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Sox win against division rival

July 29, 2013 - American Association (AA)
Amarillo ThunderHeads News Release


AMARILLO, TX - The Sox defeat the Airhogs in a back-and-forth game, 9-6 in front of 1,790 fans in attendance at Amarillo National Bank Sox Stadium. The game lasted two hours and forty-nine minutes which featured three homeruns by the home team.

Amarillo took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Jermel Lomack, who reached on a bunt single, scored on a Jorge Delgado double to left. The first two pitches of the bottom of the second were both hit out by Cory Patton and Brandon Jones to make it 3-0. The Airhogs would answer back with a run in the third off a hit and a groundout off the bat of Ryan Pineda. In the bottom of the inning, Delgado doubled to right but as he took his lead off second base, he was tagged out on a trick play worked successfully by Pineda, Grand Prairie's second baseman. Joe Weik then flied out to end the inning.

A pair of hits and a fielder's choice grounder from Austin Newell brought the Airhogs within a run in the middle of the fourth. The Sox made it 4-2 in the bottom half on an RBI-single from KC Serna. Patton, the runner who scored, had reached on an error by the Airhogs' second baseman. Amarillo's starter, Jason Johnson would see his outing come to an end after giving up three hits and a walk to the first four batters of the sixth. One of those hits came from Andres Rodriguez which drove in two runs to tie it. The play at the plate ruled Brian Myrow safe under the tag applied by Sox catcher, Chris Grossman. Johnson's last batter faced was Palmer Karr, who drove in the go-ahead run. Grand Prairie extended the lead in that inning when Jason Mitchell allowed two hits after striking out two. The second hit was the run batted in by Rian Kiniry to make it 6-4 Airhogs.

Jason Martin singled for his third hit of the game in the bottom of the sixth and was on-base for Serna. Amarillo's shortstop lined a shot down the right field line, initially ruled fair which ended in his inside-the-park homerun. But the play was called back to a one-ball, one-strike count to Serna which resulted in the ejection of Sox manager, Bobby Brown.

When Serna stepped back in the batter's box, he hit a liner back up the middle which bounced off the Airhogs' starting pitcher, Jared Mortensen, and into left-center field for a double. With Martin at third and Serna at second, Lomack came through with a ground-rule double down the third base line to tie the game. Three batters later and following the replacement of Mortensen with Derrick Miramontes, Joe Weik got an infield single off the glove of Rodriguez who was unable to flip to the pitcher covering first in time. The errant throw rolled to catcher, Angel Flores and then was thrown to third to tag out Delgado, ending the inning. During that play however, the Sox took back the lead 7-6 as Lomack crossed the plate.

Amarillo used three different relievers for the seventh through ninth innings in which only one hit was given up during that span. Kristiam Linares induced three groundouts to second, John Holdzkom recorded all outs in the eighth with strikeouts, and then Erik Draxton (S, 11) put down the Airhogs in order for the ninth while striking out two. Jason Mitchell (W, 6-3) recorded all three outs in his relief of Jason Johnson during the sixth. Mitchell allowed no runs on two hits in his inning pitched. Offensively, the Sox put another two up after the seventh-inning stretch on a two-run bomb to left by Jones, his second homer of the game. Jason Johnson went five innings and allowed six runs, five earned on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Grand Prairie's starter, Jared Mortensen (L, 3-6) gave up seven runs, six earned on twelve hits while walking two and striking out five. Derrick Miramontes allowed no runs on two hits in his third of an inning pitched. David Quinowski allowed two in the seventh, none in the eighth for his two innings pitched while giving up just one hit and striking out two. On offense, the Airhogs were out-hit by the Sox, fifteen to eleven while both teams committed an error.

With the win, the Sox improve to 36-29, while the Airhogs fall to 36-30 on the season. Tuesday, the Sox host Grand Prairie for the second of a four-game series against the Airhogs. Game time is set for 7:05pm with the pre-game show beginning at 6:55pm.

Season tickets are available for purchase in-person by visiting the Sox Front Offices at 801 S. Polk or over the phone by calling (806) 242-4653. For more information on tickets, game times and schedules, promotions, marketing opportunities, and everything else Sox, visit the "Official Website of the Amarillo Sox" at www.amarillosox.com.

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