Drillers Lose Late Leads in Pair of Losses at Northwest Arkansas
April 27, 2025 - Texas League (TL)
Tulsa Drillers News Release
Yeiner Fernandez of the Tulsa Drillers
(Tulsa Drillers, Credit: Jensen Scalzo)
Springdale, AR - The Tulsa Drillers took late leads in both games with Northwest Arkansas Sunday afternoon at Arvest Ballpark, but both disappeared in a pair of close losses to the Naturals.
In the resumption of Saturday's suspended game, Tulsa carried a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the Naturals erased their deficit with two runs in the seventh and one more in the eighth to record a 5-3 win. In the regularly scheduled game, a three-run fifth gave the Drillers another lead, but the Naturals responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning to rally for a 5-4 victory in game that lasted seven innings.
It was a tough ending for the Drillers in a series that started promisingly with two wins in the first three games, but the Naturals won the final three games to take the series 4 games to 2. Tulsa held leads in all three of those defeats.
Saturday night's game was suspended by rain in the bottom of the fourth inning with Northwest Arkansas leading 1-0 and resumed Sunday afternoon prior to the regularly scheduled game.
When play restarted, the Naturals upped their lead to 2-0 before Chris Newell put Tulsa in front with one swing of the bat in the sixth inning. Taylor Young singled, and Sean McLain walked in front of Newell before the centerfielder delivered his third homer of the season to give the Drillers a 3-2 lead.
Jackson Ferris, who normally starts, relieved Saturday's starter Jacob Meador when play resumed on Sunday. Ferris gave up a run in the fifth before setting the Naturals down in order in the sixth.
Two singles off the lefthander, and a hit batter loaded the bases for the Naturals in the seventh. Javier Vaz followed with a two-run single to give Northwest Arkansas a lead it would not relinquish.
Naturals' relievers set down the final 12 Tulsa batters in the game to close out the nine-inning win.
In Sunday's regularly scheduled game, the first three batters of the game reached safely for the Drillers on two walks and a hit batter. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Damon Keith produced the game's first run.
Northwest Arkansas answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first off Tulsa starter Peter Heubeck.
The Naturals added another run in the fourth to increase the lead to 3-1 before Keith struck again in the top of the fifth. After Yeiner Fernandez's run-scoring single cut the margin to one run, Keith grounded a ball sharply down the left field line that turned into a two-run double that put Tulsa in front 4-3.
Once again, Northwest Arkansas had a quick response. Jac Caglianone doubled and Kale Emshoff walked to set up two-run single from eighth-place hitter Sam Ruta. Ruta dropped a soft single into left field off reliever Ronan Kopp.
The Drillers put a runner on base in both the sixth and seventh innings, but they could not push across a tying run as the Naturals completed the two-game sweep.
INSIDE THE GAME
*Jose Ramos was held without a hit in game one to end his nine-game hitting streak. The hitless game also ended Ramos' streak of homering in three straight games. The nine-game streak matches John Rhodes for the longest hitting streak by a Tulsa batter this season.
*Reliever Christian Suarez gave up the third run by the Naturals in game two. It is the first run the lefthander has surrendered this season who now has a 0.73 ERA.
*Brandon Neeck got the final four outs in game two and has still not given up an earned run this season over 7.2 innings of work out of the bullpen.
*Ferris was charged with the loss in game one, his second of the series. Ferris gave up four runs on six hits and two walks in 4.0 innings while striking out six. Ferris relieved Clayton Kershaw in the series opener and picked up his first defeat of the season. They are the only two relief outings in his professional career.
UP NEXT
The Drillers will now return home to begin a six-game series with the Arkansas Travelers on Tuesday night at ONEOK Field. The series opener will begin at 7:00 p.m. and the starting pitchers are expected to be:
Arkansas - RHP Dylan File (1-1, 4.98 ERA)
Tulsa - RHP Chris Campos (1-0, 2.51 ERA)
Images from this story
 Yeiner Fernandez of the Tulsa Drillers (Jensen Scalzo) |
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