Drillers Open Road Trip With Loss To San Antonio

The Tulsa Drillers staged a late rally in the opening game of a six-game road trip Wednesday night, but it fell one run short. The Drillers cut a three-run deficit to a single run by scoring twice in the eighth inning, but it was not enough as the San Antonio Missions held on for a 4-3 victory.

The loss dropped the Drillers second-half record to 6-7. Their road trip will include two more games in San Antonio and three games in Corpus Christi.

In Wednesday's loss, the Missions generated a run in the bottom of the first inning off Richard Castillo to take an early lead. Leadoff batter Reymond Fuentes singled and stole second base. After a sacrifice bunt, Fuentes scored the game's first run on a ground out from Casey McElroy.

Tulsa tied the game at 1-1 with a run of its own in the second. The run came on consecutive, one-out doubles from Taylor Featherston and Jared Simon.

Beginning in the fourth, the Missions scored single runs in three of their next four at-bats to build a 4-1 lead. The run in the fourth inning came on a two-out homer from Jason Hagerty, his ninth of the season.

Adam Buschini led off the fifth with a double and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Fuentes.

The lead reached three runs in the seventh inning when Yeison Asencio singled with two outs off reliever Ryan Arrowood, stole second and scored on a base hit by Brian Bixler.

The Drillers made things interesting in the top of the eighth. With one out, Featherston doubled off reliever Trevor Gott and Simon drew a walk. Jose Gonzalez singled home Featherston, and Simon scored on a fielder's choice ground out from Joey Wong to cut the San Antonio lead to 4-3.

Tulsa would get no closer. Hard-throwing reliever Luis De La Cruz came on in the ninth inning for the Mission and struck out the side to end the game.

The defeat ended the Drillers modest two-game winning streak. They lost despite out-hitting the Missions 9-8.

Cristhian Adames led the attack with three hits, while Featherston added his two doubles. The Drillers stranded 10 base runners in the game.

Castillo pitched effectively but was charged with his fifth straight loss. He allowed three runs on only three hits in five innings of work.

San Antonio starter Josh Geer picked up his second straight win against the Drillers. He pitched six innings, surrendering one run on six hits. The victory improved his record to 5-7.

The save for De La Cruz was his second of the season.

Tulsa will play its second game in the Alamo City Thursday night. Carlos Hernandez (1-4, 2.47 ERA) will take the mound for the Drillers against Leonel Campos (0-2, 2.40 ERA) of the Missions. Starting time at Nelson Wolff Stadium is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.