Drillers' bullpen takes loss

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July 6, 2008 - Drillers' bullpen takes loss by: BARRY LEWIS Tulsa World 7/6/2008 LINK Corpus Christi could not cool off Tulsa Drillers pitcher Xavier Cedeno on Saturday night, but an injury derailed his bid for a fifth consecutive winning start. Cedeno was forced to leave, due to back spasms, with the game tied after five innings. The Hooks took advantage and scored three runs in the seventh against the Tulsa bullpen en route to a 4-2 victory at Drillers Stadium. Former Detroit Tigers lefty Andy Van Hekken fared almost as well against Tulsa in his Hooks debut as he did when tossed a shutout in his first major league game in 2002. Van Hekken, who had been pitching this year in the independent Atlantic League before being signed by the Houston Astros on Tuesday, scattered seven hits over six innings to pick up the victory. Van Hekken outlasted Cedeno, who gave up only three hits and one run. Cedeno walked one and struck out six. After only 74 pitches, Cedeno probably could have pitched at least two more innings. He continued his excellent stretch of pitching. His ERA is 1.58 over his last six starts. "Xavier had a little back problem, so we had to bring in Adam (Bright) a little earlier than we planned," Drillers manager Stu Cole said. With the score tied at 1-1, Corpus Christi's Eli Iorg led off the seventh against Bright (3-4) with a pop-fly double just out of the reach of diving right fielder Daniel Carte. Wladimir Sutil followed with a bunt hit. Ryan Mattheus, who is usually Tulsa's closer, was brought in earlier than normal to replace Bright. Jimmy Goethals followed with a go-ahead single for his first hit and RBI since being promoted to the Hooks a few days ago. Van Hekken then bunted to Mattheus, who threw to late for a forceout to third, and the bases were loaded. Jarred Ball's infield hit drove in Sutil. Goethals scored when Richard Paz grounded into a double play as Corpus Christi took a 4-1 lead. The Drillers made a bid for their second consecutive ninth-inning comeback win. Hits by Daniel Carte and David Parrish, along with a walk to Eric Young Jr. loaded the bases with one out. Sammy Gervacio relieved Ryan McKeller and retired Corey Wimberley on a ground-out, but a run scored and the tying runs moved to second and third base. That brought up hot-hitting Dexter Fowler, who had two hits earlier in the game. Fowler, however, could not come up with a third as he grounded out on the first pitch to end the game. "We battled and had the script written for another comeback, but we just didn't finish it tonight," Cole said. "We missed some opportunities early with runners in scoring position." The Drillers (37-47 overall, 8-6 second half) lost for only the second time in their past six games. Corpus Christi (35-50, 5-10) won the season series over Tulsa, 9-3. The Drillers host the San Antonio Missions at 2:05 p.m. Sunday in the opener of a three-game series.

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