White Shines In Drillers 12-4 Win
Published on August 8, 2011 under Texas League (TL1)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Pitcher Alex White was one of the reasons that the Colorado Rockies thought they could trade ace Ubaldo Jimenez to Cleveland. The Rockies envision White being key part of their major league pitching staff in the near future. Monday night at ONEOK Field, White showed why the Rockies feel that way.
In his second injury rehabilitation start for the Drillers since coming to the Rockies organization, White was outstanding and helped the Drillers to a 12-4 win over the Springfield Cardinals. The victory moved Tulsa into a second-place tie with the Redbirds, two games behind first-place Northwest Arkansas.
Scheduled to throw three innings or 45 pitches, White was so efficient that manager Duane Espy received permission after the third inning from the Rockies for the right-hander to work into the fourth.
White retired the first five hitters he faced before allowing a two-out single to Jermaine Curtis in the second. He then recorded five more consecutive outs before Matt Adams singled with one out in the fourth. His night ended when he struck out the next hitter, Aaron Luna.
White's final line was 3.2 innings pitched, two singles allowed, no walks and two strikeouts. The Drillers owned a 4-0 lead when he departed, but he did not work the necessary five innings to collect the win.
The Drillers had jumped to an early lead thanks to a three-run second inning. The rally began with a one-out single from Matt McBride, who was making his first appearance for the Drillers. McBride was also acquired in the Jimenez trade to Cleveland. Mike Mitchell and Erki Wetzel followed with consecutive singles to give the Drillers a one-run lead.
After White grounded out, Hector Gomez plated both Mitchell and Wetzel with a base hit to make it 3-0.
Bronson Sardinha upped the lead to four runs in the third inning with one of the longest home run ever hit at ONEOK Field. Sardinha's blast, his 8th of the season, cleared the berm in right field and bounced over the oil derrick before rolling into the intersection of Archer Street and Elgin Avenue.
With the lead at four runs, Josh Sullivan relieved White on the mound and got the final out in the fourth inning before surrendering a leadoff triple to Daryl Jones in the fifth. Jones then scored the Cards first run of the night when Audry Perez grounded out.
Following the final out of the fifth inning, the game was stopped when a thunderstorm struck the downtown Tulsa area. After a 1:05 delay, the game eventually resumed just after 9:30PM.
The restart proved to be a disaster for the Redbirds. After trimming Tulsa's lead to 4-3 with a pair of runs off Stephen Dodson in the top of the sixth inning, they surrendered eight runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Drillers' biggest inning of the year. Francisco Samuel came on in the sixth for starter Michael Blazek and struggled with control issues. Samuel surrendered consecutive singles to Sardinha and McBride before walking three straight batters, including Dodson, to force in a pair of runs.
Samuel Freeman relieved Samuel and forced in another run by walking Hector Gomez. Freeman retired Tommy Field on strikes and Ben Paulsen on an RBI groundout to get within one out of ending the inning. That final out would prove elusive. With Dodson at third and Paulsen at first, Rosario lofted a fly ball to right field that looked to end the inning, but right fielder Aaron Luna dropped the ball. He tracked it down and threw back to the infield, where first baseman Matt Adams threw wildly to third in an attempt to retire Rosario, allowing the catcher to circle the bases with Tulsa's seventh run of the inning.
The Drillers added an eighth run when Sardinha doubled and scored on another hit from McBride, giving them a 12-3 lead.
Springfield's Eric Duncan closed out the scoring with a pinch-hit home run in the ninth inning off Daniel Turpen.
The Drillers scored their 12 runs on only 9 hits. Sardinha and McBride led the attack with a pair of three-hit nights.
Sullivan was credited with the relief win to improve his record to 3-7.
Tulsa will have an off day on Tuesday before beginning a six-game road trip in Midland Wednesday night. Dan Houston (3-3, 3.61 ERA) will pitch the opener for the Drillers against Gary Daley (5-4, 4.39 ERA) of the RockHounds. First pitch in Midland is scheduled for 6:30PM.
Texas League Stories from August 8, 2011
- White Shines In Drillers 12-4 Win - Tulsa Drillers
- Cardinals Fall to Drillers 12-4 - Springfield Cardinals
- Travs Come Back For Win, Split Series - Arkansas Travelers
- Travs' 'Extra' Effort Sinks Naturals - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Missions Stun 'Riders Late, Win 3-1 - Frisco RoughRiders
- Game Notes, August 8 - Midland at Corpus Christi - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Big Inning Undoes Travs Sunday - Arkansas Travelers
- Cardinals Split Doubleheader with Drillers - Springfield Cardinals
- Drillers and Cards Spilt Double-Header - Tulsa Drillers
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