Tulsa Drillers Crush Midland

The Tulsa Drillers showed up big Sunday night on the road against Midland with an 11-2 win over the RockHounds in Midland.

Every single hitter in the Drillers lineup tallied at least one hit en route to the big win.

The game went scoreless until the fifth when Tulsa broke out with a huge inning. The Drillers loaded the bases to start the frame thanks to a Tim Torres walk, Jose Gonzalez double and a Juan Crousset walk. A single by Warren Schaeffer broke the scoreless tie and gave Tulsa a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Mike Mitchell ‘s sacrifice fly to left brought in another run. Later, an Arenado walk that loaded the bases set the stage for Ben Paulsen to break the game wide open. The Drillers first baseman bounced a ball off the wall in left field to clear the bases and give starter Dan Houston a 5-0 lead. Angelys Nina singled to drive in Paulsen and give Tulsa their biggest inning of the season with six runs scored.

The RockHounds took one run back in the sixth after a triple by Conner Crumbliss and an RBI groundout by Leonardo Gil. Houston was able to limit the Hounds to just that one run as he retired Michael Spina on a groundout to end the inning.

In the top of the seventh, three of the Drillers first four hitters used singles to reach the bases. Nina stepped up to the plate and blasted a three run homer to end any doubt over the outcome of the game and give the Drillers a 10-1 lead.

Houston allowed another run in the bottom of the 7th that would eventually end his outing. Three consecutive Midland hits brought the run in to make the score 10-2. Houston finished the inning and was replaced by Cory Riordan to start the eighth.

Josh Rutledge capped off his second consecutive four-hit outing with a home run in the eighth that made it 11-2

Houston went 7 innings, allowing eight hits and two earned runs while striking out eight. Riordan and Joey Williamson each pitched a scoreless inning of relief for Tulsa.

The Drillers will look to complete the series sweep on Monday night in Midland with first pitch at 6:30 p.m.