WICHITA, Kan. — The Wichita Wind Surge (1-7) dropped the second game of a six-game series to the Tulsa Drillers (5-3) by a 10-3 score on Wednesday night at Equity Bank Park, as MLB Pipeline's No. 4 Dodgers prospect Josue De Paula homered twice and finished a triple shy of the cycle in a four-hit, four-RBI performance.
Offensively, Andrew Cossetti led the way for the Wind Surge with his 11th multi-hit game of the season, highlighted by his 10th home run of the year. Khadim Diaw also recorded his fourth multi-hit game of the season and collected his first Double-A triple, while Marek Houston drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.
On the mound, Wichita surrendered 10 runs on 15 hits in the loss. Hunter Gregory turned in a strong relief outing, tossing a season-high three scoreless innings while matching a season high with three strikeouts. Infielder Jorel Ortega also worked a scoreless inning, keeping his career ERA at 0.00 across four pitching appearances with the Wind Surge.
THE RUNDOWN
Tulsa opened the scoring in the first inning, sandwiching a walk between a pair of doubles to plate one run before adding another on an RBI fielder's choice. The Wind Surge trailed 2-0 after one.
The Drillers added to their lead in the second, launching back-to-back home runs to score three and extend the advantage to 5-0.
Wichita threatened in the bottom of the third, putting two runners in scoring position with two outs, but could not capitalize.
Tulsa continued to build its lead in the fourth, collecting four consecutive hits to open the inning and scoring two runs. The Drillers added another on an RBI double down the left-field line before Wichita recorded the final out, making it 8-0.
The Wind Surge got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Cossetti launched a 422-foot solo home run to straightaway center field, his 10th of the season, trimming the deficit to 8-1.
Wichita added two more runs in the fifth. Diaw tripled home a run before Houston lifted a sacrifice fly to cut the Tulsa lead to 8-3.
After scoreless fifth and sixth innings, Tulsa added an insurance run in the seventh on a two-out RBI single to make it 9-3.
The Drillers capped the scoring in the eighth when De Paula connected on his second home run of the night, extending the lead to 10-3.
The Wind Surge were unable to mount a comeback in the ninth as Tulsa secured the victory.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Khadim Diaw recorded his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
• Diaw collected his first Double-A triple.
• Marek Houston has recorded hits in six of his first seven Double-A games.
• Andrew Cossetti recorded his 11th multi-hit game of the season.
• Cossetti hit his 10th home run of the season.
• RHP Hunter Gregory recorded his fifth scoreless appearance of the season while setting season highs with three innings pitched and three strikeouts.
• Jorel Ortega made his fourth career pitching appearance for the Wind Surge and maintained a 0.00 career ERA.
STAT OF THE DAY
3 — Hunter Gregory recorded his fifth scoreless appearance of the season while setting season highs with three innings pitched and three strikeouts.
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