Slumping Drillers Handed Loss By Former Teammate

Former Tulsa Drillers outfielder Rafael Ortega proved to be a nemesis Tuesday night for his old club. Ortega's base hit in the eighth inning broke a tie game and helped propel the Springfield Cardinals to a 7-2 victory over the Drillers at ONEOK Field.

Ortega's game-winning hit sent the Drillers to their fourth straight defeat and their seventh loss in the past eight games. It also left them in fourth place in the North Division standings of the Texas League, six games behind first-place Arkansas.

The loss spoiled a Tulsa return for pitcher Christian Bergman. Bergman, who won eight games for the Drillers last season, was making a major league injury rehabilitation start in his recovery from a broken hand that he suffered on June 20 while making his third MLB start for the Colorado Rockies.

Bergman ran into early trouble as he opened the game by walking Charlie Tilson. Breyvic Valera forced Tilson a fielder's choice ground out, but James Ramsey followed with a run-scoring double to give the Cards an early lead. Jonathan Rodriguez delivered a base hit that plated Ramsey to make it 2-0.

Bergman worked out of a two on, no out jam in the second inning and pitched a scoreless third inning to close out his rehab start.

The score remained 2-0 until the Drillers broke through against Cards' starter Mike Mayers in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ryan Casteel drew a leadoff walk, and Brian Humphries and Trevor Story had back-to-back singles to load the bases with no outs.

Jayson Langfels drew a walk to force Casteel home, but the Drillers missed a great chance to do more damage. Humphries was forced out at home on a grounder for Chris O'Dowd, and reliever Mike Piazza went down on strikes. Delta Cleary Jr. popped out to end the threat and leave the Drillers down 2-1.

Tulsa did tie the score in the bottom of the sixth as Story led off with a double and came home with the tying run when Langfels singled.

The Drillers missed a chance to take the lead in the seventh when they loaded the bases with one out on a pair of walks and a hit batter. The score remained tied at 2-2, however, when Humphries and Story struck out.

After escaping the jam, the Cardinals took the lead in the top of the eighth. With one out, Rodriguez singled off Kraig Sitton. Cody Stanley struck out, but Patrick Wisdom worked a walk to prolong the inning. With runners at first and second, Ortego grounded a base hit into left field. Humphries fielded the grounder and fired home, but Rodriguez was able to avoid catcher O'Dowd's tag and slide in safely with the run that gave the Cards a 3-2 lead.

It proved to be the game winner as the Redbirds ended any hopes of a Tulsa comeback with a four-run ninth inning against Nelson Gonzalez. Wisdom brought home three runs with a bases-loaded triple, and Ortega followed with a run-scoring double.

Ortega finished the night with three hits in four at-bats and two runs batted in.

Bergman allowed the two runs on three hits and two walks in his three-inning rehab appearance.

Piazza surrendered only one hit in four relief innings, while Sitton allowed the eighth-inning run to suffer the loss that dropped his record to 3-5.

Tulsa was limited to only six hits in the loss, with Story and Langfels getting two each.

The two teams will play the third and final game of their series Wednesday night at ONEOK Field. The pitching matchup will feature a pair of lefthanders, Tyler Anderson (3-4, 2.24 ERA) will face Jonathan Cornelius (9-8, 3.95 ERA). Anderson's ERA is the second lowest in the Texas League.

Starting time for the finale is slated for 7:05PM.