Former Driller Grube Tops Tulsa

Monday night, Grube continued to haunt his old team. The right-hander surrendered only one run in seven strong innings to lead Arkansas to a 7-2 victory over the Drillers in downtown Tulsa. The loss opened an eight-game homestand for the Drillers who are now 5-2 in games at ONEOK Field this season.

The Travelers never trailed in the game after giving Grube an early lead in the top of the second inning. With one out, Randal Grichuk doubled. Drew Heid followed with a drive to left field that Kyle Parker initially misjudged. The ball landed at the base of the left field wall for another double that plated Grichuk.

In the third, shortstop Rolando Gomez led off with his third home run of the season to make it 2-0.

Taylor Lindsey led off the Travs fourth with a double. Lindsey moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Grichuk and scored on a passed ball.

Jayson Langfels got one of the runs back for the Drillers in the bottom half of the fourth. With one out, Langfels belted his second home run of the year to cut the Arkansas lead to 3-1. It would be Tulsa's final hit of the game.

The Travelers increased their lead to five with three more runs in the fifth as the first three batters of the inning reached base safely with a pair of singles and a walk. After a foul out, C.J. Cron brought a run home with an infield ground out, and Lindsey followed with a two-run single that gave the Travs a 6-1 lead.

The two teams exchanged runs in the eighth to close out the scoring. For the Travelers, Heid hit his first home run of the year off reliever Tim Sexton.

Delta Cleary Jr. drew a walk and came around to score on a wild pitch, a grounder and another wild pitch to account for Tulsa's second run of the game.

Christian Bergman suffered his first loss of the year for the Drillers. Bergman, who entered the game with a 0.54 ERA, allowed seven hits and six runs (5ER) in five innings of work. The defeat evens his record at 1-1.

Grube improved to a perfect 3-0 with the win. He did not walk a batter and struck out seven and lowered his season ERA to 1.93.

The Drillers were limited to only six hits in the game, with their best chances to score coming early in the game. They had runners at third base with only one out in both the first and second innings but could not plate a run.

Tulsa will face another ex-Driller hurler Tuesday night in game two of the series with Arkansas. Brandon Hynick, who pitched for the Drillers last season and in 2008, will make his first start of the season for the Travelers. Chad Bettis (0-1, 3.60 ERA) will take the mound for the Drillers. Starting time at ONEOK Field is scheduled for 7:05PM.