Drillers Lose in Clayton Kershaw Rehab Appearance
April 23, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Clayton Kershaw pitching for the Tulsa Drillers
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Jensen Scalzo)
Springdale, AR - Six years ago, on an April night, future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw took the mound for the Tulsa Drillers before an overflow crowd at ONEOK Field. Tuesday night, Kershaw was back with the Drillers making another April, injury-rehabilitation start.
This time, the appearance came on the road against Northwest Arkansas in Springdale, Arkansas. The encore could be considered a success for Kershaw, but not for the Drillers.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner appeared comfortable and without any issues in his three-plus innings and departed with Tulsa holding a 6-1 lead. However the lead did not hold, as the Naturals scored seven straight runs and rallied to send the Drillers to a 9-7 defeat at Arvest Ballpark.
Kershaw was charged with one run, and it came in the bottom of the first inning. Peyton Wilson led off with a double and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored the game's first run on a one-out double by Jac Caglianone.
The Drillers overturned the deficit with four runs in the top of the third, with the first three coming on a three-run homer from Damon Keith.
They added two more runs in the fifth to up their lead to 6-1. Jose Ramos singled, and Griffin Lockwood-Powell followed with a double. Ramos scored on a base hit from Chris Newell, and Lockwood Powell came home on a ground out by Bubba Alleyne.
From there, the game resembled the opening night meeting between the two teams when the Naturals overturned a nine-run Tulsa lead with a ten-run inning.
In Tuesday's game, Northwest Arkansas erased the five-run Drillers lead with its seven straight runs. The first run came in the fifth and six more followed in the bottom of the sixth as the Naturals took an 8-6 lead.
Tulsa got a run back in the seventh when Keith doubled and scored on a single by Lockwood-Powell, but three errors from the Drillers in the bottom half of the seventh set the Naturals up to get the run right back.
Reliever Beck Way blanked the Drillers over the final two frames without allowing a hit to close out the game.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Kershaw appeared pleased with his outing, throwing a total of 60 pitches, with 33 being strikes. He worked three complete innings and faced two batters in the fourth before departing. Kershaw's final line was one run allowed on four hits and one walk with four strikeouts, three of them swinging.
*The game was all too similar to the 12-11 loss on opening night for the Drillers. In that game, the Naturals benefited from four errors and seven walks from the Drillers. Tuesday's loss featured five errors and eight walks issued by Tulsa.
*The Drillers are now 0-4 against the Naturals this season.
*In another similarity to opening night, Lockwood Powell matched his three-hit performance in the opener with three more hits in Tuesday's loss.
*Keith and Taylor Young finished with two hits each, and Keith added 3 RBI.
*Jackson Ferris, the scheduled starting pitcher for Tulsa, came on to start the fifth inning and struggled in his first-ever relief performance as a pro. The lefthander was charged with six hits and seven runs, five earned, in 1.1 innings. He walked two and struck out two and used 55 pitches to record his four outs.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will continue their series at Northwest Arkansas on Wednesday evening. Game two of the six-game series will start at 7:05 p.m. at Arvest Ballpark and the starting pitchers are scheduled to be:
Tulsa - RHP Chris Campos (0-0, 2.08 ERA)
NW Arkansas - RHP Ethan Bosacker (1-1, 4.70 ERA)
Images from this story
 Clayton Kershaw pitching for the Tulsa Drillers (Jensen Scalzo) |
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