Tulsa Drops San Antonio In Season Opener

The Tulsa Drillers opened up the season on the road Thursday, but opened it up with a win over the San Antonio Missions 7-2, thanks to a strong start from Edwar Cabrera.

In his first outing with the Tulsa Drillers, Cabrera (1-0) pitched six innings, giving up just three hits and one earned run – a solo home run in the bottom of the second – striking out six in the win.

The Drillers (1-0) started the season off with fireworks as Josh Rutledge hit a leadoff home run to left field. Michael Mitchell followed with a double to center field, stole third and then came home via a Nolan Arenado single to take a two-run lead.

Three at-bats later with the bases loaded, Angelys Nina grounded out to third base, but allowed Arenado to score to take a 3-0 lead. Two at-bats later, Edwar Cabrera singled to center field, bringing Ben Paulsen home taking a four-run lead, ending the outing for San Antonio starter Juan Ormas. Ormas (0-1) received a loss for the outing, pitching just two-thirds of an inning, allowing four earned runs on four hits.

Tulsa added to the lead in the top of the second on an RBI single to center field, bringing Arenado across the plate for the second time, taking a 5-0 lead. However, San Antonio cracked the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a Nathan Freiman leadoff home run, cutting the lead to four runs.

The Missions knocked another solo home run in the bottom of the seventh, this one off the bat of Jedd Gyorko, closing the deficit to 5-2. But, in the top of the eighth with the bases loaded, Nolan Arenado doubled to left field to push the lead back to five runs.

The Drillers will try to make it back-to-back to open the season at 7:05 p.m. Friday in the second of the three-game series.