Tulsa Drillers Take Game One 7-0, Travs Take Two 9-3 - AA, Texas League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Drillers Stadium, Tulsa, OK - After getting only two base hits in a 7-0 loss in the opening game of Thursday night's doubleheader, the Travs bounced back for a 9-3 win in the nightcap to achieve a split.  Adam Morrissey (3) and Drew Toussaint (1) homered in the victory while RHP Anthony Ortega (4-2) tossed six innings to win his second straight start.  In the opener Tulsa RHP Ching-Lung Lo (1-5) tossed a two-hitter for his first career shutout.

The Travs never got things going against Lo in the opener, while RHP Brok Butcher (2-1) got untracked quickly.  Tulsa scored quickly in the first inning on an RBI single by Matt Miller. 

Butcher appeared to have tossed a perfect second inning, but SS Hainley Statia's throwing error continued the frame.  A walk to Corey Wimberly was followed by a three-run homer from Dexter Fowler (4) to give Tulsa a 4-0 lead.

The Travs only had one runner reach second base in the opener, and it was Morrissey who hit a double in the second inning.  Lo retired eight of the final nine batters of the game to stop Tulsa's six-game losing streak.

Ortega was sharp from the start in the nightcap and set down 11 of the first 13 Tulsa batters.  By the time the Drillers got a man to second base for the first time in the third inning, the Travs already had a 4-0 lead.

Morrissey blasted RHP Jon George's offering in the second inning for a one-out home run to left.

Over the next two innings the Travs scored six runs on eight hits and five Tulsa errors to take a 7-0 lead.

C Tim Duff led off the third with a single then 2B Ryan Leahy put down a sacrifice bunt which George threw away putting men at second and third with no outs.  Statia poked an RBI single to left field for a 2-0 lead, but George got Jordan Czarniecki to bounce into a double play putting Leahy at third base.  Mike Collins singled to right field chasing Leahy to the plate and the Travs loaded the bases on a single by Ben Johnson and a walk to Morrissey.  Corey Smith followed with a squibber that took a funny hop to 1B Duke Sardhina.  He never got the ball out of his glove allowing Collins to score on an error.

A fielding error by Tulsa SS Jeff Dragicevich allowed Leahy to reach base in the fourth.  Statia singled ending the night for George.  LHP Luis Gonzalez was greeted by a single from Czarniecki to move Statia to third base.  Gonzalez then attempted to pick off Czarniecki, but balked instead allowing Statia to score.  Johnson hit another slow roller that 3B Tony Blanco overran for an infield single to score Czarniecki.  A sharp single to center from Morrissey scored Collins for a 7-0 lead.

Tulsa got on the board in the fourth inning on a two-run homer from Dragicevich (4).  Toussaint answered on Gonzalez's first pitch of the fifth with a mammoth shot over the batter's eye.

Collins and Smith doubled in the sixth inning to bring home the Travs' last run.

During the first game Travs OF Cody Fuller injured his right leg after colliding with Cliff Remole on a fly ball to the left-field gap.  Fuller was helped off the field and will have x-rays taken after the game.

The first game was played in 1:50 while the second game took 2:11.  The paid attendance was 4,007.

For Box Score, see:  BOXSCORES
 

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