Amarillo Takes Late Lead, Frisco Scores Last to Win 4-3

Amarillo, Texas (September 16, 2023) – Amarillo battled back to take a lead in the bottom of eight but couldn't hold off a later Frisco rally as they fell to the RoughRiders 4-3 on Friday night.

Frisco struck first with a walk, double, and a sacrifice fly in the top of the second off Yilber Diaz. The D-backs no. 20-rated prospect retired the next two in order to send the offense back to work. Seth Beer sandwiched a single in between a pair of outs to send Kristian Robinson to the plate in the bottom of the inning. The current D-backs' no. 11-rated prospect swatted his first Double-A home run to put the Sod Poodles in front 2-1.

Diaz earned a pair of outs in the third with a couple of singles behind them to have the RoughRiders threatening once again. The Sod Poodles right-hander worked his way out of the jam with a ground ball to maintain a one-run advantage.

Diaz and Jack Leiter traded 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and appeared to be on track for it again in the fifth before a two-out double off the bat of Jancarlos Cintron kept Amarillo up to bat. Leiter and the RoughRiders left Cintron on second as Leiter picked up his ninth strikeout of the game. That stranded runner loomed large with Wyatt Langford tying the game with a leadoff home run in the top of the sixth. Diaz ended the inning with his sixth strikeout and three straight outs following the home run to send the top of the Amarillo order back to the plate. Aidan Anderson took over on the hill for Frisco in relief of Leiter and worked a runner-less inning of his own during his first inning of labor.

Amarillo's first reliever, Emailin Montilla, followed suit. An infield single was erased on a double dip and then the left-hander induced a pop-out into foul territory to send the game to the seventh-inning stretch knotted at two. Anderson worked another quick inning, helping the RoughRiders to limit Amarillo to just three hits in the game, and one since the second inning. Montilla made it two straight scoreless innings after leaving Langford on second base in the eighth.

Amarillo finally got some offense brewing in the bottom of the penultimate inning. Robinson reached base with the help of a fielding error and then moved to third with Cintron dropping his second hit of the game into shallow left-center field and prompting a Frisco call to the bullpen with nobody out. S.P. Chen bunted a ball in no man's land in between the mound and plate, allowing Robinson to slide under the tag and give Amarillo the lead once again. Amarillo was unable to add any insurance before the inning came to an end and sent Christian Montes De Oca to the mound looking to protect the one-run lead.

A leadoff single was followed by Montes De Oca's first strikeout of the inning. A triple off the wall in center field allowed Kellen Strahm to score with the go-ahead run later coming across on a wild pitch. The second out of the inning came via a ground out to the shortstop with Seth Beer hauling in a liner to first to send the game to the bottom of the ninth and the Sod Poodles in search of at least a run.

Triston Polley made it five straight strikeouts after the RBI bunt single in the eighth as he struck out each of the first two in the ninth. A seven-pitch at bat for Juan Centeno ended with a flyout as Frisco took the Saturday night tilt.

Amarillo will wrap up the 2023 regular season on Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

NOTES:

K-BOOM: Former D-backs top-rated prospect and current no. 11-rated prospect Kristian Robinson collected his first Double-A home run with a two-run shot in the bottom of the second inning. Robinson has now played in four games with Amarillo and has two hits, a home run, three runs scored, and three RBI. It was his first multi-RBI game in Amarillo after joining the club with just 10 coming during his stint with Low-A Visalia earlier this year. Robinson has now played in 64 games this season between four different levels and is hitting .279 with 13 home runs, eight doubles, four triples, and 39 RBI in his first season since 2019.

WELCOME TO HODGETOWN: D-backs' no. 20-rated prospect Yilber Diaz made his HODGETOWN debut after starting two games last week in Arkansas. In his debut in front of the hometown crowd, Diaz spun a quality start, going six innings - a new Double-A high - and allowing just two earned runs with six strikeouts. His six strikeouts matched the total he set in his Double-A debut back on September 5th in Arkansas. In all five games of his professional career where he would qualify for a quality start, Diaz has capitalized.

TWO FOR J.C.: Jancarlos Cintron tallied his third multi-hit game in 19 games played with Amarillo. Cintron finished the night going 2-for-3 with a double. Of his 14 hits with Amarillo, three have been doubles. Cintron led the D-backs farm system hitting .338 a season ago with 38 games with Amarillo and 65 with Triple-A Reno where he hit .353.

SPILL THE TEA: Emailin Montilla worked two scoreless innings out of the Amarillo bullpen, lowering his ERA to 6.00 on the year in 11 games played with Amarillo. The left-hander has worked four scoreless appearances in 15.0 IP for Amarillo after Saturday night with 20 strikeouts and nine walks issued. He matched his season-high with 2.0 IP in relief of Diaz with just two hits allowed.