinals had held the lead in 28 of the 37 innings previous innings in the series.
*Bernal has been the biggest nemesis for Tulsa pitchers in the series. The Springfield catcher is now 9-16 with 11 RBI in the four games he has played.
*The Drillers played their annual game as the Malmo Oat Milkers. All 120 teams in Minor League Baseball rebrand as the Oat Milkers for one game each season.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will close out their series with the Cardinals, and their two-week home stand, on Sunday evening at ONEOK Field. The final game will have special start time of 6:00 p.m. to accommodate Memorial Day Weekend post-game Fireworks Show. The starting pitchers are scheduled to be:
SPR - LHP Pete Hansen (2-1, 3.03 ERA)
TUL - RHP Jared Karros (1-3, 7.36 ERA)
Images from this story
 Tulsa Drillers' Chris Campos in action (Tim Campbell) |
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