The Tulsa Drillers played a double header with the Northwest Arkansas Naturals on Tuesday. Playing two on a given day is not all that unusual but what happened yesterday in Springdale Arkansas certainly was out of the ordinary. At Arvest Ballpark – home of the Northwest Arkansas Naturals – the Dodgers AA affiliate shut out the division-leading Naturals twice.

The Naturals have a high-powered offense at or near the top of the league in all offensive categories led by first baseman Balbino Fuenmayor, who is second in the league with a .340 batting average. Holding them scoreless in their home park was but part of the story. The Drillers starters – Mickey Story and Jeremy Kehrt – did so with two complete seven inning games. This helped push the Drillers modest winning streak to four games in which Tulsa pitchers have given up but one run in the four games. Doubleheaders in the minor leagues are ordinarily limited to seven innings each.

In the first game, 29-year-old Mickey Storey limited the Naturals to five hits while striking out a season high 10 and walking two. He needed only 100 pitches to claim his first victory as a Driller and pushed his ERA down to 2.70. Storey began the 2015 season with the Somerset Patriots of the Independent Atlantic League. On May 23rd he signed with the Dodgers and was assigned to the Drillers. His shutout was in jeopardy in the fifth inning when Naturals catcher Peter Morin led off the inning with a triple. Story then retired the next three hitters. He finished off the game by striking out the side in the seventh inning.

Drillers right-hander Mickey Storey has appeared in 29 major league games – 26 with the Houston Astros in 2012 and three with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2013 – all as a reliever.
(Photo credit – Rich Crimi)

The Drillers opened the game with a run in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead into the seventh inning. Yadir Drake drove in Adam Law from third base in the first inning while Cuban sensation Hector Olivera scored on a Hunter Dozier error in the second inning.

Tulsa salted the game away with a five run seventh inning securing a 7-0 victory. The other highlight of the game came in the seventh inning on a Hector Olivera grand slam. It was his first home run as a professional in his fourth game since signing with the Dodgers.

The second game was a mirror image of the first game with the Drillers scoring a run in each of the first two innings. In the first inning Peter Lavin tripled with one out and scored on a ground out by Yadir Drake to give the Drillers a 1-0 lead. The second inning run came on a Jeremy Rathjen single following singles by Shawn Zarraga and Daniel Mayora.

Two runs were all the Drillers could muster in Game 2 but were enough as right- hander Jeremy Kehrt, like Storey, held the Naturals to five hits in his seven innings of work while striking out seven and walking none. Kehrt nearly mirrored Storey’s game by using 99 pitches to shut down Northwest Arkansas.

Kehrt was acquired by the Dodgers in a trade with the Boston Red Sox in August of 2014 and was re-signed for the 2015 season. He has been a mainstay of the Drillers pitching staff, leading the team in innings pitched – tied with Chris Anderson with 61.2 – and on Tuesday lowered his ERA to 2.92.

Offensively the Drillers had eight hits in each game of the doubleheader and defensively played errorless ball in both games.

Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas square off again Wednesday night at Springdale’s Arvest Ballpark. Jose De Leon will take the mound for the Drillers looking to extend the Naturals scoreless string.