Sirota’s late homer, Hope’s power send Tulsa through doubleheader sweep in Amarillo

Tulsa took both ends of a Sunday twinbill at Amarillo, with Mike Sirota and Zyhir Hope driving the offense, while the Tulsa bullpen and late pitching did the rest. Across the state, Evan Phillips continued his Major League rehab with Triple-A Oklahoma City.

By The Apex Times Newsroom3 min readAI-assisted Apex article

The Tulsa Drillers completed a Sunday doubleheader sweep at Amarillo’s HODGETOWN, using timely power and bullpen management to separate in both games and keep its run of strong first-half play moving. In Game 1, the night’s opener had been suspended earlier due to rain and resumed Sunday with Tulsa leading 2-0, then Mike Sirota delivered the swing of the day with a go-ahead home run to lift the Drillers to a 6-5 win and a two-game sweep of the Sod Poodles.

Tulsa’s offensive pattern in the opener followed a familiar blueprint. Zyhir Hope’s two-run homer in the third helped push the Drillers to a 4-1 lead, but Amarillo answered with five runs in the fifth to turn the game into a late-ball scramble, taking a 6-4 lead. From there, Sirota erased the deficit quickly, blasting a drive over the right-center field fence on the sixth pitch of his at-bat in the ninth to restore the advantage. Nick Robertson then closed it out in the bottom of the ninth with a strikeout to give Tulsa the edge it needed.

The second game was less suspenseful, but no less productive. Amarillo scored early and the Sod Poodles held that lead only briefly, as Tulsa’s first burst came in the third when Hope hit a two-run double to put the Drillers in front, and then he scored himself later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from Jake Gelof to extend Tulsa’s margin to 3-1. The Drillers added more damage with extra-base hits, including a two-run home run from De Paula in the fourth and more power from Hope, who hit a two-run homer in the fifth to make it 7-1.

From the mound, Tulsa’s staff did its job both days. Game 1 featured relief work designed to limit damage after Amarillo’s big fifth inning, and Game 2 played out as a controlled lead-preservation effort. Gutierrez worked the early innings and the bullpen continued the shut-down trend after, as Tulsa kept the Sod Poodles off the board for the remainder of the game while building and then protecting its cushion.

The sweep carried bigger implications inside the Texas League’s North Division. Tulsa maintained its first-place lead in the North, sitting 1 1/2 games ahead of the Arkansas Travelers, according to the Drillers’ game recap. The doubleheader also extended Tulsa’s momentum on the road, with the sweep pushing its total to five wins in a six-game stretch at Amarillo’s ballpark.

Sunday was also a busy development day elsewhere for Los Angeles Dodgers prospects. Evan Phillips, the Dodgers right-hander rehabbing at Triple-A Oklahoma City, made his second appearance on a Major League rehab assignment and threw a scoreless eighth inning against the Round Rock Express. Oklahoma City’s 7-3 win came after Phillips faced three batters on 10 pitches, striking out one and walking another as he kept the game under control.

For what comes next, Tulsa gets an off day Monday before starting a six-game series at ONEOK Field against the Wichita Wind Surge on Tuesday night. Oklahoma City, meanwhile, moves into a six-game interleague series beginning Tuesday as Phillips continues building innings during his rehab timeline. For Tulsa, the priority is sustaining separation at the top of the North; for Oklahoma City and Phillips, it is about sequencing clean outings without losing the feel that rehab stints are designed to restore.

Why It Matters

Tulsa’s sweep strengthened its position atop the Texas League North Division and extended its first-half separation in a race that the Drillers’ recap framed as a matter of standings margin.
The two-hit-to-two-homer production from Hope and the late-game power from Sirota reflect how Tulsa is generating offense at multiple points in games, not only in single big innings.
By controlling leads and limiting damage after swings, Tulsa’s bullpen performance showed it can survive the kind of late scoring bursts that often decide doubleheaders.
For Phillips, another scoreless rehab inning is the kind of incremental step that can determine how quickly a pitcher progresses through a return-to-game plan after Tommy John surgery.
With both teams turning the page toward their next series, the upcoming stretches will reveal whether the momentum from Sunday carries into consecutive weeks of Texas League and Triple-A interleague action.

Sources

Key Facts

Tulsa swept Amarillo in a Sunday doubleheader at HODGETOWN, winning Game 1 6-5 (after a rain delay/resumption) and Game 2 7-1.
Mike Sirota’s home run in the ninth inning in the resumed Game 1 gave Tulsa the go-ahead lead, and Nick Robertson secured the final out with a strikeout.
Zyhir Hope had two major offensive games in the twinbill for Tulsa, including a two-run homer in Game 1 and a two-run double plus a run scored in Game 2, then another two-run homer in Game 2’s fifth.
In the second game, Tulsa’s attack also included a two-run home run from De Paula and enough pitching support to keep Amarillo to one run total.
In Oklahoma City, Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Evan Phillips made his second rehab appearance, throwing a scoreless eighth inning for the Comets against Round Rock and throwing 10 pitches.
Oklahoma City won 7-3, and the Comets noted Phillips faced three batters with a strikeout and a walk while continuing his Major League rehab assignment.