Tulsa Drops Series Finale against Arkansas

The Drillers' pitching staff was unable to keep the Travelers' bats from getting going in the eight-run loss.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:23 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa Drops Series Finale against Arkansas

Originally Published: May 7, 2011 12:0 AM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The Tulsa Drillers saw their five-game win streak snapped Friday in a 11-3 loss to the Arkansas Travelers.

Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Tim Wheeler homered to right field in the second at-bat of the inning to give the Tulsa (16-10) a 2-1 advantage. But that’s when the Travelers’ (10-13) made their move.

With the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the fourth, Angel Castillo send a sacrifice fly to center field to bring Matt Cusick home from third and tie the game 2-2. Back-to-back wild pitches in the next at-bat advanced the runners and eventually brought Clay Fuller home and give Arkansas a one-run lead.

After reliever Joey Williamson hit Mike Trout to put runners on first and third, Darwin Perez laid down a bunt-single to score Adam Younger and give the travelers a 4-2 advantage.

Arkansas extended its lead in the top of the second with a ground-ball, RBI single from Fuller and a sac-fly two at-bats later to bring him home to give the Travelers a four-run lead. However Fuller wasn’t done doing damage.

In the top of the sixth, a fielding error by James Cesario put two runners on base for Fuller, who homered to left field – his third of the season – to make it 9-7 Travelers.

Orangel Arenas (4-0) remained perfect for the season, despite giving up six hits and three earned runs in his 6.1 innings pitched for the Travelers. Josh Sullivan (0-2) didn’t last long for Tulsa, giving up five hits and three earned runs in just three innings of service.

Tulsa will now travel to Springdale, Ark. for a four-game series with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, starting at 7 p.m. Saturday.