Offense Stays Hot in Route of Hooks

Amarillo, Texas (August 21, 2024) – Amarillo racked up 21 hits to match their single-game high in 2024 and muscled out four more home runs in a 13-1 win over Corpus Christi on Wednesday night.

Spencer Giesting spun his third quality start with Amarillo en route to earning his third win. The left-hander worked six innings where he allowed one earned run on three hits and set his Double-A high with eight strikeouts but it was the offense that stole the show for the second straight night.

A night after hitting a season-high six home runs, Neyfy Castillo wasted no time getting things going for Amarillo on Wednesday. The Sod Poodles leadoff man hit the second leadoff home for the Sod Poodles this year and the first since Wilderd Patiño did it in the fifth game of the season.

The Sod Poodles then used a nine-run, nine-hit bottom of the second inning to build a 10-0 lead. The inning saw four extra-base hits by Amarillo including home runs by Ivan Melendez and Kristian Robinson who left the yard in back-to-back games. After Julio Robaina was tossed from the game for throwing behind Kevin Graham who was the 12th man he faced in the inning, Alejandro Torres allowed a single before getting the Hooks out of the inning with a strikeout of J.J. D'Orazio. Torres worked 1.1 IP for the Hooks before turning things over to James Hicks who ended up pitching the final five innings for Corpus.

Amarillo was held without another run until the sixth. Melendez started the inning with the third of his four total hits for the night and was followed aboard by Graham who drew a two-out walk. D'Orazio put the only three runs on the board charged to Hicks with a no-doubter to the opposite field. Amarillo totaled eight hits over the final five innings of the game but pushed just the three runs across as they were held scoreless over their final two trips to the plate.

Gerardo Gutierrez and Listher Sosa worked the final three innings on the mound for Amarillo. Gutierrez tossed a hitless seventh with a strikeout. Sosa in his first game with Amarillo this year worked two hitless innings of his own and added a couple of strikeouts to go with one walk issued.

After scoring 24 runs through the first two games of the series to build a 2-0 lead, Amarillo will look to take full command of the series on Thursday night. D-backs' no. 7-rated prospect Yu-Min Lin will get the ball to start the game. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

NOTES:

SO NICE THEY DID IT TWICE: Ivan Melendez and Kristian Robinson made it back-to-back games with a home run to start the series against Corpus Christi. For Melendez, it is the 20th home run of his season after leading the D-backs farm system with 30 a year ago. The D-backs no. 23-rated prospect broke his tie with Caleb Roberts and now sits solely in fourth place for the most home runs in Sod Poodles' history with 32. He is three away from tying Deyvison De Los Santos for the third all-time. Of the now 16 times an Amarillo player has homered in consecutive games, Melendez has done it five times with his last coming on June 21-22nd against San Antonio. It was the first time this year hitting a home run in back-to-back games for Robinson who now has eight total on the year. The last time Robinson left the yard on consecutive nights was in the final two games of the regular season last year on September 16th and 17th.

OFFICIALLY A PARTY: J.J. D'Orazio's sixth-inning home run was the fifth of the year and his 16th in 262 games since joining the D-backs farm system via a trade from the Blue Jays organization on September 1, 2021. D'Orazio has 18 home runs in his 336-game minor league career with six coming in 108 games with Amarillo since July 14th, 2023.

EVERYONE HITS: All nine Amarillo starters collected a hit in the 21-hit outburst on Wednesday night including a four-hit night from Ivan Melendez. Eight of the nine had a multi-hit effort with Neyfy Castillo and Andy Weber having three-hit games. All nine starters crossed the plate as well. It was the fourth time Amarillo had everyone in the starting lineup have at least one hit, the last coming on August 6 at home against NW Arkansas. It was the second time all nine starters scored a run, the only other time occurring on June 18 against San Antonio. It was the 39th and 10th time respectively Amarillo has accomplished both since 2019. With Kristian Robinson having just the one hit, the only time Amarillo has had all nine starters have a multi-hit game remains May 8, 2022.

FOUR PIECE: Ivan Melendez's four hits tie his Double-A high in a game, something he did earlier this season for the first time since arriving in Amarillo. He also had four hits against Frisco on May 14th. It was the 10th instance an Amarillo player has had four hits in a game this year to remain the single-game high. Only three players in team history have ever put together a five-hit night.