Drillers Survive Late Scare to Win Fourth Straight

Originally Published: Jul 4, 2010 11:17 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

TULSA, Oklahoma – The Tulsa Drillers had a monster seventh inning and held off a scary eighth to beat the San Antonio Missions 7-5 Sunday and stretch their winning streak to four games.

The seventh inning began with the teams tied 2-2, and Tulsa had struggled to generate any offense. But that quickly changed as the frame began, as the first two batters reached on singles. After a throwing error, Michael Mitchell drove home a run on a sacrifice fly to give the Drillers (35-42) their first lead of the night.

Warren Schaeffer delivered an RBI single in the next at-bat to push the lead to two, and a single and walk loaded the bases with one out. Jason Van Kooten drove all three runners home with a double to give the Drillers five runs in the inning and extend the lead to 7-2.

The Missions (39-41) would not go away, and threatened to erase the lead in the next half inning. After Logan Forsythe drove home a run with a single, San Antonio attempted a double steal. Tulsa catcher Wilin Rosario threw the ball away, which allowed a run to score and cut the lead to 7-4.

Andy Graham then lost ball control, walking two consecutive batters to load the bases with one out. Rex Brothers entered in relief of Graham and promptly walked the first batter he faced to score another run and keep the bases loaded. But Brothers responded by striking out the next two batters to finish the threat.

Brothers pitched a flawless ninth inning to earn his first save of the season and clinch a win for reliever Ching Lung Lo (2-3). Nathan Culp (1-5) was credited with the loss after struggling in the seventh inning. He gave up five runs on four hits and only retired one batter.

Sunday’s game marked the beginning of a three-game series that will continue at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday.