Beaty’s bat enough to send Drillers past Travs in Tulsa

Tulsa first baseman Matt Beaty went 3 for 3 on Friday, including a three-run home run in the fourth inning, to lead the Drillers to a 6-2 victory over the Arkansas Travelers in front of a crowd of 8,551 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa.

Jose Miguel Fernandez walked to start the fourth inning for the Drillers. After Henry Ramos struck out swinging, Peter O’Brien walked to put runners at first and second. Beaty then hit his home run down the right-field line on a 1-0 pitch to give the Drillers a 3-1 lead.

O’Brien added an RBI single in the fifth inning, his only hit of the game in three at-bats, to score Fernandez and gave Tulsa a 4-1 lead.

Travelers catcher Tyler Marlette led off the sixth inning with a home run to cut the lead to 4-2, but the Drillers got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Darrien Tubbs was hit by a pitch to start the inning, stole second base and scored on Fernandez’s RBI groundout to push the lead to 5-2.

Fernandez, who finished 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored, added an RBI double in the eighth inning to score Shawn Zarraga, who walked to start the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball by Marlette, to provide the final margin.

Dario Pizzano, who hit a one-out home run in the first inning to give Arkansas an early 1-0 lead, and Seth Mejias-Brean both finished 2 for 4 and were the only Travelers with multiple hits. Arkansas had eight hits, while Tulsa finished with 10. Errol Robinson was 2 for 4 for the Drillers and Ramos finished 2 for 5.

Tulsa right-hander David Hale (2-0, 3.52 ERA) picked up a quality start and the victory after allowing 2 runs on 7 hits over 7 innings. Brian Moran recorded his first save of the season after getting Travs outfielder Chuck Taylor to fly out to end the game.

Arkansas starter Dylan Unsworth (9-8, 3.37 ERA) took the loss after allowing 4 runs on 7 hits over 5 innings.