Weber, File Shine in Amarillo Victory

Amarillo, Texas (July 19, 2024) – Amarillo kicked off their nine-game homestand post-All-Star break with a dominant win over the Springfield Cardinals on Friday night. Dylan File spun his seventh quality start of the year and Andy Weber drove in four runs in the 7-1 victory.

File and his defense behind him had the right-hander through two clean innings to start the night. Andrew Pintar robbed extra bases in the top of the first after crashing into the center field wall and Matt Beaty helped to erase a leadoff single in the top of the second when he doubled off Jimmy Crooks on a hard liner.

Amarillo dinked and dunked their way to a two-run lead in the home half of the second inning. Beaty was plunked to start the frame and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch before Ivan Melendez drew a walk behind him. The first pitch Weber saw in his first at-bat with Amarillo gave the Calf Fries the as he dumped a ball into shallow center field. J.J. D'Orazio extended the lead as he flared another soft liner into right field for a two-out RBI. File sent the Cardinals back to their dugout in order in the third and got each of the first two batters to start the fourth. R.J. Yeager cut into the Amarillo lead with a two-out solo homer and just the second hit of the night off the Amarillo starter.

Weber tripled the number of pitches he saw during his second at-bat of the night but also tripled the number of RBI he had for the game. He sent a 1-1 hanging breaking ball to the right field berm to put Amarillo in front 4-1. File appeared to work himself into trouble in the top of the fifth. A hit batter and bunt single put the first two batters of the inning aboard. However, File got some more help from his defense. Melendez started a 5-4-3 double play and File took care of the rest, striking out his third batter of the night to leave Matt Lloyd standing on third base. The right-hander then worked a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth.

Amarillo continued their pattern of taking advantage of the even-numbered innings. Melendez drew his second walk of the night and advanced into scoring position thanks to the second wild pitch of the night from Springfield starter Quinn Mathews. A.J. Vukovich doubled him home to make it 5-1 and then Weber made it a 3-for-3 start to his Amarillo career with an opposite-field RBI single to give him four RBI and a five-run lead for File heading into the seventh.

He ended his night by working around a two-out hit batter to give himself seven strong innings where he allowed just one run on three hits and added four strikeouts. Amarillo's seventh and final run came via another long ball. This time off the bat of Kristian Robinson who clobbered a fastball off Leonardo Tavares 424 ft to deep left-center field.

Kyle Amendt and Jake Rice tag-teamed the final two innings to close the door on Springfield. Amendt added another clean inning of work to his resume with a strikeout in a three-up, three-down top of the eighth. Rice allowed a one-out single but also pitched himself three ground ball outs in the top of the ninth to secure the series-opening win.

Amarillo and Springfield will continue their three-game series on Saturday night as Amarillo hosts Margaritaville Night at the ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. RHP Billy Corcoran (5-3, 5.74 ERA) will face off against the Cardinals and LHP Alex Cornwell (4-2, 6.00 ERA).

NOTES:

ANDY MAN CAN: Playing in his first full-season minor league game since helping the Tennessee Smokies win the 2023 Southern League Championship, Andy Weber turned in a 3-for-4 night at the plate that included a home run and four RBI. Weber was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft from the Chicago Cubs, but placed on the 60-day IL on March 19 to start the season. Weber was activated from the IL on July 6 and made eight rehab appearances in the Arizona Complex League before being transferred to Amarillo. In 412 career minor league games, the four-RBI night Weber turned during his Amarillo debut tied his career high - which he has now done four times. He had a four-RBI game last Friday night during his rehab game against the ACL Brewers. Friday night marked just the second time in 228 career Double-A games where he had four RBI. His first came with Tennessee on August 21, 2022, against Birmingham. His first career four-RBI game came on May 25, 2019, with the South Bend Cubs.

Walloped by Weber!

The new guy seems quite acclimated to his new digs. pic.twitter.com/0mokue6n1j

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) July 20, 2024

THE DYLAN FILES: Dylan File turned in his seventh quality start of the season, his second straight quality outing, and his fourth in his last five starts. The right-hander made it consecutive seven-inning outings where he allowed just one earned run (both coming via solo home runs). It was the fourth time this year that File has given the bullpen a pseudo-off-day and gone seven innings. Over his last five games, File has gone 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA and allowed 10 earned on 28 hits with 28 strikeouts in 32.0 IP. Friday night marks the first time this season that File has won consecutive starts and his record improves to 4-7 on the year. He is now one of just eight Amarillo pitchers to ever have 7+ quality starts in a single season, joining Billy Corcoran, who joined that list during his last start and will get the start for Amarillo on Saturday

File escapes the 5th and leaves a runner stranded on third with his 3rd strikeout! pic.twitter.com/aAZ6rWl0wP

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) July 20, 2024

LUCKY NUMBER SIX: Kristian Robinson extended his hitting streak to six games, adding to what already was his season-long. The D-backs no 17-rated prospect finished Friday night 2-for-4 with a solo home run - his second of the month. His multi-hit game on Friday was his third in 13 games during July.

K-ROB! pic.twitter.com/MUI5SRvF2g

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) July 20, 2024