Amarillo Drops Third Straight in Springfield

Springfield, Mo. (July 6, 2023) – The Amarillo Sod Poodles lost their Thursday night tilt against the Springfield Cardinals by a score of 5-3. Despite holding a three-run lead in the later innings, a four-run bottom of the seventh inning ultimately was too much for the Sod Poodles to overcome.

Amarillo struck first blood with A.J Vukovich doubling home Ryan Bliss who led off the game with a single, stole second, and advanced to third on a fly out ahead of the Vukovich at-bat.

Luke Albright retired six of the first seven batters he faced, allowing just a walk through his first two innings of work. The offense gave him a two-run lead as Jordan Lawlar hit a RBI single in the top of the third. Albright worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the Cardinals' half of the third to keep Springfield off the board in their first real scoring threat of the night.

Springfield cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth after a leadoff double stole third and scored on a RBI single, just their third hit of the night. Albright responded by retiring the next two including his seventh strikeout through four innings. The Sod Poodles put two aboard in the top of the fifth, but neither were able to extend the Amarillo lead as the game remained 2-1.

The Sod Poodles scored their third run of the game after stringing together a pair of one-out hits in the top of the sixth. Adrian Del Castillo doubled and moved to third on a Caleb Roberts single. Camden Duzenack scored Del Castillo with a sacrifice fly to right field. Albright continued his night, retiring all three he faced in the bottom of the sixth.

After going down in order in the top of the sixth, Christian Montes De Oca entered the game on the mound for Amarillo. A walk and two-run home run knotted things up at 3-3 and was the start of Springfields four-run inning. Consecutive line outs appeared to have Montes De Oca and the Sod Poodles primed to escape without any further damage in the frame. The second walk of the inning was followed by a single to put runners on first and second. The third hit of the inning, a single into right field, slid under the glove of Roby Enriquez in right field, allowing both runners to score and give Springfield their first lead of the night at 5-3.

Amarillo was only able to get one runner aboard over the final two innings as Del Castillo drew a two-out walk in the top of the eighth but was unable to get any further than first.

Amarillo will need to win each of the final three games of the series to secure a split. RHP Jamison Hill (2-4, 5.28 ERA) will get the start for Amarillo.

NOTES:

LUKE'S ALBRIGHT: Luke Albright turned in his fourth quality start for Amarillo this year - most by a starter so far in 2023. The right-hander went 6.0 IP and allowed just one earned run on four hits with eight strikeouts. It was the third eight strikeout performance in his 16 starts so far, tying for the club lead. His 91 strikeouts are most in the Diamondbacks organization this year as he overtook Slade Cecconi (89) for Triple-A Reno. Over his last 12 starts, Albright has allowed three or fewer runs in eight of them with six games of 7+ strikeouts.

HEY, GERALD: Through his first three Double-A appearances, Sod Poodles right-hander has allowed three hits and one earned in 4.0 IP with six strikeouts after striking out the side in his lone inning of work on Thursday night.

EIGHT STRAIGHT: Ryan Bliss extended his current hit streak to eight games with a 1-for-3 night at the plate with a walk and run scored. Over his last eight games, Bliss is hitting .424 (14-for-33) with six doubles, a home run, four RBI, seven walks, 11 runs scored, and nine stolen bases. Bliss' .358 AVG on the year is still tops in the Texas League along with his 1.008 OPS through 68 games played.

I'LL BRING YOU HOME: A.J. Vukovich added to his team lead, driving in his 54th RBI with a double in the top of the first. Vukovich, the D-backs' no. 11-rated prospect has a six cushion lead over Ryan Bliss for the team lead in RBI in 2023. He ranks fifth in the Texas League this year and is tied for third in the D-backs organization with Tristin English.