Fletcher Homers Early, Poodles Pitch Their Way to Win

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

Amarillo Sod Poodles (ARI) (27-33) | Midland RockHounds (OAK) (31-31)

Midland, Texas — Amarillo wasted no time getting themselves a lead in game two of their six-game set against their rivals in Midland. The Sod Poodles scored the first four runs of the game and pitched their way to the 4-3 win, improving Amarillo to 27-34 on the season.

For the second time in as many games the Sod Poodles jumped out to an early lead over the RockHounds. D-backs' No. 15 rated prospect Dominic Fletcher hit his eighth home run of the season on a full count to put the Soddies up 1-0 after the top of the first.

Luis Frias got the start on the bump for Amarillo and made very quick work of the Hounds in the home half of the first. Frias struck out the side in order then carried that over into the bottom of the second, striking out the first two he faced in that frame.

The Sod Poodles carried that momentum to their at bats as Jancarlos Cinton roped a double to leadoff the top of the third. A ground out advanced him before Stone Garrett brought him home with a two-out single.

Neither team mustered much offense over the next inning and a half with Midland getting their first hit in the bottom of the third and adding one more on in the fourth. The next baserunner of the game came when Dominic Miroglio doubled to leadoff the top of the fifth. Cintron added another basehit ahead of Thomas bringing both home after the third straight hit of the inning as the lead grew to 4-0.

The RockHounds one upped the Sod Poodles, cutting into the lead as they took advantage of a couple miscues by the Amarillo defense. A pair of errors accompanied by two hits - one being a two-run home run - made it a 4-3 game after the fifth.

Jeff Bain came out of the bullpen for Amarillo to begin the sixth inning and immediately found himself in a pickle. A walk and single put two runners aboard for the RockHounds. Bain got the double play ball that he needed but it still pushed the potential tying run to third base. A ground ball ended the Midland threat as Amarillo kept their one run lead through six.

Thomas worked his way into scoring position with his second hit of the game before stealing second with one out. The Sod Poodles left him stranded after back-to-back strikeouts.

Midland kept their seventh inning alive with a two-out single off Bain but a strikeout ended the inning and Bain's outing after two solid innings with just two hits allowed and a pair of strikeouts. Keegan Curtis tossed a scoreless inning as a bridge to Blake Rogers to take over in the ninth frame with the Sod Poodles hanging on to their one run lead.

Fresh off being activated from the IL, Rogers struck out the first two batters he faced on seven pitches total. A six pitch battle to the third hitter of the inning ended with a fly ball to the warning track as Garrett squeezed the ball for the final out to preserve the 4-3 win.

After evening the series at a game a piece, the Sod Poodles and RockHounds will play game three tomorrow night in Midland. LHP Tommy Henry (1-3, 4.80 ERA) will face off against fellow southpaw Jared Koenig (3-1, 2.67 ERA) who will get the ball for Midland.First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM from Momentum Bank Ballpark.

Notes:

Renae's Streak: Renae Martinez was able to extend his current hitting streak to nine games after going 1-for-4 with a double in the second inning. This is now the catcher's second longest hitting streak of his career. He also had a nine game hit streak in his first professional season with the Arizona Summer League Diamondbacks in 2017. The longest of his career came in 2018, a 12-game streak with Visalia in 2018.

Deep Fly Fletch:The Diamondbacks No. 15 rated prospect wasted no time giving the Sod Poodles a lead, hitting a solo home run as the second batter of the game. He sent the full-count pitch to the opposite field, carrying the large left wall in left for his eighth home run of the season.

Frias' Night: The right-hander picked up his third win of the year after striking out seven batters over five innings with four hits allowed. The D-backs No. 9 rated prospect struck out the first five batters he faced in the outing. It is just the first time he has gone at least five innings since his last win on June 13th vs. Corpus Christi.

Two For Thomas: Alek Thomas picked up a pair of hits, re-gaining the team lead with his 17th multi-hit game of the year. Stone Garrett tied him in that category with his 2-for-5 performance game in the opening game of the series last night. It was also his 7th multi-RBI game of the year after driving in two runs for Amarillo in the top of the fifth inning.

Pen Notes: The combination of Jeff Bain, Keegan Curtis, and Blake Rogers spun four scoreless innings for the Poodles as they held on for the win. Bain and Curtis were each credited with a hold while Rogers picked up the first save of the season and first with Amarillo since April 26, 2019. The right-hander picked up the only two saves of his 2019 season in consecutive appearances on April 24th and 26th.

Race For The Oil Pan Cup: Amarillo evened the race of the Oil Pan Cup at 7-7 after tonight's win. Midland had won the previous two games dating back to the series finale at HODGETOWN on June 20th. The Sod Poodles won the inaugural race for the cup 17-12 in 2019.

One Our Way: After losing four of their last seven games by one run, Amarillo finally found themselves on the good end of a close ball game, holding off the RockHounds attempts to tie/take a late lead.