Wichita had enough baseballs find grass Thursday night to keep pressure on Tulsa most of the way. The Wind Surge just could not turn that pressure into enough runs before the Drillers started clearing the yard.
That was the shape of an 8-2 loss at ONEOK Field, where Wichita out-hit Tulsa 12-9 but stranded 10 runners, went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and watched a reachable game get pulled away by four Tulsa home runs across the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The loss was Wichita’s eighth straight.
The first hint of the night came early. Tulsa scored in the first after Josue De Paula reached on a fielding error, moved to third on Mike Sirota’s double and came home on Jake Gelof’s sacrifice fly to center. Cory Lewis limited the damage there, then struck out two in the second, but the Wind Surge spent the next several innings creating traffic without changing the game.
The clearest early chance came in the third, when Quinn McDaniel walked, Marek Houston dropped down a bunt single and Khadim Diaw ripped a line-drive single to left. Wichita had the bases loaded with one out, the kind of inning that can tilt a game on the road. Aidan Foeller escaped it with one pitch to Brandon Winokur, getting a ground ball that turned into an inning-ending double play.
Tulsa made the miss hurt in the bottom half. Sean McLain opened with a ground-rule double, De Paula walked with one out, and Gelof lined a two-out single to right to score McLain for a 2-0 lead. Lewis again kept it from getting away, ending the inning on Logan Wagner’s popout, and his final line gave Wichita a chance: two runs, one earned, over four innings, with six strikeouts and two walks. He took the loss, falling to 2-9, but the game was still there when he left.
Diaw gave it a jolt in the fifth. After Foeller retired the first two hitters, Diaw drove a fly ball to right that carried to the wall and beyond it for his third homer of the season. It cut Tulsa’s lead to 2-1 and briefly made the night feel as if Wichita’s steady stream of baserunners might finally break through.
Instead, Tulsa answered immediately against the bullpen.
Kole Myers greeted Hunter Gregory in the bottom of the fifth with a fly ball to left that left the park, restoring Tulsa’s two-run edge on one swing. After Sirota singled, Gelof followed with the louder shot, a line-drive homer to left-center that turned a 3-1 game into 5-1. The ball got out in a hurry, and so did the close-game portion of the night.
Gregory allowed three earned runs in his inning. Sam Armstrong covered the final three for Wichita, striking out five without a walk, but Tulsa’s power carried into his outing. McLain was hit by a pitch in the sixth before Myers drove his second homer of the game to center, a two-run shot that stretched the lead to 7-1. Gelof added another homer in the seventh, his 32nd of the season, to finish a 3-for-3 night with two home runs, five RBIs and two runs scored.
Myers went 2-for-5 with two homers and three RBIs. Between Myers and Gelof, Tulsa turned five hits from two batters into all eight of its runs.
That was the difference against a Wichita offense that had plenty of contact but little finish. Diaw went 3-for-5 with the homer and an RBI. Winokur also went 3-for-5 and scored a run. Caden Kendle went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Houston had two hits. The Wind Surge had runners on in seven of nine innings.
They scored in two of them.
Foeller earned the win for Tulsa, improving to 2-1 after allowing one run over five innings with seven strikeouts. Wichita got three more hits off Jacob Kmatz in the eighth, when Winokur singled, Garrett Spain reached on an infield hit that deflected off the pitcher and Kyle DeBarge shot a ground ball through the left side to bring Winokur home. It made it 8-2 and gave DeBarge an RBI, but it also fit the larger frustration: another inning with multiple baserunners, another inning that produced only one run.
Tulsa did not need as many chances. The Drillers scored eight times on nine hits and made their damage loud. Wichita had 12 hits, enough on most nights to build a far different line, but the Wind Surge left with another loss because too many rallies ended with men still standing on base.