Amarillo Drops Friday Night Tilt 6-3 as Series Evens

Amarillo, Texas (August 4, 2023) – The Amarillo Calf Fries fell at the hands of the Corpus Christi Hooks 6-3 on Friday night at HODGETOWN. After Amarillo tied the game in the bottom of the third, the Hooks pulled away. The Calf Fries scored the final two runs of the night, but it wasn't enough as the potential tying run was left in the on-deck circle in the ninth.

The first run of the game came via a balk in the top of the first after Joey Loperfido singled and then stole second and third base with one out. The balk was the lone run Lin would surrender in the opening frame. Amarillo's first run came via a Jordan Lawlar solo shot in the bottom of the third inning - his second time leaving the yard in his last three games.

The Hooks regained an advantage in the very next half-inning, tacking on three runs on a pair of hits including a homer to start the inning. They added to their lead with a two-run inside-the-park home run after a diving attempt by A.J. Vukovich came up empty-handed.

Neyfy Castillo collected his second hit of the night with a two-out RBI single to inch the Calf Fries a little closer.

Right-hander Michel Otanez worked two clean innings in relief of Lin to send the game to the seventh-inning stretch. The hard-throwing righty surrendered just one hit and added a strikeout through his first two frames. With Amarillo unable to eat into the deficit, Raffi Vizcaino took over on the bump for the top of the eighth. He worked around a leadoff single and walk to pitch the third straight scoreless inning for Amarillo after the help of a tailor-made double play got the first two outs of the inning.

Vizcaino was back on the mound for the top of the ninth and left a one-out triple stranded as he hurled back-to-back strikeouts and his third overall in the inning.

Kevin Vicuña led off the bottom of the ninth with a single. He was able to advance into scoring position as Jordan Lawlar grounded out for the second out of the inning. Vukovich singled home Vicuña but the night would come to a close with the Hooks taking home the 6-3 win on Friday night.

With the series once again all square, Amarillo will look to bounce back and once again take control of the series on Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. for Marvel's Defenders of the Diamond night at HODGETOWN.

NOTES:

A PERFECT PAIR: Jordan Lawlar hit another home run while donning the Calf Fries jersey, his fourth in five games the team has put on the alternate threads. The D-backs' no.1-rated prospect has now collected seven RBI, and six runs scored to go along with his five dingers in the Calf Fries jersey. His solo home run in the bottom of the third inning also gave him 15 jacks on the year, one shy of tying his single-season career-high for home runs. His 2-for-4 night at the plate also helped to extend his current on-base streak which sits at a league-best 24 games now.

HIP, HIP, J.J.: J.J. D'Orazio made it eight straight games with a hit and 12 of his first 13 games in Double-A after a 1-for-4 night at the plate. His eight-game streak is currently tied for the 15th-longest streak on the team this year. His 97 hits this season between Amarillo and High-A Hillsboro are currently the fifth-most in the D-backs' farm system while his .317 AVG on the year is ninth-best in the system.

NEY-FEED ME: Neyfy Castillo broke out of a mini-slump over his last five games where he was held to just one hit with a two-hit night on Friday. After a red-hot July that saw him hit .317 in 17 games, he is hitting .188 now through four games in August. Friday night was his 13th multi-hit game on the season with six of those now coming since the beginning of July.

YU AND ME, AND RAFFI: Yu-Min Lin suffered his first loss since joining the Double-A ranks after five innings where he allowed six runs on five hits. The left-handed strikeout machine still tallied six punchouts on Friday to give him 28 through his first 23 innings in Amarillo. He allowed multiple home runs in the same game for the first time in his professional career. He was backed by some stellar relief help in the form of Michel Otanez and Raffi Vizcaino who tag-teamed the final two four innings, allowing just three hits and no runs while striking out five. Vizcaino was responsible for the final four of those strikeouts as he fanned half of the batters he faced in his outing. Otanez has now pitched back-to-back scoreless appearances while Vizcaino has not surrendered a run in any of his last four games out of the bullpen for Amarillo.

TWO BEERS: Seth Beer collected his second consecutive multi-hit effort after going 2-for-5 in the loss. Beer is now 5-for-8 over his last two games and has raised his batting average at home to .337 through 25 games this season at HODGETOWN.

TOQUE: A.J. Vukovich also added a pair of hits, going 2-for-5 and driving in the game's final fun as he scored Kevin Vicuna in the bottom of the ninth. He added to his team and D-backs' minor league lead in RBI this year with 74 84 games played. It was his 23rd multi-hit game of the year, giving him the most among any active Sod Poodle player this year and also extending his team lead in hits in 2023 to 88 which is now five more than Jordan Lawlar.