Amarillo, Texas (August 6, 2024) – The Sod Poodles won a thriller on Tuesday night to take down the Naturals in the first game of the series. After trailing by two entering the bottom of the eighth, the Sod Poodles scored two over the final two innings to send the game to extras. Seeing the Naturals score twice in the 10th, Caleb Roberts delivered the walk-off winner to take a 10-9 win.

WALK US OFF, CALEB pic.twitter.com/8u3vnGj3YH

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) August 7, 2024

After allowing a leadoff walk, Amarillo starter Joe Elbis struck out each of the next two before getting out of the first with a lazy fly ball to left field. His offense provided him with a lead to work with during his second inning of work. Each of the first three batters reached base and Roberts provided the first run with a sac fly to the left field warning track. Elbis worked around another baserunner in the top of the second. He added two more strikeouts to give him four through eight batters faced.

The Amarillo right-hander got out of a jam in the top of the third. Seeing the Naturals' leadoff man hit a one-out double, Andy Weber threw behind the runner on a fielder's choice for the second out. Elbis took care of the rest, picking off Tyler Tolbert from first to retire the side in order - in unorthodox fashion. The top of the Sod Poodles order was right back to work in their second time through the order. Kevin Graham drew a leadoff walk and moved to third as Jancarlos Cintron doubled for his second hit in as many trips to the plate. Tim Tawa extended the lead with a productive ground-out and Roberts collected his second RBI of the night with a ground-rule double to make it 3-0 and still just one out in the inning. The third Amarillo double in the frame gave the Sod Poodles a 4-0 lead.

The first blip of Elbis' night came via a leadoff solo home run by Gavin Cross, the Kansas City Royals no. 5-rated prospect, to leadoff the fourth. Another homer in the inning knotted things up at 4-4 after a walk, double, and RBI groundout sent Josh Lester to the plate as the tying run. Elbis' night ended with Zach Barnes taking over on the mound to begin the top of the sixth with the game still tied. Barnes patterned walks and strikeouts to the first four batters he faced. A RBI single gave the Naturals their first lead of the game before Barnes could get out of the inning.

Weber crushed an off-speed pitch over the right-field wall onto the concourse to even the score at 5-5. Two more singles in the inning threatened to re-take the lead for the Sod Poodles. However, Amarillo left both on-base to keep the game all square and send Conor Grammes to the mound for Amarillo. The Sod Poodles placed another two runners aboard in the bottom of the seventh but once again were unable to capitalize on the scoring opportunity.

Will Mabrey relieved Grammes after his one inning of work. The southpaw saw the tie game turn into a 7-5 deficit with the Naturals hitting back-to-back home runs, their third and fourth of the game. Mabrey ended the inning with consecutive strikeouts to send the 7-8-9 hitters in the Amarillo order to the plate to face Beck Way. The Naturals set-up man snatched a comebacker out of the air off the bat of J.J. D'Orazio then induced a grounder for two quick outs. Kristian Robinson kept the inning alive and brought the Sod Poodles a bit closer with his fifth home run of the year that hit off the top of the batter's eye in dead center.

Taylor Rashi kept the deficit at one after spinning a 1-2-3 top of the ninth that included a pair of strikeouts. The right-hander was the fourth different reliever used for Tim Bogar and the Amarillo staff.

Cintron's third hit of the night started the Amarillo bottom of the ninth against Anthony Simonelli. Tawa legged out an infield single behind him to push the tying run into scoring position. With a fielder's choice giving the Sod Poodles runners on the corners and one out, A.J. Vukovich stepped to the plate. The D-backs' no. 14-rated prospect delivered a game-tying RBI single and allowed Tawa to motor to third to serve as the winning run. Simonelli bent but did not break as he retired each of the next two batters to strand Tawa on third and send Amarillo to their third extra-inning game in the last week.

Rashi was back on the mound to start the 10th and the only reliever tasked to cover more than an inning. Following a leadoff walk to begin extras, the inherited runner scored on a RBI double off the bat of Peyton Wilson and put two more into scoring position for Rashi to navigate. NW Arkansas took a two-run lead on a sac fly and made it a 9-7 game.

Simonelli struck out the first batter he faced in the bottom of the 10th but issued a four-pitch watch to Robinson to turn the Sod Poodles order back over to the top. Cintron loaded the bases with his season-high fourth hit of the night and two outs to keep hopes alive. Tawa drew a seven-pitch walk to once again put the Sod Poodles within one and moved the winning run into scoring position and also chased Simonelli from the game.

Facing a new pitcher, Roberts played hero on Tuesday night. The D-backs' no. 27-rated prospect delivered his second walk-off of the year with a two-RBI single for Amarillo's fourth walk-off win in 2024.

Amarillo and NW Arkansas continue the series with game two on Wednesday night. RHP Billy Corcoran (5-4, 3.73 ERA) will take the ball for Amarillo against fellow righty Steven Zobac (1-2, 3.63 ERA). First pitch on Wednesday is slated for 7:05 p.m.

NOTES:

WALK US OFF: Caleb Roberts gave Amarillo their fourth walk-off win of the year and first since June 22nd. It was the second time Roberts has played the hero, also hitting a walk-off homer against Frisco on May 18th. With the win, Amarillo earned their first win of the season when trailing after 8 innings of play. The Sod Poodles are now 1-49 in the situation.

DAYS THAT END IN Y: Jancarlos Cintron extended his hitting streak to a career-high 13 games with a single in the bottom of the first inning. The infielder had previously had three different 12-game hitting streaks with his last coming on August 6-26 with Triple-A Reno. His 13-game hit streak is the longest active streak in the Texas League and all Double-A as a whole. His 13-game streak is tied for the ninth-longest ever by a Sod Poodle. Dominic Fletcher has the franchise long, hitting safely in 22 straight games from April 19 to May 18, 2022.

Stay hot, JC 🔥 pic.twitter.com/K9MPjYVGRn

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) August 7, 2024

ELBIS IN BOOTS: In his HODGETOWN debut, Joe Elbis went 5.0 IP while allowing four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks issued. Three of the four runs allowed by Elbis came via a pair of home runs, just the fifth time in 56 career games that Elbis had allowed two home runs in the same game. It was just the second time this year he had surrendered multiple home runs with the first coming on June 16th in a game against Tri-City when he was Hillsboro.

GRILLED TOTS: Andy Weber crushed his second home run with Amarillo and first since his Soddies debut back on July 19th against Springfield. His sixth-inning solo shot knotted the score at 5-5. Weber finished the game 2-for-5 with a homer, double, two RBI, and a run scored. It was his fifth multi-hit game over his last seven dating back to July 30th in the series opener against Corpus Christi. In 15 games since joining the Sod Poodles, Weber has seven multi-hit games and is hitting .300 overall.

THAT BALL AINT COMING BACK pic.twitter.com/x0AGlFPD3q

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) August 7, 2024

BOHEMIAN BLAST: Kristian Robinson hit his fifth home run of the year and first since July 19th with a two-out solo shot in the bottom of the eighth. It was his second hit of the game as he finished the series opener 2-for-4 on the night to extend his on-base streak to seven games. It was the 11th multi-hit game for the D-backs' no. 16-rated prospect.

BATTERED THE BATTER'S EYE. pic.twitter.com/zZJ4IDeH2k

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) August 7, 2024

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO: Tim Tawa and A.J. Vukovich continued their back and forth for the team lead in RBI - not just this season, but all-time in Sod Poodles history. Tawa broke the season tie with a RBI groundout in the bottom of the third and Vukovich matched him with a game-tying RBI in the bottom of the ninth. Tawa once again broke the tie, drawing a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th. Vukovich held steady in his all-time RBI lead, collecting his 163rd all-time and Tawa sits six back of him, sitting at 157 career RBI during his Sod Poodles career.