A one-run lead can feel especially thin when it arrives on a pair of bases-loaded walks and must survive five innings. Tulsa’s bullpen made this one hold up, carrying Christian Zazueta’s work through the final out of a 3-2 victory over Northwest Arkansas on Friday night at Arvest Ballpark.
Christian Suarez, Luke Fox and Kelvin Ramirez combined for four scoreless innings and six strikeouts after Zazueta departed. The Naturals managed three baserunners against the trio, none of whom advanced beyond second base.
Ramirez finished it emphatically. Protecting the same 3-2 lead Tulsa had held since the fourth, he struck out Justin Johnson, watched Kole Myers handle Alberto Rodriguez’s liner in center and struck out Hyungchan Um for his seventh save. It was a perfect ninth built around two punchouts, the cleanest close to a game spent almost entirely on the edge.
The Drillers had fallen behind before recording an out in the first. Sam Kulasingam doubled to center and Spencer Nivens dropped a single into right, putting runners at the corners. After Daniel Vazquez grounded out, Connor Scott’s sacrifice fly gave the Naturals a 1-0 lead.
Griffin Lockwood-Powell answered in the second. He sent Steven Zobac’s offering the other way, driving it deep to right and over the fence into the Naturals bullpen for his eighth home run. The line-drive shot tied the game and supplied the Drillers’ only extra-base scoring hit.
Northwest Arkansas reclaimed the lead in the bottom half. With one out and Um aboard on a single, Angel Acosta pulled a line drive down the right-field line and just beyond the fence inside the foul pole. His first homer made it 2-1.
That was the last run Zazueta or any Tulsa pitcher allowed.
Tulsa’s decisive rally in the fourth required traffic, patience and a little help from Chase Jessee. Myers was hit by a pitch to open the inning, then Jake Gelof lined a one-out single to left to put runners at the corners. Jessee appeared close to escaping when he struck out Lockwood-Powell for the second out, but Elijah Hainline walked to load the bases.
Sean McLain worked a 3-1 walk to force home Myers with the tying run. Jose Izarra followed by taking a full-count pitch low, bringing Gelof home for a 3-2 lead. Jessee was lifted after issuing three walks and allowing two earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, and Brandon Johnson struck out Agustin Acosta to keep the deficit at one.
The Drillers never added insurance despite putting runners aboard in four of the final five innings. Hainline, who went 2-for-3 with a walk, doubled in the sixth and singled to begin the ninth. Tulsa put two men on with nobody out in the ninth but again came away empty.
The pitching made those missed chances irrelevant.
Zazueta settled after Acosta’s homer, allowing no more runs through five innings. He struck out four, walked one and improved to 4-2 after yielding two earned runs. Suarez worked around Scott’s two-out single in a scoreless sixth for his third hold.
Fox handled the seventh and eighth for his first hold. Um singled with one out in the seventh, but Fox got Acosta on a groundout and struck out Connor Rasmussen. A one-out walk to Nivens in the eighth brought the tying run aboard again; Fox responded by striking out Vazquez and Scott.
Tulsa finished with seven hits to Northwest Arkansas’ six, and neither club committed an error. The difference was a fourth-inning rally that traveled only 90 feet at a time—and a bullpen that refused to give any of it back.