Springfield Cardinals manager Mike Shildt gambled and lost when he ordered an intentional walk to bring up hot-hitting Tulsa Drillers third baseman Tim Smalling with the bases loaded in the seventh inning on Monday night.
Smalling lined a two-run tiebreaking double that propelled the Drillers past the Cardinals 8-4 in Tulsa's regular-season home finale at ONEOK Field.
"You definitely get a little excited when that happens," Smalling said about getting a hit after the intentional walk.
With Springfield leading 4-3, Tulsa's Delta Cleary Jr. led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk off starter Seth Blair and Angelys Nina greeted right-handed reliever Jose Almarante (2-2) with a single.
Kyle Parker, who went 3-for-5, singled home Cleary with the tying run. After Dustin Garneau's sacrifice bunt, left-handed hitter Tyler Kuhn was walked intentionally with one out to get to Smalling.
"I was expecting it to set up the righty-righty matchup," Smalling said.
Kuhn entered the at-bat 4-for-22 in his last six games while Smalling was 9-for-21 during that stretch. Kuhn had been hitless Monday while Smalling had two earlier hits before his decisive shot into the right-center gap.
"It was a fastball and it was actually a pretty good pitch," Smalling said. "I was just trying to stay in the middle of the field and was fortunate to put a good swing on it."
After a slow start since being promoted from Single-A Modesto, Smalling has improved his batting average to .237 and has seven RBIs in 25 games.
"He's made some adjustments and he's definitely giving us a shot in the arm, giving us what we need right now," Drillers manager Kevin Riggs said.
Smalling had ignited Tulsa's comeback from a 4-2 deficit when he led off the sixth with a double and later scored on Juan Crousset's grounder.
As it turned out, perhaps there wasn't a decision that Shildt could have made to escape the seventh-inning jam. In the eighth, Kuhn socked a two-run, two-out triple off righty reliever Heath Wyatt, a Southeastern State product.
A crowd of 4,679 gave Tulsa a total of 393,600 for 69 home dates - the second-largest attendance total for a season in the city's pro baseball history that dates to 1905.
The next time that the Drillers (64-67 overall, 30-33 second half) play at ONEOK Field it will be for the Texas League's North Division playoffs opener on Sept. 4. Their opponent is still to be determined. With seven games left, Arkansas leads Springfield (64-67, 31-32) and Northwest Arkansas by two games. Tulsa is three back and would play a wild-card team if it won the second half.
Tulsa opened the scoring in the first as Cleary scored from third on a sacrifice foul pop up to first baseman Xavier Scruggs, who made the catch with his back to the plate. Scruggs made a perfect throw home from about 150 feet away, but Cleary beat the tag.
In the fourth, Drillers lefty Tyler Matzek gave up a two-out walk to Blair, who was 0-for-7 this season. James Ramsey then hit a two-run double to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Joey Wong's second homer of the season tied it at 2 in the bottom of the fourth.
The Drillers open a four-game series at Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday night.
All-time attendance seasons
Below are Tulsa professional baseball's top five attendance seasons. Totals include only regular-season games. Sellouts are in parentheses.
| No. |
Year |
Attendance |
| 1. |
2010 |
408,183 (12) |
| 2. |
2013 |
393,600 (14) |
| 3. |
2012 |
372,624 (10) |
| 4. |
2011 |
366,291 (9) |
| 5. |
1999 |
351,929 (1) |
- BARRY LEWIS World Sports Writer
Barry Lewis 918-581-8393
barry.lewis@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: Ending on high note
Pro - Drillers
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