Drillers Win Fourth Straight Behind Matzek's Strong Outing

After producing only two hits in their win Tuesday night, the Tulsa Drillers provided starter Tyler Matzek with an abundance of insurance runs Wednesday afternoon. Matzek held the Northwest Arkansas Naturals in check for six innings and the Drillers pounded out 14 hits en route to 11-1 victory at ONEOK Field.

The victory was the fourth straight for the Drillers, matching a season high.

Matzek, who is considered one of the top pitching prospects in the Colorado Rockies farm system, held the Naturals to just one run on four hits, striking out three and walking none to pick up his second win of the season. The lefthander needed just 79 pitches to get through six innings.

Tuesday night's hero, Dustin Garneau, put Tulsa on the board early. With one out in the second, Angelys Nina tripled to the gap in left-center. Garneau followed with a line drive single to center to score Nina for the Drillers' first run.

Kyle Parker added to the Drillers' lead in the bottom of third. With two gone and Rafael Ortega on second, the left fielder smacked his 11th home run of the season to push the lead up to three.

Tulsa plated three more runs in the fifth. Ortega and Cristhian Adames each drew one-out walks, and Kiel Roling followed with single through the middle to score the center fielder from second.

After Parker was caught looking at strike three for the second out, Kent Matthes singled to left to load the bases and keep Tulsa's inning alive. Nina delivered on the RBI opportunity, ripping a single to center field to plate both Adames and Roling and make it 6-0 Drillers.

Brett Eibner finally got Northwest Arkansas on the board in the sixth with a mammoth solo blast that cleared the grass berm in left-center field. But it was much too little, way too late, as Tulsa would go on to put up four more runs in the home half of the inning.

With the bases loaded and one out, Roling continued his run producing ways. The big first baseman grounded a ball just inside the first base bag to drive in two more.

Delta Cleary Jr., pinch-hitting for Parker, followed Roling's single with a sacrifice fly to drive in Adames. After Matthes reached on an error, Nina capped off the inning with a looping base hit to right that scored Roling.

Adames capped off Tulsa's scoring with a run-scoring single in the seventh to make the final 11-1.

Roling and Nina each went 3-5 with three RBI to lead the Drillers' offensive attack. Adames and Langfels also turned in multi-hit performances for Tulsa in the victory.

The Drillers and Naturals series will now shift to Arvest Ballpark in Springdale. Northwest Arkansas will host game three of their four-game set Thursday evening before returning to Tulsa for the series finale on Friday. The mid-series venue change is the result of a scheduling modification agreed upon by both organizations prior to the season.

Christian Bergman will start for the Drillers on Thursday. The UC Irvine product will enter the contest with a 3-4 record despite a solid 3.12 ERA. Northwest Arkansas will send Jason Adam (0-7, 6.88 ERA) to the hill.