Drillers Drop One To Frisco

Frisco starter Jake Thompson was on top his game Sunday. The strapping right-hander turned in one of his best outings of the season in the rubber match of the three game series against Tulsa as the Roughriders defeated the Drillers 2-1 at Dr. Pepper Ballpark.

Thompson, the number eight overall prospect in the Texas Rangers organization, cruised after an early hiccup as he tossed eight innings of 1-run ball. Along the way, he collected 9 strikeouts while scattering 6 hits and walking only one Driller batter.

The Drillers lone run crossed the plate in the top of the first. With one out, Peter Lavin dropped a single into left field. Lavin then moved to second on a groundout from Yadir Drake before coming around to score when Lars Anderson lined a base hit to right, giving Tulsa a quick 1-0 lead.

In his second start with the Drillers, Randy Fontanez got off to a solid start. He sent the Roughrider batters back to the dugout in order over the first three innings before running into a bump in the road in the fourth.

Facing Fontanez for the second time of the afternoon, Nick Williams smacked a triple to right to begin the Frisco fourth. He scampered home on the very next batter courtesy of a sacrifice fly off the bat of Edwin Garcia to even the score at 1-1. But the score would not remain tied for long as Fontanez ran out of steam in the fifth.

After retiring the first two Roughriders via a fly out and groundout, Fontanez issued a two-out walk to Drew Robinson. Pitching coach Matt Herges then took a quick trip to the mound, but the discussion did not yield the desired result as Patrick Cantwell doubled to give Frisco the 2-1 advantage. Mike Thomas came in and put out the fire, but the damage had been done.

Neither team seriously threatened to score over the second half of the ballgame as both pitching staffs pitched well from there. After blowing the save for Frisco Friday night, David Martinez came on in the ninth and redeemed himself by setting Tulsa down 1-2-3 to earn his third save of the year.

Despite giving up just two hits on the day, Fontanez picked up his first loss of the season for the Drillers. With the loss, Tulsa saw its record fall to 20-27.

The club is certainly looking forward to coming home as they return from a 16-game road trip over the span of just 19 days. The Drillers will have an off day on Monday before beginning a 6-game homestand Tuesday night at ONEOK Field.

Tulsa will send RHP Chris Anderson (4-4, 3.58 ERA) to the mound as the club squares off with the Midland Rockhounds. He will be opposed by RHP Chris Jensen (4-3, 5.08 ERA) with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.