Drillers Take Down San Antonio

Playing in their final day game of the season at ONEOK Field, the Drillers showed no ill effects from Saturday night's loss to Corpus Christi. Behind a strong start from Chris Anderson and a resurgent offense, Tulsa rebounded to claim a 5-2 victory over the San Antonio Missions Sunday afternoon.

With two All-Star hurlers getting the starting nods for their clubs, the game looked on paper as if it would be a low-scoring affair. Anderson lived up to the billing as he finished with a line of 7.2 innings pitched while allowing just one run on five hits to earn his eighth win of the year. But things did not turn out as well for San Antonio starter Justin Hancock.

After being limited to just a single run on three hits Saturday night, the Drillers exceeded both totals in the first inning alone. Ronald Torreyes and newcomer Brandon Trinkwon sparked the offense as the two men at the top of the order were involved in each of the five Tulsa runs scored. Catcher Ali Solis also enjoyed one of his best days at the plate as he went 3-4 on the day.

Torreyes led off the game by smoking the first pitch he saw for a clean double. Trinkwon then stepped up to the plate and delivered a triple over the right fielder's head to give Tulsa a quick 1-0 lead. The 3-bagger for Trinkwon was not only the first Double-A hit of his career but was also his first triple of the season. He would come home to score on the very next batter as Brian Burgamy hit the third straight extra-base hit to start the ballgame to give the Drillers a quick 2-0 advantage.

Trinkwon got involved in the action again in the third inning. Torreyes led off with a base hit and Trinkwon walked before they both came home to score thanks to an RBI base hit from Shawn Zarraga and a sacrifice fly from Kyle Farmer to double the Tulsa lead.

The Missions cut the lead in half in the fourth thanks to a solo home run from Taylor Lindsey and a RBI single from Duanel Jones brought San Antonio made the score 4-2.

Anderson helped his own cause in the sixth as he bounced a slow ground ball over the pitchers head with runners on the corners to extend the Drillers lead to 5-2.

For a while, it looked as though Anderson would go the distance as he cruised into the eighth inning having thrown just 80 pitches. Diego Goris pinch-hit in the pitchers spot for San Antonio and cracked a one-out double before Anderson responded by getting Jose Rondon to line out to right. But with Lindsey at the plate Razor Shines decided to go to his bullpen. Reliever Jeremy Horst came in from the pen and validated the move as he retired the dangerous Lindsey on a grounder to second to end the inning and keep the lead intact.

Horst stayed in the game and finished off the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning, punctuated by a strikeout of Jones, to earn his 8th save of the season.

The Drillers and Missions continue their series Monday night with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Fellow Driller All-Star Jeremy Kehrt (4-6, 3.76 ERA) gets the ball for Tulsa to start while Casey Kelly (1-5, 4.87 ERA) gets the starting nod for San Antonio.