Five Run Sixth Inning Boosts Drillers Over Naturals

The Tulsa Drillers avoided the sweep and picked up its fourth win in the last four games with a 5-4 victory over Northwest Arkansas Thursday night.

Driller short stop Josh Rutledge paced Tulsa with a three- run home run in the sixth to propel them to victory. Edwar Cabrera added seven strong innings from the bump with nine strikeouts while allowing five hits in his seven innings of service.

John Whittleman put the Naturals on the board in the first with a long ball to right field for his 13th home run of the season giving Northwest Arkansas a 2-0 advantage.

The Drillers broke it open in the sixth.

Jose Gonzalez and Warren Schaefer drew walks to put two on with no outs, setting the stage for Josh Rutledge's 10th home run of the season to left to put the Drillers in command 3-2.

From there, Angelys Nina connected on a single to center and stole second off a throwing error by Northwest Arkansas' first baseman John Whittleman. Kiel Roling stepped to the plate and smashed the innings second home run ball this one to center field putting Tulsa on top 5-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, with two on and one out, Tulsa's Jose Gonzales attempted to pick off one of the runners and committed an error that scored Rey Navarro from third.

The Naturals added a run in the bottom of the eighth when Rey Navarro's double plated Lorenzo Cain cutting into the lead to make it 5-4 but that would be all they could muster.

Despite the Drillers win, Northwest Arkansas takes the series 3-1.

Cabrera picked up the win for his eighth of the season for Tulsa while Northwest Arkansas starter Justin Marks takes the loss after 5.1 innings of service allowing six hits and five runs while striking out four.

Tulsa returns home for a four game home stand against Springfield. First pitch is set for Friday night at 7:05 p.m.