TL1 Amarillo Sod Poodles

Miller's 11th Inning Walk-Off Blast Secures Sod Poodles Series Victory over Naturals

Published on July 23, 2019 under Texas League (TL1)
Amarillo Sod Poodles News Release


AMARILLO, Texas - With two outs in the bottom of the eleventh inning, Owen Miller crushed a three-run home run to complete a four-run comeback over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals and walk off 9-8 in front of a 19th consecutive sellout crowd of 6,558 at HODGETOWN. The Sod Poodles late win secured the Sod Poodles 13th series victory of the season.

The Amarillo squad collected nine hits on the night, including multi-hit performances by Rodrigo Orozco and Edward Olivares. Ivan Castillo added to the excitement after he extended his hit streak to 19 games with a game-tying two-RBI single in the bottom of the ninth with two outs.

David Bednar recorded his first win of the season after his final two-inning performance. Southpaw Nick Margevicius made his seventh start for Amarillo this season, tossing seven innings for a second consecutive time while allowing four runs on nine hits with four strikeouts. Carlos Belen added to six-up, six-down innings in his second appearance in Double-A.

In the top of the second inning, Northwest Arkansas opened up the scoring when Anderson Miller crushed a two-run home run to right field to give the Naturals the 2-0 lead.

The Naturals tacked on one more run in the fourth inning to extend their advantage to 3-0. After an Emmanuel Rivera single to center field, Taylor Featherston roped an RBI double to left-center field scoring Rivera.

In the sixth, Owen Miller reached on a fielding error by Featherston and Luis Torrens followed up with a two-run home run to right field to quickly cut the deficit to 3-2.

The Naturals answered right back in the top of the seventh to stretch their lead to 4-2. Miller started the inning with a walk followed by a Nick Hutchins double to the left-field corner to place two runners in scoring position. D.J. Burt then grounded out to second base to bring home Miller for Northwest Arkansas.

Amarillo, like all week, fought until the end and rallied in the bottom of the ninth inning to come back with two runs. After Hudson Potts led off after he was hit by a pitch and Kyle Overstreet grounded into a fielder's choice for an out at second (replaced by pinch-runner Taylor Kohlwey), Buddy Reed lined a single to right-center field advancing Kohlwey to second base. One batter later, Rodrigo Orozco walked to load the bases for Ivan Castillo. On a 1-2 count and a 19 game hit streak on the line, Castillo connected with a two-RBI single to left field knotting the ballgame up at 4-4.

In the tenth inning, Northwest Arkansas scored one run to take the 5-4 lead. Nick Hutchins started the inning at second base. Castellano advanced Hutchins to third base with a ground out. Burt followed with a single to deep shortstop to score Hutchins.

In the bottom of the inning, Olivares started the half at second base for the Sod Poodles. Owen Miller was hit by pitch followed by a Torrens walk to load the bases for Potts. After a strikeout by Potts for the first out, Van Gansen hit a sacrifice fly to right field to allow Olivares to trot home, tying the game at 5-5.

Nick Heath started the eleventh inning as a pinch-runner at second base. Khalil Lee grounded out to second base advancing Heath to third base. Heath then scored on a Rivera double down the left-field line. Featherston singled and advanced to second on the play as Rivera came around to score. The third run of the inning came on a Hutchins sacrifice bunt to give Northwest Arkansas the 8-5 advantage.

In the bottom of the eleventh inning, Kohlwey started as the runner on second base. After a strikeout by Reed, Orozco came through with an RBI single up the middle to score Kohlwey. After a Castillo strikeout, Olivares singled to left-center field, moving Orozco up to second base and bring the winning run to the plate. With two outs, Miller jumped on a first-pitch slider and crushed a towering three-run home run to left field to cap off the Sod Poodles 9-8 come from behind win.

The Sod Poodles head to Springfield Wednesday to face off against the Cardinals for a three-game series at Hammons Field before continuing on the Springdale and face the Naturals for four more games.

NOTES:

Road Trippin': The Sod Poodles start a seven-game road trip Wednesday at Springfield as they will play a three-game series against the Cardinals before heading to Northwest Arkansas for four games.

WALK-OFF: The 11th-inning walk-off thanks to Owen Miller's three-run blast marked the fifth walk-off of the season for the Sod Poodles. It was the third overall walk-off that came in home run fashion and first walk-off by a three-run home run.

Miller's Dramatic 10th: Infielder Owen Miller collected his 10th home run of the 2019 season in his second full season of professional baseball. Last season, between Tri-City and Fort Wayne, the Wisconsin native collected four home runs total.

Series Win: The 3-1 series win over the Naturals marks the Sod Poodles 13th series victory in 2019. The team is now 13-13-3 (W-L-S) on the season.

Sellout Streak: Following Sunday's game of 6,558 fans at HODGETOWN, the Sod Poodles have hosted 19 straight sellouts and 29 overall so far during the 2019 season in 49 home games.

19 Game Hit-Streak: Ivan Castillo, who ranks first in Double-A with a .344 batting average, extended his hit streak to 19 games Monday night. Castillo is 29-for-81 with 19 RBI, 12 runs, three home runs, seven doubles, and three walks during the stretch. Castillo's 19-game hit streak is the second-longest (23 is longest) this season in the Texas League and is a franchise high for the Soddies.

Extra, Extra: Amarillo played in their eighth extra-inning game Monday night as they defeated the Naturals by a final score of 9-8 on an Owen Miller three-run home run. Amarillo holds a record of 3-5 in extra-inning games his season.

Dog Days OF Summer: The Sod Poodles offensive is batting .275 with 24 home runs in July. The Soddies team batting average ranks them third in Double-A and their 24 home runs ranks second-best in Double-A. Amarillo also ranks first in all of Double-A with 125 runs scored during July.

Slow As Molasses: Monday night's game between the Sod Poodles and Naturals was the longest game played at HODGETOWN this season as the final game time was three hours and thirty minutes. The longest game according to time the Sod Poodles have played this season was three hours and thirty-one minutes at Frisco on May 18 at Frisco.

Cannon: Luis Torrens threw out his 34th base runner Monday night against the Naturals. Torrens caught stealing percentage now sits at .485 (34-for-70). Torrens caught stealing percentage ranks first of all qualifying players in the Texas League.

Sniper: The Sod Poodles pitching staff picked off one base runner in every game of their four-game series against the Naturals.

Bachar Power: Right-hander Lake Bachar came just shy of new career highs in his 15th start with Amarillo. He exited matching career highs with 7 2/3 innings and nine strikeouts. He has struck out a total of nine batters in three of his last four starts and is 7-0 in his last nine starts. Bachar now leads the Soddies pitching staff with seven win this season.

300K: The Sod Poodles have welcomed a total of 309,641 fans so far during the inaugural season and are the second team in the Texas League to reach over 300,000 fans.

50 Wins: The Sod Poodles reached their 50th win in their inaugural season with a 7-0 shutout victory Sunday evening.

League Awards Sweep: Sod Poodles right-handed pitcher Lake Bachar and infielder Ivan Castillo have been named Texas League Pitcher of the Week and Player of the Week respectively for the week of July 15-21, the Texas League announced. The weekly award sweep by the Sod Poodles marks the first by a Texas League team in 2019. Bachar impressed with a stellar 2-0 week over two games (one start) and 12 1/3 innings pitched. He allowed just four runs on 12 hits with two walks and struck out 14 batters. He capped off the week with one of his best performances of the season against Northwest Arkansas, matching career highs with 7 2/3 innings and nine strikeouts. He has struck out a total of nine batters in three of his last four starts and is 7-0 in his last 10 games. Castillo, who is currently riding Double-A's longest active streak and second-longest overall this season at 18 games, batted .435 (10-for-23) over five games with two doubles, two home runs, and seven RBI. Bachar is the second Sod Poodles arm in the franchise to earn the league's weekly top pitcher award while Castillo is the fourth player to earn the top player award.

Oli Oli Home Run Spree: Edward Olivares hit his 16th home run of the season, tying for the league-lead at that number with three others. His home run count leads the Amarillo squad. It marked his third home run in as many games.

Milestone: Sod Poodles outfielder Edward Olivares collected his 50th career home run Sunday against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

Zeroed: The Sod Poodles pitching combined for their fifth shutout of the season Sunday evening with the four-hit, 7-0 victory over the Naturals. It was the first shutout against Northwest Arkansas and second against a Northern division team in 2019.

Soddies To The Show: On Sunday, the Padres selected the contracts of RHP Michel Baez (#49) and LHP Adrian Morejon (#50) and optioned OF Josh Naylor and RHP Trey Wingenter to El Paso (AAA). Additionally, LHP Travis Radke has been transferred to Amarillo from El Paso.

Morejon's Big League Debut: Adrian Morejon made his first-ever Major League start at Wrigley Field, tossing two and one-third innings while allowing one earned run on three hits. Morejon 's first-career Major League strikeout was tallied against pitcher Kyle Hendricks.

Bomb City Talent: Padres' third and fourth-best pitching prospects (MLB.com) Adrian Morejon (LHP) and Michel Baez (RHP) mark the third and fourth Sod Poodles players to receive their first-ever Major League call-ups this season and fifth and sixth overall from Amarillo who has reached the Major League level in 2019. Morejon went 0-4 record with a 4.25 ERA over 16 starts for Amarillo while the six-foot-eight Baez appeared 15 times out of the bullpen for the Sod Poodles and went 3-2 with a 2.00 ERA with 38 strikeouts and tallied 10 multi-inning stints.

The Kid: At 20 years and 144 days old, LHP Adrian Morejon will be the 2nd-youngest Padre to make his pitching debut, behind just Jay Franklin (was 18 years, 172 days on Sept. 4, 1971), and he'll be the youngest Padre pitcher to make his MLB debut in a start since Clay Kirby (20 years, 290 days) on April 11, 1969. The list of the youngest Padres to debut are as follows: Brian Geer (18 years, 122 days), Jay Franklin (18 years, 172 days), Mike Ivie (19 years, 27 days), Roberto Alomar (20 years, 77 days), Fernando Tatis Jr. (20 years, 85 days), Adrian Morejon (20 years, 144 days), Andres Muñoz (20 years, 177 days), Jim Beswick (20 years, 178 days). [Per Padres]

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Texas League Stories from July 23, 2019


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