"He has taken to it like Velcro," Drillers pitching coach Dave Schuler said.
Sullivan recorded his Texas League-leading sixth save in as many chances to close out the Drillers' 3-2 victory over the Springfield Cardinals on a cloudy Sunday afternoon before 4,482 fans at ONEOK Field.
"My arm seems to have responded well and I've enjoyed it so far," said Sullivan, a former Auburn quarterback who has undergone one shoulder and two elbow surgeries since being drafted by the Colorado Rockies in 2005.
"You come to the field and you have a chance to get in almost every game and for me that's a lot more exciting than sitting around for four days waiting to pitch."
Pinch-hitter Kiel Roling's two-run, two-out, tiebreaking single in the sixth delivered the eventual winning run for the the Drillers (17-6).
Tulsa's previous best record in April was 16-8 set in 1989. And the Drillers, who suffered numerous late-inning collapses last season, are 15-0 this year when leading after eight innings.
Sullivan had been a starter during his pro career until this season. Last year, the right-hander had his first completely healthy season when he went 5-9 with a 5.51 ERA for Tulsa.
Sullivan was invited to major league spring training for the first time and impressed the Rockies with his work from the bullpen as he did not allow a run in three appearances.
"Being 27 years old, it was kind of like, if this guy is going to be able to do something, let's see if he can do it," Sullivan said. "And that's the way you want it, to be thrown into it real quick and if you can handle it, you can and if you can't you'll find out real quick. I had a lot of situations I hadn't experienced before."
On Sunday, Sullivan retired the first two batters in the ninth before Jose Garcia singled and Kolten Wong walked on four pitches.
That brought up Oscar Taveras, who is tied for the TL lead with 20 RBIs and had socked his sixth homer of the season in the eighth off Royce Ring to make it 3-2. Before facing Taveras, Sullivan was visited by Schuler.
Sullivan, on an 0-2 count, retired Taveras on a routine fly ball to left fielder Tim Torres.
"I don't know why I walked the guy (Wong), I'll try to make it easier on myself next time," Sullivan said with a smile. "He (Schuler) came out and told me not to nibble, but to go after Taveras like I did the first two hitters. I wanted to be careful but stay aggressive. I'd have liked a cleaner inning and not have made it so stressful, but competition like that is what makes it fun."
Sullivan saved the win for Dan Houston (3-2), who allowed one run - Kyle Conley's homer in the sixth - and four hits over six innings.
"It wasn't as strong an outing for him as last time, but once he sunk his teeth into the game a little bit he started mixing his pitches well and locating the ball with a high degree of consistency," Drillers manager Duane Espy said. "It was another real strong positive outing for him."
Tulsa scored its three runs, all charged to starter Trevor Rosenthal (1-3), in the sixth. A hit-by-pitch, a Kent Matthes single and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Eric Fornataro relieved Rosenthal and allowed Lars Davis' RBI single. After Warren Schaeffer struck out, Roling delivered the two-run single that sent Springfield (8-15) to its ninth straight loss.
The Drillers, who lead by six games in the North Division, will try to sweep the four-game series against the Cards at 11:05 a.m. Monday.
Texas League baseball
Drillers 3, Cardinals 2Up next
Vs. Springfield 11:05 a.m. MondayRadio: KAKC am1300
Original Print Headline: Drillers' win breaks club record for April
Barry Lewis 918-581-8393
barry.lewis@tulsaworld.com
No comments:
Post a Comment