Travs Defeat Drillers with Walk-off Walk
April 11, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
North Little Rock, AR - The Tulsa Drillers difficult road trip continued on Friday night at Dickey-Stephens Park. After Tulsa got a big, game-tying home run in the ninth inning, it took the Drillers and Arkansas Travelers three extra innings to decide a winner.
Neither team could score their placed runners in the tenth and the eleventh innings. The Drillers were held scoreless for a third straight inning in the twelfth before the Travelers drew three straight walks in the bottom half of the twelfth to force in the placed runner that handed Tulsa a 6-5 loss.
The loss was the Drillers third straight and their second consecutive loss in walk-off fashion.
Tulsa wasted no time gaining a 3-0 advantage in the game. Following Taylor Young's one-out double in the first inning, Aaron Bracho singled to score Young and put the Drillers on the board.
Chris Newell drove in Yeiner Fernandez and Bubba Alleyne in the second inning with a two-out single to right field.
Arkansas quickly erased the lead by scoring four runs across the second and third innings. The Travs used three singles and a double to tie the game in the second inning. In the third, an error allowed Victor Labrada to reach base. He followed by stealing second and third bases, eventually scoring on Nick Raposo's single that gave Arkansas a 4-3 lead.
John Rhodes tied the game in the sixth inning with a solo home run.
The Travs were gifted the go-ahead run in the seventh when Tanner Kiest was called for a balk that scored Labrada from third base.
Following Rhodes' home run, Tulsa's offense earned only two hits over the next two frames. That changed when Ezequiel Pagan came to bat in the ninth inning. With one out, Pagan blasted a solo homer to tie the game at 5-5.
Reliever Christian Suarez recorded all three outs in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
Neither team managed to score a run in the tenth or eleventh innings. Suarez remained on the mound and stymied the Travs offense to give the Drillers a chance in the twelfth inning.
The Drillers again failed to score in the top of the twelfth, leaving the door open for Arkansas in the bottom half. Brandon Neeck entered to pitch and walked all three batters he faced, which forced in the winning run for Arkansas.
INSIDE THE GAME
*The Drillers outhit Arkansas 11-8 in the loss.
*Jared Karros made his second start of 2025 on Friday. He worked 4.2 innings and was charged with three earned runs on six hits and two walks. He also struck out three Arkansas hitters.
*Suarez held Arkansas hitless over his three innings with three strikeouts.
*Jorge Benitez also had a solid outing from the bullpen as he struck out four of the five batters he faced.
*The Travelers stole six more bases in the game and have swiped 17 bases in the first four games of the series.
*Eight of the nine Tulsa hitters recorded a hit in the game.
*The home run from Rhodes was his team-leading third of the season.
*Former Drillers pitcher Michael Hobbs appeared in the game for the Travelers and pitched 1.2 scoreless innings.
UP NEXT
The Drillers and Travelers will play the fifth game of their six-game series on Saturday night in North Little Rock. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. at Dickey-Stephens Park and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
Tulsa - RHP Jacob Meador (0-1, 17.18 ERA)
Arkansas - RHP Garrett Hill (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
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