Over the last dozen years or so, I’ve been to Tulsa a handful of times, and I’ve generally found the place enjoyable on each visit. Hell, I even got engaged there (to an Arkansan, don’t worry!) in June 2019, just before a Jason Isbell concert!
But the Isbell concert is also a great example of the limits of my prior Tulsa trips. Every time I’ve visited the “Oil Capital of the World” in the past, I’ve gone for some event, maybe checked out one bar afterward, spent the night and then headed home the next morning. I’ve never gone to Tulsa and just tried to experience Tulsa.
That is, until this past weekend.
Thursday, for my birthday, we hit the road to Tulsa for an extended weekend trip. We arrived around lunch and had a quick burger and onion rings at Arnold’s Old Fashioned Burgers, before heading to The Gathering Place, a 66.5-acre park/green space near the Arkansas River just off of downtown Tulsa that opened in 2018. I don’t have adequate space here to explain just amazing the $464 million park is; suffice it to say the next several hours after we left the park were spent talking about how monumental something even remotely similar would be in Little Rock.
Thursday night, we went to OneOK Field to watch the Travelers play the Tulsa Drillers. It was an ugly game that Arkansas ultimately lost in extra innings. We’ll come back to this in a moment.
The rest of the trip, which included all of Friday and most of Saturday, was eye-opening when it comes to what Tulsa has to offer. There are multiple fantastic dive bars and a legitimately good tiki bar, a wonderful aquarium (technically, it’s in Jenks, but the drive isn’t bad at all), and an insane number of unique and weird stores along old Route 66. Friday afternoon, we had deli sandwiches from Trencher’s Deli that were so good, we went back for lunch Saturday. Friday night at Mr. Kim’s, a Korean barbecue place, I had one of the two or three best meals of my life.
Tulsa is sneakily a cool city, is my point. But, even more than that, Tulsa is cool because it’s doing things well, which makes the whole experience fun for visitors. And nowhere is that more brightly on display than at the home of the Tulsa Drillers.
OneOK Field opened in 2010, a mere three years after Dickey-Stephens Park opened in North Little Rock, and yet OneOK feels like it could have opened this season. I struggled to find a way in which it was not obviously, demonstrably better than DSP, and I still can’t come up with one. This likely deserves its own article and is something to discuss over the off-season, but, man … watching a game there when you’re used to DSP is like borrowing a 2010 Ferrari Enzo when you’re used to driving a 2007 Jeep Compass.
There are TVs everywhere, so someone walking in the concourse, shopping in the team store or engaging in one of several activities around the ballpark isn’t forced to miss the game he paid to watch. There are activities for people of all ages, too, including a 21-and-up bar on the third base side that has giant games of Connect Four, oversized tic-tac-toe boards on the ground, and a bunch of other bar games, all on an astroturf surface with party lights, like you’re hanging out in the most elaborate backyard you can imagine. There are multiple bars inside the stadium from which you can easily see the game. The concession stands on the outfield concourse are actually being used, too, which is a novel concept if you’re accustomed to Dickey-Stephens.
In short, about the only way my gameday experience in Tulsa could have been improved in any meaningful way would have been if the Travelers had won the game. OneOK Field was so nice, however, that even that little detail wasn’t enough to ruin anyone’s good time on Thursday night.
Series recap:
On Tuesday (6/11), righthander Jimmy Joyce, making his sixth start of the season for Arkansas, had his second-best start of the season, throwing four innings and allowing only one run, a first-inning homer from the Los Angeles Dodgers’ top prospect, catcher Dalton Rushing. Arkansas tied the game in the third when designated hitter Harry Ford singled in shortstop Cole Young, then they took the lead the following inning on left fielder Jared Oliva’s fifth big fly of the year. Logan Evans, continuing to get experience out of the bullpen, pitched a perfect fifth inning in relief. The Travs added two more in the sixth on an RBI single from Young that plated Hogan Windish and Jake Anchia, before Travis Kuhn allowed Tulsa to get one back in the bottom of the sixth. Going into the bottom of the ninth, Arkansas led 4-2. Closer Troy Taylor, who had been perfect through seven save chances on the season, surrendered three hits, a walk and three runs, taking his first loss of the season without recording a single out. Drillers 5, Travelers 4.
Playoff implications: The Springfield Cardinals lost 7-4 to Northwest Arkansas on Tuesday, meaning the Travelers neither gained nor lost any ground and remained 0.5 games behind Springfield.
Southpaw Reid VanScoter was on the bump for the Travelers on Wednesday, squaring off against Drillers’ righthander Orlando Ortiz-Mayr. VanScoter entered the game coming off his worst start of the season (2.2 innings, five earned runs, four walks), while Ortiz-Mayr has struggled all year, posting an 8.22 ERA and three losses in May. So of course Wednesday turned out to be a pitchers’ duel. VanScoter tossed 5.2 innings, allowing two runs and striking out seven; Ortiz-Mayr was better, giving Tulsa 5.1 scoreless frames. The Travelers managed only three hits on the day — early singles from Young and Windish, plus a pinch-hit double by Oliva in the seventh — and, though they also earned seven walks, were unable to plate any runs. RBI doubles in the third and fourth were more than enough offense for Tulsa. Drillers 2, Travelers 0.
Playoff implications: Sigh. The Naturals pounded the Cardinals 7-2 Wednesday afternoon. The Travelers’ loss keeps Arkansas a half game behind Springfield in the Texas League North. Also, don’t look now, but Tulsa is suddenly only 2.5 games out of first.
As I do during most games when I’m attending in person but not keeping score, I made notes on my phone for potential use in this column. Rather than rehash a frustrating, ugly game, I present some of the notes that generally wouldn’t make it this piece: “[6:55 p.m.] They have a mascot. Hornsby. He’s a blue bull and a menace. Would hang with him? Unclear so far. [7:32 p.m.] This beer tastes like I want to fight Hornsby. Where is he? (I do not respect him.) [8:33 p.m.] This stadium is like someone saw Dickey-Stephens Park and said, ‘give me that, but make it better in every conceivable way.’ Just a perfect minor league park. I am wracked with stadium envy. [9:07 p.m.] We moved out by the bullpen. There’s a large LED board just above the visitors’ pen that seems to exist only to bathe opponents in a few million candles worth of colored light. Enjoy warming up in a Kenny Rogers’ Roasters’ ass glow, boys! [9:25 p.m.] Extra innings. In this economy? Drillers 1, Travelers 0 (10 innings).
Playoff implications: Springfield, playing as the Cashew Chickens, dropped their fourth straight game Thursday night. Arkansas remained a half game back, while Tulsa improved to only 1.5 games out of first in the North.
If future historians ever have reason to locate a “prototypical 2024 Travelers game,” Friday’s tilt would be a solid contender. Righthander Blas Castano bounced back from a rough start his last time out and gave Arkansas 4.2 innings while allowing only two runs. Veteran reliever Jake Haberer, making his first appearance of the season for Arkansas (and 127th career appearance for the club) got the final out of the fifth inning, but allowed one inherited runner to score to give Tulsa a 2-0 lead. In the top of the sixth, after Windish walked and Oliva singled, third baseman Morgan McCullough smashed his fourth four-bagger of the year to take a 3-2 lead. Right fielder Alberto Rodriguez made it 4-2 in the seventh inning with an RBI groundout, but righty reliever Luis Curvelo, who had thrown a perfect bottom of the sixth, struggled in the seventh and allowed a two-run homer to Drillers shortstop Alex Freeland to tie the game. Evans got the Travs out of the seventh, and recent call-up Blake Rambusch drove in Oliva in the eighth to give the lead back to the Travs for good. Travelers 7, Drillers 4.
Playoff implications: Springfield is struggling, y’all. They lost their fifth consecutive contest Friday. The Travs’ win means Arkansas takes over first place by half a game over the Cardinals and increases Arkansas’ lead over Tulsa to 2.5 games.
Here’s a fun fact: lefty starter Danny Wirchansky has not allowed a run, earned or unearned, in June. After throwing 10 innings of scoreless ball across two starts against Springfield to start the month, Wirchansky ran his scoreless-innings streak to 16 on Saturday, allowing only two hits and one walk over six frames. The bullpen was also deadly efficient, with Jarod Bayless, Kuhn and Taylor each throwing a perfect inning to wrap up the game. On offense, the Travs scored one on an RBI walk from Young in the first, one on a Rodriguez homer in the second and one on a Ford single in the fifth. Travelers 3, Drillers 0.
Playoff implications: Another loss brought Springfield’s streak to six straight defeats and extended the Travs’ division lead to 1.5 games over the Cardinals and 3.5 over Tulsa. Their fifth consecutive win over Springfield also saw Northwest Arkansas improve to only 4.5 games back.
The good news about Sunday’s game is Joyce had his best start as a Traveler, throwing four scoreless innings, allowing only three hits and one walk and striking out five Drillers. The bad news about the final game of the series was pretty much everything else. Reliever Raul Alcantara took the loss after allowing a run in the fifth, Reid Morgan allowed two runs in only two-thirds of an inning in the sixth, and Haberer got hammered for four runs in the eighth. Arkansas’ offense worked the Drillers’ staff for six hits (all singles) and three walks, but went 0-6 with runners in scoring position. Drillers 7, Travelers 0.
Playoff implications: If Springfield had played even remotely decent baseball this week, the Travs would be cooked. Instead, the Cardinals took their seventh straight loss, leaving Arkansas in first by 1.5 games over Springfield, 2.5 over Tulsa and 3.5 over Northwest Arkansas.
Ten lesser-known, very good songs that mention Tulsa:
- “The Bird Hunters,” Turnpike Troubadours. “And your time spent in Tulsa did not help your shooting / And look at the gray in your hair”
- “Tulsa’s Last Magician,” Willi Carlisle. “Well Tulsa’s last magician got his start at four / Pulled a quarter from his own ear and spun it on the floor”
- “Hang Me in the Tulsa County Stars,” John Moreland. “Meet me where I land if I slip and fall too far / Hang me in the Tulsa County stars”
- “The Day that She Left Tulsa (In a Chevy),” Wade Hayes. “She never came out and told me that I was wrong / but all of a sudden, the light came on, the day that she left Tulsa”
- “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma,” David Frizzell & Shelley West. “There’s a full moon over Tulsa / I hope that it’s shining on you”
- “Back to Me,” Flatland Cavalry. “Tell me, how’s the weather in Tulsa? / Tell me, how’s your Grandma Jean?”
- “The Alabama Moon,” Drayton Farley. “And Tulsa ain’t so bad as they made Tulsa out to be / My problem here in Tulsa is that she ain’t mine to keep”
- “Wild Nights in Tulsa,” Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band. “Dreamin’ of wild nights in Tulsa / Tulsa won’t let me down”
- “Anchors,” Will Hoge. “We hit Tulsa, Oklahoma on the third day of July / Got a cheap apartment to wait for firecracker skies”
- “Greetings from Tulsa, Oklahoma,” Evan Honer. “Well greetings from Tulsa, Oklahoma / I know we’re not speaking, but you missed the show in Arizona”
Ah, heck. Let’s make it easy. Here’s a playlist with all ten:
Travelers’ current record:
34-28. First place in the Texas League North, 1.5 games ahead of second-place Springfield, who have lost seven straight games.
Three things to be optimistic about:
- Danny Wirchansky. With Logan Evans moving to the bullpen recently at the direction of the Mariners, the Travelers have been looking for a new number one starter. All the 26-year-old lefty has done to make his argument for taking on that role is throw 16 consecutive scoreless innings and hold opposing hitters to a .094 batting average against him.
- The schedule. To make the 2024 Texas League Playoffs, the Travelers need to post the best record in the North division in either the first- or second-half of the season. The only thing between them and punching their ticket this week with a first-half division win is six games against the Wichita Wind Surge, who happen to be in last place in the division, are six games under .500 on the road this season and are 16-23 on the year against teams that are over .500. The Travs control their own destiny — win all six, and they’re in the playoffs no matter what any other team does this week. (Lose a few and they’ll be scoreboard watching to see how Springfield fares against Corpus Christi.)
- Victor Labrada and Brock Rodden. As an organization, the Mariners can be slow to promote younger players to Arkansas mid-season. With the Travelers’ offense languishing since Tyler Locklear and Spencer Pacakard were promoted, however, the organization might not be able to wait too much longer to give Arkansas some help. The speedy Labrada (.963 OPS, 20 steals in 40 games) would give the Travs another left-handed bat and could play center field and left field, while Rodden, a switch-hitting infielder (.885 OPS, 73 hits in 60 games) could potentially shore up multiple issues in the infield. Both players are currently at high-A Everett, and each is 24 years old.
Current area(s) of concern:
- Ben Ramirez. There is plenty to like about Ramirez. He can play first and third. He has an absolute cannon for an arm. And, man, he looks like a ballplayer in the same way Dallas McPherson did in a Travs uniform two decades ago. But Ramirez is struggling mightily at the plate. After a decent May, he’s been ice cold in June, putting up a brutal .167/.235/.200 this month. He could still have a good career and none of this is unfixable, but if Windish or Rambusch start hitting at all, or if someone is called up from Everett, it will be hard to justify a ton of at-bats for Ramirez until he shows some improvement.
- Lineup holes. Somewhat related to Ramirez’s struggles, the Travelers’ roster currently sports eight hitters with an OPS under .700 versus only four above that mark. They were shutout three times in the most recent series, after being shut out only three times total prior to going to Tulsa. (The Drillers had previously tossed only two shutouts this season.) Across the last series, the 6, 7, 8 and 9 hitters in the Travelers’ lineup combined to go 13-79 (.165) with 10 walks, 25 strikeouts, and only three extra-base hits.
Has Jake Anchia drawn a walk yet this year?:
Yes! Last Tuesday, mere hours after the previous Travs’ round-up post went live, Anchia drew a walk off of Drillers reliever Michael Hobbs. Anchia is now just 41 walks behind fellow catcher Harry Ford for the team lead.
Arkansas Times Player of the Week:
When your offense manages only 14 runs in six games, picking a player of the week requires looking at the pitching staff. Rather than single out one of them, however, this week’s award goes collectively to starters Jimmy Joyce, Juan Mercedes and Danny Wirchansky. The trio combined to throw 22 innings in four starts against Tulsa, allowing only one run and 11 hits, striking out 16. That’s an impressive showing no matter how you slice it. (Too bad much of it was wasted by the offense….)
Up Next:
The Travelers return home to take on the Wichita Wind Surge (27-36) in six games at Dickey-Stephens Park. Tuesday’s matchup starts at 12:05 as part of the team’s Summer Camp Day promotion. Wednesday and Thursday’s games are scheduled for 6:35 p.m. starts, Friday’s game gets started at 7:05 p.m. and Saturday’s kicks off at 6:05 p.m. The first half of the Travs’ 2024 Texas League season wraps up with a 1:35 p.m. first pitch on Sunday.
All games are available on radio in Central Arkansas on 106.7 Buz2.