Drillers Fall Again To Arkansas

The Tulsa Drillers concluded a week-long road trip Sunday night with a 6-2 loss in North Little Rock to the Arkansas Travelers. The Travelers scored four runs in the first inning against Tulsa starter Jon Gray and never trailed.

The defeat left the Drillers with a 2-5 record on the trip and dropped them four games behind first-place Arkansas in the Texas League's North Division standings.

The Drillers now returns home and will begin a seven-game homestand Monday night in downtown Tulsa.

The Travelers big first inning began with a leadoff single from Maikol Gonzalez, followed by a double from Alex Yarbrough. A third straight hit from Brian Hernandez plated both runners to give the Travs a quick two-run lead.

Gray recovered to strike out Mike Bianucci and Matt Long, but Jett Bandy kept the inning going with a base hit. Kaleb Cowert produced the fifth hit of the inning with a double to left field that scored both Hernandez and Cowert to make it 4-0.

The Drillers cut their deficit in half in the fourth when Tyler Massey and Trevor Story opened the frame with consecutive hits. Following a successful double steal, Jared Simon walked to load the bases. Will Swanner followed with a two-run single, but the hopes of a big inning were dashed when Simon was thrown out trying to advance to third on the hit.

Arkansas struck again in the bottom half of the fourth as Cowert walked, stole second and scored on a single by Drew Heid that made it 5-2.

The Travelers restored their initial four-run lead in the seventh inning when Eric Stamets drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Yarbrough.

The loss for Gray dropped his record to 9-5. He surrendered the six runs on six hits and three walks. The University of Oklahoma product had six strikeouts in seven innings pitched.

It was the second straight outing that he surrendered four runs in the first inning.

Offensively, it was a frustrating night for the Drillers. They had eight hits, but all were singles, and they were unable to take advantage of eight walks issued by Arkansas pitchers. They also lost three runners on the base paths.

Tulsa will open its seven-game homestand Monday night at ONEOK Field. Eddie Butler (4-5, 2.92 ERA at Tulsa) will work the opener for the Drillers, while Jimmy Reed (4-0, 2.57 ERA at Palm Beach) will make his Double-A debut for Springfield. Starting time is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.