Gustafson's Strong Outing Leads Drillers Past Springfield

Tulsa Drillers starting pitcher Tim Gustafson brought his A-game to the ballpark on Saturday night. The veteran right-hander dominated, holding the Springfield Cardinals scoreless through six innings before turning it over to the bullpen as Tulsa blanked the Redbirds 3-0 before a crowd of 8,213, the eighth sellout at ONEOK Field this year.

The shutout was the Drillers first of the season, and their sixth victory in their last seven games.

Gustafson turned in his second straight quality start to record his fourth win of the year. He allowed just three hits on the night, while striking out five and walking two.

The Tulsa victory, coupled with an Arkansas loss on Saturday, puts the Drillers just 1½ games behind the first-place Travelers in the North Division standings with nine games remaining in the first half of the season.

The Drillers jumped ahead in the third when Cristhian Adames brought Rafael Ortega home from second with a two-out single to left. Ortega had doubled to the gap in right-center a batter earlier to extend the home half of the inning.

In the fifth, Gustafson helped his own cause by driving in the Drillers' second run of the night. With one out in the inning, Delta Cleary Jr. tripled to deep left field. Springfield's Mike O'Neill looked to have made an extraordinary play on the ball, lunging to get a glove on it before colliding with the wall. Gustafson followed with an RBI single that hit the third base bag to give himself a two-run cushion.

The Drillers followed up their fifth inning run with another in the sixth. Dustin Garneau led off with a ground-rule double to left. Angelys Nina followed with a base hit before Jayson Langfels plated Garneau with an RBI single through the left side to bring the score to 3-0.

Tulsa relievers Leuris Gomez and Cole White allowed no hits to the Cardinals over the final three innings to complete the shutout. It was Gomez' first game in Tulsa since joining the team June 3.

Adames and Langfels each went 2-4 with an RBI to pace the Drillers' offensive attack.

Roy Oswalt will take the hill for Tulsa Sunday afternoon as the Drillers and Cardinals hook up for game two of their four-game series at ONEOK Field. It will be the three-time MLB All-Star's fourth start with Tulsa since joining the club on May 24. 

The 35-year old Oswalt has gone 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA and 14 strikeouts in three starts with the Drillers this season.