Frisco Pounds Drillers In Road Trip Finale

The Tulsa Drillers concluded a six-game road trip to the state of Texas Sunday night with a 9-2 loss to the Frisco RoughRiders. A group of four Frisco pitchers limited the Drillers to only two hits in the loss.

Despite the defeat, Tulsa finished with a .500 road trip, winning three games and losing three.

For much of the night, it looked as if the Drillers might be no-hit. Their first hit did not come until there were two outs in the seventh. Former ORU pitcher Alex Gonzalez, a first-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers in 2013, held Tulsa without a hit through the first five innings.

Reliever Will Lamb worked a hitless sixth inning and got the first out in the seventh before turning things over to Kyle Lotzkar. Lotzkar retired Trevor Story on strikes for the second out of the inning before Jayson Langfels blooped a double into shallow right field for Tulsa's first hit.

Frisco took the lead in the game with a run in the bottom of the second. T.J. Wise doubled off Eddie Butler and scored on a two-out hit from Teodoro Martinez.

Both of Tulsa's runs came in the fourth inning, and both were unearned. With one out, Chris O'Dowd reached safely on a throwing error by second baseman Odubel Herrera. After O'Dowd stole third base, Taylor Featherston was hit by a pitch, putting runners at the corners.

Ryan Casteel plated O'Dowd on an infield ground out. Another error on Frisco first baseman Jorge Alfaro on a ground ball off the bat of Brian Humphries allowed Featherston to score to give the Drillers a short-lived 2-1 lead.

The RoughRiders evened the score in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out home run from Wise. The homer was the sixth of the year for the catcher and opened a span of five straight innings in which the Riders scored.

They went back in front with two more runs in the fifth. Martinez led off with a double, and Hanser Alberto drew a walk. Martinez scored on a base hit by Guilder Rodriguez, and Alberto came home on a fielder's choice grounder from Alfaro that made it 4-2.

In the sixth, Wise singled and scored his third run of the game on a double by Martinez, while Alfaro hit his third homer of the season in the seventh.

Frisco capped its big night with three runs in the eighth off reliever Cole White. Trever Adams drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on a single by Martinez, his fourth hit of the night. Drew Robinson followed with his 11th home run to complete the scoring and give the RoughRiders the 9-2 victory.

Humphries singled in the top of the ninth for Tulsa's second hit.

Butler allowed eight hits and five runs in six innings to suffer the loss, dropping his record to 5-7.

Gonzalez picked up the win to improve his record to 6-3.

The Drillers will have an off day on Monday before beginning a six-game homestand Tuesday night against Midland. Carlos Hernandez (4-6, 2.79 ERA) is expected to get the start for Tulsa against Nate Long (11-6, 2.99 ERA) for the RockHounds. It is expected that 2013 National League Batting Champion Michael Cuddyer will join the Drillers Tuesday for the first game of a four-game injury rehabilitation assignment from the Colorado Rockies.

Starting time for the opener is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at ONEOK Field.