Frisco Cruises Past Drillers

The record 17th sellout of the season filled ONEOK Field Saturday night for the opening game of a three-game set with the Frisco RoughRiders. The talented Riders possess the Texas League's top record and dominated the opener with an 8-2 win. The Drillers still provided fans with a memorable highlight, however, by turning a rare triple play in the sixth inning.

The game began with a scoreless first inning, and Tulsa starting pitcher Richard Castillo seemed on his way to another easy inning in the second, retiring the first two batters. But, Frisco produced three straight hits, the last one a run-scoring single from Hanser Alberto, to take a 1-0 lead.

The Drillers erased the deficit on consecutive pitches in the bottom of the second. Tyler Massey led off with a lined single to centerfield, and Trevor Story deposited the next offering from Frisco starter Jake Thompson onto the left-center field berm. The two-run homer was the sixth of the year at the Double-A level for Story.

Again, the lead did not last long as the RoughRiders answered with four runs in the third. Guilder Rodriguez singled and Jorge Alfaro doubled to put runners at second and third. Both scored on an error by Story to put the Riders back in front.

Following the error, Frisco got three straight hits from Joey Gallo, Teodoro Martinez and Nomar Mazara to increase its lead to 5-2. It was one of four hits in the game from Martinez.

The Riders added two more runs in the fifth inning, before capping the scoring with a run in the sixth off reliever Nelson Gonzalez.

The Drillers' defensive gem kept Gonzalez from further trouble in the sixth. With no outs and the bases loaded for the RoughRiders, Trever Adams hit a sharp grounder near the bag at third. Jayson Langfels fielded it and stepped on the base before throwing to Story at second, who then relayed to Ryan Casteel at first to complete a 5-4-3 triple play.

It was Tulsa's second triple play in just over a year. Tyler Matzek, Joey Wong and Angelys Nina completed the rare feat on August 3 of last year in a game at Northwest Arkansas.

Thompson, ranked as one of the top pitching prospects in the Texas Rangers minor league system, picked up the win for Frisco. The right-hander allowed the two runs on three hits and one walk while striking out four in five innings.

A trio of Frisco relievers combined to blank the Drillers on only one hit over the game's final four innings.

Castillo was charged with the loss.

The RoughRiders out-hit the Drillers 14-5 in the contest.

Massey's hit in the second inning extended his hitting streak to 11 straight games.

The teams will continue their series at 7:05 p.m. Saturday night in downtown Tulsa. Eddie Butler (5-7, 3.30 ERA) will pitch for the Drillers, while former Oral Roberts University hurler Alex Gonzalez (6-3, 2.11 ERA) will work for the RoughRiders. Gonzalez, who was only drafted last June, is rated as the fifth best prospect in the Rangers organization.