Patrick Copen gave Tulsa six innings of quiet control Saturday at Arvest Ballpark, and the Drillers supplied the thunder behind him. By the time he left, two home runs had rewritten the franchise record book and an eight-run lead had made Tulsa’s 88th victory feel secure.
Copen held Northwest Arkansas scoreless over six innings in an 8-4 win, striking out six and walking two as he improved to 9-7. The Naturals managed early singles in the first and second and drew two walks in the fourth, but none of those threats produced a run. Copen retired the side in order in the third, struck out two in the fifth and finished his afternoon with a foul-tip strikeout of Connor Scott.
Tulsa gave him all the support he would need during a four-run third against Felix Arronde.
Jose Izarra and Mike Sirota singled around an out, and Elijah Hainline walked to load the bases. Jake Gelof attacked the first pitch and lined it toward center, where Luke Pelzer came charging in and dove. The ball skipped beyond his reach, allowing Izarra to score while the other runners moved up one base.
Kole Myers followed with a sacrifice fly, and Frank Rodriguez drove a line drive through the left-center gap to the wall. Hainline and Gelof scored on Rodriguez’s ninth double, stretching the lead to 4-0.
The Drillers traded traffic for distance in the fourth.
Joe Vetrano opened the inning by launching his 13th home run high and deep to center. The ball cleared the fence and reached the walkway beyond it, tying Tulsa’s franchise record with its 196th homer of the season.
Two outs later, Sirota singled and Hainline sent another drive toward the left-field corner. It dropped into the Drillers’ bullpen as Tulsa relievers rose with their arms in the air. Hainline’s 13th homer made it 7-0 and gave the Drillers a franchise-record 197 home runs for the season.
The record-setting swing capped a productive day for Hainline, who went 1-for-2 with two walks and a hit by pitch. Sirota finished 2-for-4 with a walk and scored twice, while Gelof reached four times with two hits and two walks.
Tulsa added its final run in the fifth against Anthony Simonelli. Rodriguez was hit by a pitch, advanced to third when Joe Vetrano grounded into a double play and scored on Izarra’s ground-ball single to right. Izarra went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run, and the Drillers finished with 10 hits and no errors.
Copen’s work allowed Tulsa to score all eight of its runs in a compact three-inning burst — four in the third, three in the fourth and one in the fifth — and leave the late innings to its bullpen.
Northwest Arkansas did not score until Copen had been out of the game for more than an inning. The Naturals reached Alex Walsh for two runs in the eighth, one scoring on Alberto Rodriguez’s single and another on Connor Scott’s hit after Jacob Kmatz entered.
Angel Acosta and Alberto Rodriguez added solo homers off Kmatz in the ninth. Rodriguez’s two-out drive carried out to right-center, trimming the margin to four and bringing Cam Day in for the final out. Day walked Sam Kulasingam before Sirota caught Spencer Nivens’ fly ball in center to end it.
Walsh and Kmatz were each charged with two earned runs, all of Northwest Arkansas’ scoring coming in the final two innings. That late push changed the final margin, but not the shape of the game Copen and Tulsa’s record-setting power had established much earlier.