Tulsa Drillers Pound Springfield Cardinals 14-2 - AA, Texas League

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com - TULSA - The Tulsa Drillers could only manage 5 runs in 20 innings during Monday night's doubleheader.   Tuesday night was a different story as the Drillers pounded out 14 runs on 16 hits in route to a 14-2 pounding of the Springfield Cardinals.
 
The Drillers were led offensively by catcher Brian Esposito and got another strong start from pitcher Ching-Lung Lo.  Esposito, one night after a four-inning pitching performance, finished 3-5 with a homer and 4 runs batted in.  Lo worked five innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run on the way to his seventh win of the season.  The victory was his second in a row since returning from the disabled list.
 
Tulsa struck first with a run in the bottom of the second inning.  Jeff Kindel singled and scored on a two-out single up the middle by Justin Nelson.  The Drillers loaded the bases on a base hit by Esposito and a walk to Lo, but were only able to manage one run.
 

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They Drillers blew the game open with a four-run third inning that increased the lead to 5-0. The inning started when Corey Wimberly reached first on an infield single and moved to second on another infield single, this one by Matt Miller.  Wimberly then scored on a single by Tony Blanco. 
 
After back-to-back outs, Nelson drove in Miller with a double down the right field line for his second RBI of the game.  Esposito followed with an identical ground ball down the first base line that scored Blanco and Nelson.
 
The Cards got a run back in the fourth.  Cody Haerther reached on an error by Kindel and scored on Mark Shorey's 17th double of the year.
 
The Drillers got the run back in the same inning.  Eric Young Jr. walked to lead the inning off.  When he stole second, catcher Brandon Yarbrough's throw went into centerfield, allowing Young to reach third.  With the infield in, Wimberly hit a ground ball that found a hole scoring Young.  Wimberly then stole second, moved to third on a base hit by Miller and score on a ground out by Blanco.  Miller, after advancing to third, scored on a wild pitch by Springfield starting pitcher Kyle Sadlowski.
 
The scoring didn't stop for the Drillers in the fifth as they added two more runs to make it 10-1.  With two outs, Sadlowski walked Lo, Young, and Wimberly to load the bases.  That brought up Miller who lined a two-run single to left.  The hit meant the end of the night for Sadlowski.
 
Shorey continued to be the most effective Cardinal Tuesday night with another run batted in during the sixth inning.  Jon Jay singled and scored on Shorey's hit.  The Drillers' lead still stood at 10-2.
 
Tulsa added two more runs in the sixth.  Following a Kindel single, Esposito blasted his fourth home run of the year to give Tulsa a 12-2 advantage.
 
Young and Jeff Dragicevich both had RBI singles in the eighth inning as the Drillers pushed their already large lead to a score of 14-2.
 
The Drillers and Cardinals will be back in action Wednesday for game four of their five-game set.  Wednesday's game features Kip Wells for the Drillers against Jess Todd (2-3, 2.31 ERA) for the Cardinals.  Wells is on a rehab assignment from the Colorado Rockies.  He is 1-1 with a 2.29 ERA this season with Colorado and 0-3 with an 8.84 ERA with the AAA Colorado Springs Spring Sox.  The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM at Drillers Stadium.
 
Tulsa will likely have one other major leaguer in its lineup for Wednesday's game.  Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki joined the Drillers Tuesday evening to begin an injury-rehabilitation assignment.  He is expected to be with the club for several days.

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