Wichita had enough offense Friday night to put pressure on Tulsa starter Christian Zazueta, and for five innings the Wind Surge had enough pitching to make those early swings stand up.
The sixth inning took that away.
Tulsa turned a tie game into a five-run lead with a five-run sixth, the decisive burst in a 7-4 Wind Surge loss at ONEOK Field. The inning moved fast and left Wichita chasing the rest of the night: two walks, Logan Wagner’s go-ahead single, Joe Vetrano’s three-run homer and Josue De Paula’s ground-rule double after a pitching change.
For the Wind Surge, it spoiled a night that had started with Andrew Cossetti in the middle of nearly everything good. Cossetti singled in the second, scored on Jaime Ferrer’s double into the right-field corner, then homered in the fourth to put Wichita back in front.
Ferrer’s double gave Wichita a 1-0 lead after Cossetti reached with one out. The ball carried down the right-field line, beyond Jose Izarra’s chase into the corner, and Cossetti had time to come all the way around as it kicked near the wall. It was Ferrer’s 13th double of the season and his lone hit in a 1-for-4 night.
Tulsa answered in the third on Vetrano’s first homer, a fly ball that went the other way down the left-field line and tied the game. Preston Johnson still kept Wichita in position. He allowed one earned run over four innings, struck out seven and walked three, escaping the third after Vetrano’s homer, a walk and another walk by getting Griffin Lockwood-Powell to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Cossetti restored the lead in the fourth with his 18th homer, a fly ball to left-center off Zazueta. He finished 2-for-3 with the homer, a walk and two runs scored, giving Wichita its clearest offensive line on a night when the rest of the lineup struck out often and rarely built innings.
Zazueta did not give the Wind Surge much else. He worked six innings, allowed two earned runs and struck out seven without a walk, leaving with the lead once Tulsa’s lineup got to Wichita’s bullpen.
Darren Bowen entered in the fifth and gave up the tying run when Kole Myers singled, Josue De Paula followed with another hit and Lockwood-Powell lifted a sacrifice fly to right. That made it 2-2, but the larger damage came an inning later.
Bowen opened the sixth by walking Taylor Young and Elijah Hainline. Wagner followed with a sharp single to right, scoring Young and moving Hainline to third, and Tulsa had its first lead. Vetrano changed the shape of the game on the next plate appearance, lining his 12th homer of the season to right field. In the span of two swings, Wichita went from protecting a tied game to trailing 6-2.
Bowen got one out after the homer, then walked Myers. Kyle Bischoff entered, but De Paula drove a ground-rule double to right-center that scored Myers for Tulsa’s fifth run of the inning. Bischoff limited the inning there after another walk and a strikeout, but the damage was already enough.
Bowen took the loss and was charged with six earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. Vetrano finished 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs, the biggest reason Tulsa’s offense separated.
Wichita’s late push came in the eighth against Myles Caba. Graham Brown walked, and Marek Houston followed with his seventh homer, a fly ball to left-center that cut the deficit to 7-4. Caden Kendle singled after the homer, but Caba struck out the next three hitters to keep Tulsa in front.
That was the last real opening. Lucas Wepf handled the ninth for his third save, striking out Kyle DeBarge before retiring Ferrer and Danny De Andrade on grounders.
The Wind Surge finished with four runs on six hits and no errors, scoring once in the second, once in the fourth and twice in the eighth. It was enough to lead twice, but not enough to survive one inning that got away.