The Arkansas Travelers broke open a tight game with a six-run sixth inning, and then kept pounding away, to beat the Tulsa Drillers 12-6 Thursday night in front of an announced crowd of 6,052 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.
The victory came one night after Tulsa clinched the first-half Texas League North title by beating Arkansas 2-1.
This time, the Travs were leading 2-1 when Tulsa starter Mike Piazza left the game after five innings, and Arkansas scored 10 of its 12 runs in its final four at bats.
Piazza, a former Travs pitcher, left after throwing 91 pitches and was replaced by Nate Stirtz, but Stirtz was not nearly as effective as the Tulsa starter.
Run-scoring doubles by Alex Yarbrough, Brian Hernandez and Anderson De La Rosa were the big hits in the sixth off Stirtz, who was replaced after De La Rosa's double.
Brandon Erbe relieved Stirtz and threw two wild pitches, the second allowing De La Rosa to score and make it 8-1.
The Travelers made it 10-2 in the seventh when Hernandez singled to right to score Maikol Gonzalez and Hudson.
The Drillers scored four times in the eighth when Taylor Featherston hit his second home run, a two-run shot, off Nick Maronde and Ryan Casteel hit another two-run home run off Maronde to make it 10-6. Featherston also homered in the bottom of the sixth.
The Travelers added two in the ninth when Hudson singled to left to score Stamets and Yarbrough singled to left to score Gonzalez.
Hernandez led Arkansas, going 4 for 6 with 3 RBI. Gonzalez went 3 for 3 and scored 3 runs. Featherston led the Drillers by going 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored. The home runs were his sixth and seventh of the season.
Drew Rucinski (5-4) allowed 2 runs on 5 hits in 7 innings, with 5 strikeouts while throwing 75 pitches to get the victory. Piazza (0-1) took the loss.
Sports on 06/13/2014