Amarillo Battles Late, Arkansas Pulls Away in Ninth

Amarillo, Texas (August 17, 2023) – Amarillo dropped their Thursday night contest to the Arkansas Travelers 8-6 at HODGETOWN. After falling behind early to take a lead, however, despite tying the game in the eighth, Amarillo was outscored by three from the seventh on as they dropped the first game of the series to the Travs.

Each pitcher worked around a hit in the first inning to toss a scoreless inning during their first go. Peter Solomon picked up two strikeouts in the opening frame to help prevent any damage against him. Tim Tawa led off the game with a single for Amarillo but was left standing on third when the inning came to a close. After striking out the first man he faced in the second, consecutive home runs put Arkansas in the lead. Solomon responded by striking out each of the next two to give him five through his first two innings of work.

Amarillo was sent back in order during their second trip to the plate which sent Solomon right back to work. He then proceeded to add another two strikeouts as part of his second clean inning. Each of the first three Amarillo batters in the third singled, with Tawa picking up a RBI with hits in each of his first two at-bats of the night. Three straight strikeouts then kept two runners stranded and unable to knot things up in a prime opportunity.

The Travs extended their lead with a pair of hits coming off Solomon in the fourth. Amarillo answered the run with one of their own. Neyfy Castillo drew a one-out walk and then swiped second base to put himself into scoring position. J.J. D'Orazio then brought the Calf Fries within one run again with a RBI single into right field. Solomon continued to rack up strikeouts in his fifth inning of work. His two strikeouts in the inning gave him 10 for the game, doubling what was his previous high through his first four starts with Amarillo.

Deyison De Los Santos jolted Amarillo in front in the bottom of the fifth with an opposite-field two-out, two-run home run. Solomon collected his 11th strikeout of the game to begin the top of the sixth and also sent the next two back in order with a flyout and groundout for his third 1-2-3 inning for his outing. The Calf Fries were subject to the same fate in the home half. Solomon's night came to an end with Michel Otanez taking over on the bump in the seventh.

Despite no hits in the seventh, the Travs were able to notch things up at four a piece. An error, wild pitch, and productive ground out pushed the tying run over to third. Another wild pitch allowed the run to come across. With two outs in the bottom of the inning, A.J. Vukovich put a charge into a ball that nearly put Amarillo back in front. Instead, Vukovich was left standing on third with two away in the inning. A knuckling line drive was unable to get down for a hit after a leaping grab by the shortstop kept the game even headed to the eighth.

Raffi Vizcaino took over on the mound and was greeted with a leadoff triple. A walk put runners on the corners and brought the infield in. That meant Kevin Vicuña wasn't in his normal position for a ground ball that found itself through the vacated hole at shortstop and once again put the Travs in front. With runners on the corners again, a strikeout gave Amarillo their first out of the inning. Another RBI single pushed Arkansas' lead to two runs. Vizcaino struck out his second and third of the inning to leave a pair stranded and Amarillo chasing a pair of runs.

A one-out walk and single placed runners on the corners for Amarillo before a pop-out hauled in along the fence in foul territory had Amarillo's backs against the wall. With two outs, S.P Chen brought home both to tie the game with a two-RBI triple.

Emailin Montilla headed to the mound for the top of the ninth. The left-hander struck out the first man he faced. A one-out triple was followed by the second strikeout hurled by the left-hander. An intentional walk gave Amarillo a force-out opportunity and also created a lefty-lefty matchup for Montilla. A successful hit and run scored the runner from third and also allowed a hustling runner from first to make it all the way home to give the Travs another two-run lead, this time heading to the bottom of the ninth.

The first two batters were retired before Ivan Melendez kept the inning alive with a single into shallow center field. After working a full count, De Los Santos was a strikeout victim to end game three on Wednesday night.

Amarillo will look to bounce back on Friday night with the team leader in wins on the bump. Luke Albright (7-5, 5.85) will take the ball for Amarillo at HODGETOWN. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.

NOTES:

GONE FISHIN: Peter Solomon turned in his first quality start in his fifth start for Amarillo. The right-hander worked a season-high six innings, allowing three runs on five hits. The right-hander tied his career-high with 11 strikeouts, matching the mark he set on April 8, 2019 when he was in the Houston Astros organization. In that game against then Advanced-A Fredrick, he struck out 11 in just 4.2 IP in his first start of the season. The 11 strikeouts are now the most by an Amarillo pitcher this season, topping the 10 that Luke Albright set earlier this month on August 1st against Corpus Christi. It was the 16th time in team history where a pitcher had 10+ strikeouts in a game.

RACKING 'EM UP: The team set a franchise-high for strikeouts with 18 during a nine-inning game - paced by the 11 from Peter Solomon. Entering Thursday's game, the team had previously struck out 17 over nine innings four times with the last coming just last Saturday in Tulsa. Following Solomon each of the three relievers struck out at least two in their one inning of work, with Raffi Vizcaino striking out the side in the eighth. Amarillo now has 1,046 strikeouts on the season, the sixth-most in the Texas League this year.

OPPO TACO THURSDAY: Deyvison De Los Santos, the D-backs' no. 5-rated prospect hit his 12th home run of the season, an opposite-field two-run shot in the fifth inning. Since returning to the active roster on July 14th, De Los Santos is hitting .315 (35-for-111) with five home runs, seven doubles, a triple, and 18 RBI over his last 27 games.

S.P.ECIAL DELIVERY: S.P Chen continues to produce at the plate for Amarillo since his arrival. Playing in just his fourth game, the lefty-bat came through with a clutch two-out, two-RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth. It capped a multi-hit performance, his first in Amarillo threads and gave him his third extra-base hit of the five total hits he has so far in Double-A. He is hitting .385 (5-for-13) with six RBI since a promotion from High-A Hillsboro.