Amarillo Loses Road Finale
September 8, 2024 - Texas League (TL)
Amarillo Sod Poodles News Release
Midland, Texas - Amarillo was walked off to drop their final road game of the season to the Midland Rockhounds 7-6. They took a three run lead in the ninth.
Christian Cerda went 3-4 with four RBI's and Ivan Melendez added a three hit day of his own on Sunday. Everyone in Amarillo's lineup recorded at least one hit in the game.
The southpaw, Will Johnston, made his Double-A debut against Amarillo and retired the side in order to start the game. The Diamondbacks 16th-rated prospect, Dylan Ray, took the mound for Amarillo after a very successful August. He picked up his first strikeout in a 1-2-3 inning.
A.J. Vukovich doubled with one out and he scored on a two out single from Christian Cerda to break the ice. Ray worked around a single and a walk to send the game to the third with a 1-0 lead.
Jancarlos Cintron singled to leadoff the inning but Amarillo was scoreless. A two-out, two-run home run from Shane Mcguire had Midland out in front through three. Amarillo immediately stole the lead back with a bases loaded single from Cerda drove in two. Caleb Roberts and Vukovich had walked to start the inning and Ivan Melendez singled to load the bases prior to the Cerda single. Ray struck out two and set the Rockhounds down in order to cap off a great inning for Amarillo.
Jordan Lawlar led off the fifth with his first hit at the Double-A level this year and Gino Groover added a single. Roberts grounded into a double play and Vukovich grounded out to extinguish what appeared to be a promising inning. Dylan Ray lost some command in the fifth, walking three but escaping the inning without any damage to close his outing.
Melendez opened the sixth with a double and Cerda drove in his fourth run of the game on his third single. Cerda had driven in all four Amarillo runs up to this point. After a Jesus Valdez double, Jancarlos Cintron hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Cerda and make it 5-2. Gerardo Gutierrez came in to pitch and gave up a one out walk and double to make it 5-3, but also punched out two in a one run inning.
Amarillo couldn't add on in the seventh, but Listher Sosa delivered a scoreless inning out of the pen.
Melendez whacked his third hit of the game to start the eighth inning, the sixth consecutive leadoff man to reach for the Soddies. After a pair of outs, Cintron and Neyfy Castillo both had infield singles that would score Melendez to make it 6-3. Jhosmer Alvarez pitched the eighth and set the side down in order, punching out the final batter.
Roberts picked up a hit in the ninth to make every Amarillo starter have at least one hit. Mitchell Stumpo came on and gave up a high fly ball to left field that Cintron was camped under for some time, before giving way for Castill and letting it drop for what was ruled a double. A bloop single and a three-run blast from Junior Perez tied the game at six. Denzel Clarke hit a double to left-center field and the winning run arrived at second with nobody out. A strikeout and lineout gave Stumpo a shot to get out of it but a line drive single drove in the winning run.
Amarillo dropped their season finale against the Rockhounds 7-6 to fall to 6-18 against them. They will start their final series of the season at home against the Frisco RoughRiders at 6:35 P.M. on Tuesday.
Notes:
HE'S CERDA BOYS: Christian Cerda had three Double-A RBI's coming into Sunday's affair, but drove in Amarillo first four runs and scored their fourth. He ended 3-4 with four RBI's and a run scored. That raised the Diamondbacks 29th-rated prospect's average to .242 in his brief tenure at Double-A, but with ten walks, his on base percentage is at .419.
EVERYONE WANTS TO PARTY: After back to back games where the team only recorded three hits, everyone in Amarillo's lineup tallied at least one hit in Sunday's road finale. This marks the 40th time in franchise history that this has occurred and the first time since August 22nd against the Corpus Christi Hooks.
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