Komar Halts Drillers in Loss
SPRINGFIELD, MO – The Tulsa Drillers began their final road trip of the 2023 season on Tuesday night. Game one of the trip did not go the Drillers way as Tulsa was stymied by Springfield Cardinals starting pitcher Brandon Komar. Komar pitched eight innings and held the Drillers offense to
*SPRINGFIELD, MO – *The Tulsa Drillers began their final road trip of the 2023 season on Tuesday night. Game one of the trip did not go the Drillers way as Tulsa was stymied by Springfield Cardinals starting pitcher Brandon Komar. Komar pitched eight innings and held the Drillers offense to one run on six hits in Tulsa’s 9-1 game-one loss at Hammons Field.
The defeat dropped the Drillers season record to 63-64, marking the first time this year that Tulsa’s record has been under .500.
The game was scoreless through the first two innings before the Cardinals plated the night's first run in the third inning. L.J. Jones began the inning by reaching second base with a double and scored with two outs on an RBI single from Noah Mendlinger.
Austin Gauthier began Tulsa's half of the fourth with a triple off the left field wall and scored one batter later on Yusniel Diaz's sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1.
In the bottom of the fourth, Mike Antico drew a walk and immediately stole second and third bases. Antico gave Springfield the lead by scoring on Pedro Pages' RBI single.
Springfield added a third run in the fifth inning as a hit batter, a single and a walk loaded the bases with only one out. Chandler Redmond scored the runner on third base with a sacrifice fly to deep center field to increase the Cardinals' lead to 3-1.
Springfield added six more runs to take a 9-1 lead in the eighth inning on a three-run double, a sacrifice fly and a two-run homer from Victor Scott.
HIGHLIGHTS & HAPPENINGS
*Pitcher Kendall Williams made his sixth start for Tulsa since joining the Drillers on August 2. He received his third loss after pitching six innings and giving up five hits, three runs and three walks with only one strikeout.
*The game took only two hours and 11 minutes to complete.
*Diaz earned a hit to increase his hitting streak to eight straight games.
*Gauthier and Imanol Vargas had two hits each.
*Tulsa’s pitching staff now has 610 walks allowed on the season. The franchise record was set by the 2022 pitching staff with 662 walks.
*Today, the Drillers announced that outfielder Diaz was named the Texas League's Player of the Month for August.
*The Cardinals stole four bases in the game, matching the Drillers franchise record for stolen bases allowed in a season at 240. The record was previously held by the 2022 Drillers.
UP NEXT:
The Drillers and Cardinals will play the second game of their six-game series on Wednesday night at Hammons Field. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. and the starting pitchers are slated to be:
Tulsa- RHP Orlando Ortiz-Mayr (3-5, 4.27 ERA)
Springfield- RHP Tink Hence (2-4, 6.47 ERA)