Drillers' Bats Come Alive in 14-Run Blowout of Springfield

Tulsa scored just three total runs in its last two games, but the offense heated back up Thursday.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:21 pm

By: News On 6

Drillers' Bats Come Alive in 14-Run Blowout of Springfield

Originally Published: Apr 21, 2011 11:20 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Tulsa Drillers let out the frustrations of two straight bad offensive performances with a barrage of hits in a 14-4 blowout of the Springfield Cardinals Thursday.

The Drillers (7-7) were carried by two big innings, starting in the fourth. Already up 2-0, five of Tulsa’s first six batters reached base. After two walks and a single, the bases stood loaded with only one out in the inning.

Pitcher Rob Scahill helped his own cause with a two-run single, and he advanced to second base while a third run scored thanks to a throwing error. Tim Wheeler followed with an RBI triple, which chased Springfield (6-8) pitcher Deryk Hooker from the game.

Richard Castillo took over on the mound, and struck out the first batter he faced. But a wild pitch against his second batter scored Wheeler from third and gave Tulsa five runs in the inning for a commanding 7-0 lead.

The Cardinals finally got on the board in the sixth inning thanks to an RBI single by Matthew Adams, and they added another run in the seventh on an RBI single by Thomas Pham to cut the lead to 7-2. But that was the closest Springfield would come for the rest of the night, as Tulsa blew the game open with another big inning in the bottom of the seventh.

Springfield pitcher Ryan Kulik retired two of the first three batters of the inning, but the Drillers mounted a two-out rally after that. The next five batters all reached base, resulting in another five-run inning.

Springfield managed to score two runs in the eighth, but the Drillers responded with two of their own in the bottom of the inning to finish the scoring and cap the blowout.

Scahill (1-1) earned his first win of the season after holding Springfield to two runs on six hits in 6.2 innings. Hooker (0-2) gave up seven runs on six hits and three walks in only 3.1 innings and came away with a loss.

The offensive fireworks came after Tulsa combined to score just three runs in its previous two games, both losses. The Drillers will try to keep their new momentum going in game three of the series at 7:05 p.m. Friday.