Four Homers Power Sod Poodles In Quick Win

Amarillo, TEX – The Amarillo Sod Poodles belted four home runs en route to an 11-3 victory over the Midland RockHounds in game two of the series. The win was Amarillo’s second in a row and lasted just 2 hours and 20 minutes – the shortest 9-inning game in HODGETOWN history.

Amarillo led wire-to-wire for the second game in a row and jumped on top in the first inning. Corbin Carroll ignited the Sod Poodles offense with a leadoff double on the first pitch of the game from Ryan Cusick. He scored on an RBI single from Andy Yerzy. Ti’Quan Forbes singled two batters later, and Jorge Barrosa scored him on a two-run home run to left field. After the 1st, Amarillo led 4-0.

Midland got on the board in the top of the 2nd off of starter Bryce Jarvis. Jordan Diaz hit a solo home run before Jarvis struck out the final two batters of the inning. They pounced for two runs in the 3rd as well off of three hits and RBIs from Chase Calabuig and Devin Foyle.

Jarvis (2-0) turned in a strong start and earned the win after five innings of work. He tossed 84 pitches, allowing four hits and three earned runs while striking out seven, a new season-high.

See ya! 🚀 @JancalosC got all of this ball.

END 3 | AMA - 8️⃣ | MID - 3 pic.twitter.com/t2zO1WUTNV

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) May 5, 2022

After the four-run first, the Sod Poodles added runs in the next three innings. Yerzy picked up his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly in the 2nd to make it 5-1. Forbes and Blaze Alexander singled in the 3rd, and Juan Centeno scored one on an RBI double. Jancarlos Cintron then broke the game wide open with a three-run dinger to left field to give Amarillo an 8-3 lead.

Leandro Cedeno joined the hit parade in the bottom of the 4th, scoring Yerzy on a 103-MPH two-run home run to make it 10-3. After four, the Sod Poodles had 10 hits.

The bullpen excelled in tonight’s contest, combining to hold the RockHounds to just one hit over the final six innings. Ryan Weiss tossed two hitless innings, striking out three of the six batters he faced. Brett de Geus allowed one hit in a clean 8th, and Kai-Wei Lin secured the win by striking out two in the 9th.

Amarillo out-hit the RockHounds 12-5 and three Soddies had multiple hits. Barrosa led the way with three RBI, and Forbes picked up three hits. The Amarillo pitching staff picked up 12 strikeouts, and the Soddies performed well in the clutch by going 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position and only leaving three on base.

The Sod Poodles have been the victors of the first two games of the series and will face Midland again tomorrow, Thursday, May 5, with first pitch at 7:05. RHP Denyi Olivero (0-1, 10.38 ERA) will be on the mound for Amarillo to face Midland’s RHP Jack Cushing (1-1, 5.31 ERA).

Notes

Hungry Hungry Hitters: The Sod Poodles continue to have the most prolific offense in both Double-A and all of the Minor Leagues. Amarillo sits in first place across all 120 minor league teams in AVG (.305), runs scored (178, 7.7/game), OPS (.891) and SLG (.515). The team also ranks second in doubles (52, one behind Reno, Arizona’s Triple-A team) and sixth in home runs (36). The Sod Poodles have plated so many runs, in fact, that they have scored 58 more runs than any major league team (New York Mets and LA Angels lead MLB with 120 runs).

Fast Food: Tonight’s 2-hour and 20-minute game was the shortest 9-inning game in HODGETOWN history. The previous record was a 2-hour and 21-minute game on June 29, 2021, vs Wichita. The 140-minute game was also nine minutes shorter than the previous season-low, a 2-hour and 29-minute game on April 21 vs San Antonio. The shortest game of all-time in Sod Poodles history is a 1 hour and 45-minute, 7-inning game on April 16 of this season against Tulsa.

4x4: The Soddies tied their season-high with four home runs as a team tonight. The quartet of long bombs tied the four they hit on April 19 vs San Antonio. Jorge Barrosa hit his second Double-A home run of the season, a three-run blast in the 1st. Leandro Cedeno hit his team-leading seventh of the year, and Jancarlos Cintron and Ti’Quan Forbes each hit their third. Two games into the series, the Sod Poodles have already hit seven home runs.

Three-Piece: In his fifth appearance of the season, RHP Ryan Weiss picked up his first strikeout of the year en route to three Ks in an excellent performance. He previously tossed 5.2 innings with just one walk before three tonight. The righty collected 88 Ks with 31 walks last season across AA and AAA.

Serving Up Wins: The Sod Poodles jumped onto the scoreboard first tonight and it led to another win. When the Soddies score first this season, they are undefeated at 10-0. When they are out-hit or tie their opponent, they are just 3-10. Through the first two games of this series, Amarillo is out-hitting Midland 22-16

McDouble: Amarillo has now won back-to-back games for just the second time this season. Their longest winning streak of 2022 was from April 19 to 22, a four-game streak over the San Antonio Missions. They have only lost consecutive games once, April 23 and 24 to San Antonio. The Soddies now lead the RockHounds in the 2022 Oil Pan Cup, three games to two.

Feasting: Six Sod Poodles extended their current hitting streaks, and five of them are five games or longer. Juan Centeno and Corbin Carroll each extended their streaks to nine games, Andy Yerzy bumped his to six, and Leandro Cedeno and Jorge Barrosa are each riding five-game streaks. Dominic Fletcher did not play tonight, but he currently leads the Texas League with an 11-game streak. The Sod Poodles also continued their stellar defense, extending their consecutive error-free streak to 48.2 innings, best in the Texas League