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TL Amarillo Sod Poodles

Amarillo Splits Series as Comeback Falls Short in Ninth Inning

July 28, 2024 - Texas League (TL)
Amarillo Sod Poodles News Release


AMARILLO, Texas - The Sod Poodles bid at ovecoming a eight-run deficit for the second night in a row once again came up just short. The Sod Poodles dropped the finale 10-8 to the Wind Surge Sunday night to split the series.

Each starting pitcher cruised through the first two innings in the series finale. The only baserunner was a leadoff walk to start the game by D-backs' no. 25-rated prospect Spencer Giesting. His infield got him out the inning turning a double play. Wichita plated the first runs of the game in the top of the third, stringing together five hits in the inning and scoring four two-out runs to build the early advantage. Giesting bounced back in the fourth inning, striking out the side.

Tim Tawa continued to make his case for Texas League Player of the Week, hitting a one-out solo homer in the bottom of the fourth to put the first Amarillo run on the board. Back-to-back two-out doubles off the bats of Caleb Roberts and Neyfy Castillo helped to cut the Wind Surge lead in half by the time the inning ended.

Three more hits inclduing a pair of extra base hits put another two runs across for Wichita and brought an end to Giesting's night. Conor Grammes relieved him with two outs in the top of the fifth and struck out the only batter he faced in the inning. He was back out for the top of the sixth and worked around his own missthrow to espace the inning without damage.

The Wind Surge used a four-run seventh to build a 10-2 lead and put the Sod Poodles into the same hole the faced in game five of the series on Saturday night.

Amarillo's comeback attempt began with a J.J. D'Orazio two-out, solo home run in the bottom of the seventh. Kyle Amendt and Mitchell Stumpo combined to keep Wichita from gaining any more ground, hurling scorless eighth and ninth innings while each added a pair of strikeouts.

Tawa started the final push with a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the ninth. Amarillo rattled off three straight hits behind him to make it 10-5. A productive out off the bat of D'Orazio scored Roberts from third before Kristian Robinson and Jancarlos Cintron added singles - the second scoring the Sod Poodles fourth run of the inning to make it 10-7. Jean Walters continued the hit party in the ninth with his first Double-A hit and RBI to make it 10-8 and serve as the tying run on base with the Sod Poodles three and four hole hitters due up and only one out in the inning.

A.J. Vukovich and Tawa put the ball in play, but unfortunately right at Jorel Ortega as the Wichita center fielder made all three outs in the inning to bring an end to another Sod Poodles potential late-inning comeback.

Amarillo has a trip to south Texas and a six-game series against the Corpus Christi Hooks waiting for them next week. Amarillo and Corpus will start their series on Tuesday night after an off-day on Monday. First pitch from Whataburger Field is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

NOTES:

MAKE YOUR CASE, TIM: Tim Tawa made his case for winning Texas League Player of the Week for the first time this season after finishing Sunday with his fourth homer of the series. Tawa went 1-for-4 with the solo homer, a walk, and two runs scored to finish the series 9-for-25 (.360) with four home runs, two doubles, nine RBI, two walks, and seven runs scored. Tawa overtook the Texas League Lead in home runs with his 19th of the season and sits tied for first in all Double-A. He has now homered in consecutive games for the third time this season with his last coming on May 9-10 on the road in Corpus Christi. Its the 12th time this year an Amarillo player has homered in back-to-back games with Ivan Melendez leading the way, having done so four times this season.

4 BY TWO: J.J. D'Orazio hit his fourth home run of the season and first since June 19th at home against San Antonio. The catcher now has five career home runs with Amarillo after hitting one during his 37 games played at the end of the 2023 season.

CAST IS BACK: After not having a multi-hit game with Amarillo in his first 14 games to start the season, Neyfy Castillo has back-to-back multi-hit games since his return to the Amarillo lineup. Castillo was one of four Amarillo players to have a multi-hit game in the series finale against Wichita. Castillo went 2-for-4 with a double and his second multi-RBI game in Double-A.

DOUBLE DIPPED: Caleb Roberts had a strong end to his series against Wichita going 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, RBI, and two runs scored on Sunday night. The D-backs no. 27-rated prospect hit safely in each of the final three games of the series going 5-for-13 over the final three games with three extra base hits including a home run on Saturday night.

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Texas League Stories from July 28, 2024


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