TULSA - GAME RECAP

It was the Midland Rockhounds (AA-Oakland) in town to visit the Drillers (AA-Texas). Tulsa got a quick run in the first on 4 singles, but poor baserunning (the story of the night) cost them more as the third out occurred when Travis Hafner was thrown out at home to end the threat. 

In the second, Midland tied the game on two walks and a single. However with runners on second and third, Brian Luderer was caught leading off second and Chris Madonna was forced to run home, where he was tagged out.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the 6th when Hafner reached on an error and later scored on Javier Flores double. On the same play, Jeremy Jones was thrown out trying to score, the third baserunning blunder by the Drillers. These mistakes didn't cost them however, as they added two more runs in the 7th on Hafner's two-out, two-run single. 

Tulsa reliever Travis Hughes lost his control in the 8th, allowing four walks and one run before being pulled for Spike Lundberg, recently demoted from AAA Oklahoma City. Lundberg got the third out in the 8th, watched his teammates add one more run in the bottom, and then pitched a perfect 9th for his 1st save as a Driller this season. Although Tulsa had 15 hits (13 singles, 2 doubles), they only scored 5 times. But it was enough to beat the anemic Midland bats, which only mustered 2 runs on 4 hits.

Luderer doubles for Midland

There was an interesting promotion called Mega Money Monday. Every inning, a particular scenario was announced (a triple play, a grand slam, three strikeouts, etc). If Tulsa achieved this scenario, a lucky fan would win either $1,000 or $10,000, depending on the difficulty of the task. Unfortunately, none of the tasks involved getting thrown out on the basepaths, so no fans went home rich this day. Overall, not a very entertaining game, with lots of walks, bad baserunning, and no power on display, we give this a 5/10.

Matt Beech offers