Eduardo Quintero’s first Double-A hit carried just beyond the right-center-field wall, turning a two-run deficit into a tie in the ninth inning and giving Tulsa’s regular-season finale one last jolt. The celebration barely had time to settle.
Sam Kulasingam answered in the bottom half with a drive to center that eluded Quintero, scoring Connor Rasmussen and sending the Drillers to a 5-4 walk-off loss Sunday at Arvest Ballpark.
Tulsa finished the regular season 88-50, but not before Quintero and Jake Gelof supplied two memorable swings. Gelof established a franchise record with his 34th home run of the season, while Quintero turned a difficult Double-A debut into late drama.
Quintero entered the ninth 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Jose Izarra opened the inning with a walk against Dennis Colleran Jr., and Charles Davalan lined out before Quintero lifted a ball toward right-center. Alberto Rodriguez retreated to the wall and reached, but the ball cleared his glove and landed beneath the berm.
Just like that, a 4-2 deficit was gone. Quintero had his first hit at the level, his first home run and two RBIs, all on the swing that tied the game.
The Drillers put the potential go-ahead run aboard when Gelof drew a two-out walk, but Griffin Lockwood-Powell flew out to end the inning.
Christian Suarez could not preserve the tie. He walked Angel Acosta, who was replaced by Rasmussen, and Ricson Gonzalez moved the runner to second with a sacrifice bunt. After an intentional walk to Luke Pelzer, Kulasingam drove a 2-2 pitch over Quintero in center. Rasmussen scored on the hit, ending the game and handing Suarez the loss after one-third of an inning.
The finish erased a comeback made necessary by Justin Johnson’s RBI double in the eighth. Spencer Nivens had doubled against Evan Shaw before Carson Hobbs entered and recorded two outs. Johnson then lined a ball sharply into center to score Nivens and extend the Naturals’ lead to 4-2.
Until Quintero’s swing, Gelof had owned Tulsa’s afternoon.
He singled home Elijah Hainline in the first inning, giving the Drillers a 1-0 lead, then stepped in against Augusto Mendieta to open the fourth with the game tied. Gelof worked the count to 2-2 before driving a ball over the wall in left. He took his time around the bases after the historic swing, which broke the Tulsa single-season home-run record and restored a 2-1 advantage.
Gelof reached four times, finishing 2-for-3 with two walks and both of Tulsa’s early RBIs.
The lead did not survive the bottom of the fourth. Daniel Vazquez singled and advanced to third on Connor Scott’s flyout before Johnson brought him home with a sacrifice fly. Rodriguez followed with a triple, and Angel Acosta’s ground-ball single to short scored him for a 3-2 Northwest Arkansas lead.
Roque Gutierrez allowed all three runs across five innings, striking out three without issuing a walk. Tulsa’s bullpen kept the deficit there until Nivens and Johnson combined for the eighth-inning insurance run that ultimately proved essential.
The Drillers had chances before the ninth. Taylor Young doubled and Logan Wagner walked with two outs in the sixth, but Joe Vetrano struck out. Tulsa put two more aboard in the eighth when Gelof walked and Wagner was hit by a pitch, only for that threat to end the same way.
Tulsa finished with seven hits and left eight runners on base. The final one was Gelof, whose record-setting afternoon was joined by Quintero’s first Double-A breakthrough — two milestones packed into a season finale that slipped away only after the Drillers had pulled it back.