The Tulsa Drillers rallied with seven runs in the seventh and eighth, coming from behind to claim the 9-5 win against the Springfield Cardinals before 6,085 fans at ONEOK Field on Tuesday night.
Tuesday's game marked the beginning of the 2nd Half of the season, after the Cardinals wrapped up the 1st-Half North Division Championship on Sunday and officially closed the 1st Half with a win on Monday, posting the best 1st Half record in team history at 41-29.
After Cardinals RHP Luke Weaver and Drillers RHP Jeremy Kehrt alternated scoreless innings through their first three frames, the Cardinals (0-1, 41-30) rallied with five runs on six singles in the top of the fourth. LF Nick Martini, CF Harrison Bader and 3B Bruce Caldwell loaded the bases with no outs with three straight singles. 1B Jonathan Rodriguez then cracked the scoreless tie with an RBI single, scoring Martini and moving everyone up one base. RF Anthony Garcia followed with an RBI walk, before C Michael Ohlman came through with an RBI single for the 3-0 lead. With the bases still loaded and no outs, 2B Mason Katz sliced an RBI base hit through the right side, bringing in Rodriguez and keeping the bases full. SS Juan Herrera then bounced into a 4-6-3 double play, but it enabled Garcia to sprint home from third base for the final run in the frame, making it a 5-0 lead for Springfield.
Tulsa (1-0, 38-32) responded in part with two runs against Weaver in the bottom of the fourth. With two on and two down, LF Kyle Garlick pulled a two-run double to left field, plating both runners to chip the Drillers deficit to 5-2.
That was all Weaver would allow, tossing scoreless stanzas in the fifth and sixth to close his quality start. Weaver allowed just the two runs on five hits, striking out four batters.
RHP Chris Thomas (L, 2-2) took over to start the bottom of the seventh, but the Drillers rallied from behind. SS Jordan Tarsovich started the charge with a walk, before CF Andrew Toles was hit by a pitch one out later. After Thomas notched the second out with a strikeout, 2B Willie Calhoun and RF Alex Verdugo connected on back-to-back RBI singles, pulling Tulsa within one run, 5-4. A walk by 1B Cody Bellinger loaded the bases, before a game-tying RBI single from C Shawn Zarraga. With the bases still full and two away, RHP Rowan Wick took over to make his Double-A debut and try to get the Cardinals out of the jam. However, in the midst of issuing a walk to Garlick, a Wick pitch bounced away from C Michael Ohlman, with the wild pitch enabling Verdugo to score the go-ahead run. Wick responded with a strikeout of Tarsovich to end the inning, but the Drillers had claimed the 6-5 lead.
Tulsa then added three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Facing RHP Kevin Herget, 1B Lars Anderson worked a walk to open the inning, followed by a Toles single to put runners at first and second. Trinkwon then grounded the ball to second base, but 2B Mason Katz misfired a throw away from SS Juan Herrera covering second, with the throwing error enabling Anderson to score, Toles to get to third and Trinkwon to reach second. After a strikeout, Herget gave way to 1B Jonathan Rodriguez, who took over on the mound. Rodriguez induced a groundout to second from Verdugo that did bring in a run, before closing the inning with another groundout to second from Bellinger. However, with three runs in the frame, the Drillers had opened it to a 9-5 lead heading into the ninth.
Tulsa RHP Daniel Corcino (S, 1) induced three consecutive fly outs in the top of the ninth, and the Drillers claimed the 9-5 win to start the 2nd Half. Tulsa LHP Michael Johnson logged a scoreless seventh inning out of the bullpen, registering the win for the Drillers.
