Saturday was the kind of night Tulsa had been waiting for all season.
In Springdale, Arkansas, the Drillers backed Patrick Copen with enough thunder to make history, while Copen turned in his best outing of the regular season. Tulsa’s power surge did more than beat the Northwest Arkansas Naturals - it pushed the club past the 2022 team for the most home runs in Drillers history.
Copen, making his final start of the regular season, worked six scoreless innings and struck out six. He gave up only two singles and two walks, a sharp finish to a season that had been uneven for much of the summer.
Copen closed with a 5.90 ERA over 116 innings, but his final stretch looked far better than his early numbers suggested. Through July 22, he carried a 7.45 ERA, had allowed 12 home runs in 73 2/3 innings, and posted a 9.5-percent strikeout-minus-walk rate.
Over his last eight appearances, though, he put together a 3.19 ERA, surrendered just two home runs in 42 1/3 innings, and improved that strikeout-minus-walk rate to 19.5 percent.
The offense did the rest. Elijah Hainline and Joe Vetrano each went deep for Tulsa, and Hainline’s homer was the one that broke the club record. The Drillers now have 197 home runs on the season, the top mark in the Texas League and the new high-water mark in franchise history.
Hainline also reached base three times, and Copen handed the game off with an 8-0 lead. Northwest Arkansas scored twice in the eighth and again in the ninth, but by then the damage was done.
The win moved Tulsa to 88-49, the most victories by a Tulsa baseball team since the Oilers, a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate, won 95 games in 1968.
For comparison, that 2022 Tulsa team got its power from Ryan Ward, who hit 28 home runs, and a 21-year-old Andy Pages, who added 26. James Outman chipped in 16 homers in 68 games, and Michael Busch hit 11 in 31 games.
Triple-A Oklahoma City kept its own run going, too, stretching its winning streak to 14 games with another victory over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys.
The Comets built their cushion with three runs in the third inning and made them stand up. Zach Ehrhard singled in a run in the frame, later added a double, and scored on a two-run home run by Alek Thomas, his fourth in seven games since returning to Triple-A.
Christian Romero struck out seven and did not allow a run until Sugar Land scored twice off him in the fifth, which ended his night. In relief, Kyle Hurt, Ronan Kopp and Jerming Rosario each struck out multiple batters and combined for seven strikeouts over 3 1/3 innings. Garrett McDaniels then recorded the final two outs to finish the job.
Saturday scores
Sunday schedule
In Other News...
Miguel Rojas Injury Scare Leaves Dodgers Facing An Infield Question
Miguel Rojas night against the Marlins ended early after a shoulder injury flared up and aggravated the labrum tear he has been dealing with for most of his career. For the Dodgers, it was the kind of scare that can ripple beyond one game, because Rojas has been a steady infield presence and one of the players the club leans on for stability when things get messy.
Rojas plans to get a cortisone injection so he can keep playing, but the situation still leaves Los Angeles with a familiar question about how long it can count on him at full strength. The Dodgers do have depth options to cover the spot if he needs time off, which softens the blow, yet this is still the sort of injury watch that can force a team to reshuffle quickly if the discomfort lingers. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Create An October Dilemma With Surprising Pitching Decision
The Dodgers kept their roster churn going ahead of the series with the Reds, optioning right-hander Emmet Sheehan to Triple-A even after a run of strong outings. In his place, Los Angeles brought up Paul Gervase to give the bullpen a fresh arm, another reminder of how aggressively the club is trying to manage every innings count as the regular season winds down.
Sheehans demotion creates an obvious wrinkle for October, since the move leaves him ineligible to rejoin the Dodgers before the end of the regular season unless another player gets hurt. For a team that values pitching depth as much as this one does, the decision adds another layer to how the staff will be lined up when the games start to matter most. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Fans May Not Realize How Close This Voice Came To Elsewhere
Todd Leitz has become such a familiar part of the game-day rhythm at Dodger Stadium that it is easy to forget how unlikely the path once looked. He has handled public address duties for the club for the last 11 seasons, but before that he was still working his way through the job market for one of baseballs most recognizable behind-the-scenes roles.
Long before he was introduced to Dodgers fans, Leitz was a finalist for the Padres PA announcer opening in 2014 and came up short. The experience still proved useful, though, because it gave him a better feel for what teams were looking for when he later auditioned for a part-time Dodgers position and ultimately landed the job that turned into a steady run in Los Angeles. [Read more 🡒]