Northwest Arkansas Naturals Take 12, Tulsa Drillers Lose 6-4 - AA, Texas League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - May 15, 2008 - Tulsa's frustrations with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals continued Thursday night with an extra-inning loss. The Naturals broke a 4-4 tie with a pair of runs in the top of the 12th inning to post a 6-4 win at Drillers Stadium. The loss was the seventh for the Drillers in eight meetings with the Naturals.

The game-deciding rally began with two outs and the bases empty when Brian McFall drew a four pitch walk from Luis Gonzalez. Marc Maddox followed with a chopper that hit directly in front of the plate but bounced over first baseman Jeff Kindel's head for a double that left runners at second and third. Irving Falu followed with a lined single to center field that plated both McFall and Maddox.

Naturals reliever worked around a pair of two-out singles by Chris Nelson and Matt Miller in the 12th inning to close out the victory. The result gave Northwest Arkansas three wins in the four-game series.

The Drillers jumped on top in the game with a run in the first inning against Daniel Cortes, the top pitching prospect in the Kansas City Royals farm system. Corey Wimberly led off with a single to left and then proceeded to steal second and third bases. Miller drove him in with a base hit to give Tulsa the 1-0 lead.

The Naturals tried to put together a scoring rally in the fourth, but that was shot down by Drillers right fielder Daniel Carte. With one out and Juan Richardson on third, Maddox drove a laser to Carte who then proceeded to gun down Richardson at the plate with a strong throw to record the double play.

There was no more action on the scoreboard until the fifth inning when Falu walked and advanced on a botched pick off attempt by Drillers starter Tomas Santiago. Jose Duarte then singled him in to tie the game at 1-1.

Tulsa retook the lead in the bottom of the inning, 2-1, as Justin Nelson belted his 4th home run of the year over the right field wall.

Northwest Arkansas came right back in the top of the sixth. Richardson was hit by a pitch and the next batter, Mario Lisson, drew a walk that ended the night for Santiago. Reliever Jarrett Grube came on for Tulsa and promptly hit Maddox with a pitch to load the bases. A throwing error by Tulsa first baseman Jeff Kindel on a ball hit by Falu allowed Richardson to score the tying run. Kiel Thibault then put the Naturals in front with a sacrifice fly.

An RBI ground out by Miller scored Wimberly in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 3-3, but Geraldo Valentin homered to left in the top of the seventh to restore the Naturals lead at 4-3.

The Drillers would not go away, answering in the bottom of the seventh. Three singles by Carte, Justin Nelson and Wimberly tied the game again at 4-4.

It remained tied until Falu's hit in the twelfth. Tulsa missed a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, putting runners at first and third with no outs, but Jarod Plummer worked out of the jam.

The Naturals missed a chance of their own in the 11th. They had runners at first and second with no outs, but catcher Esposito thwarted the scoring attempt when he picked off Falu at second base for the first out of the inning.

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