Garrett Homers Twice, Amarillo Tallies 18 Hits In Win

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Amarillo Sod Poodles (37-48) | Corpus Christi Hooks (41-45)

Amarillo, Texas — Amarillo jumped in front early and never looked back en route to the team's 12-8 win over Corpus Christi on Wednesday night. The Pointy Boots de Amarillo overpowered Corpus with 12 runs on 18 hits highlighted by a pair of homers from Stone Garrett. Drey Jameson picked up his second quality start in as many games to begin his Double-A career in the win.

After falling behind 10-0 after the top of the third last night, Amarillo jumped in front tonight thanks to Garrett. The Amarillo home run leader added to it with his 12th of the year, putting the Pointy Boots ahead 3-0 after back-to-back walks started the bottom of the first inning. Amarillo added two more runs in the bottom of the second inning on three hits as they pushed their lead to 5-0 on the back of RBI singles from Alek Thomas and Ryder Jones.

Corpus Christi cut into the lead after scoring three runs in the top of the third. The Hooks led off the inning with a solo home run before a double and two base error on the very next play scored another run. A second home run in the inning off Amarillo starter Drey Jameson made it a 5-3 game. Jameson was making just his second start with Amarillo after being promoted from High-A Hillsboro on July 31st. In his debut last week, Jameson tied his career-high while also matching the Sod Poodles franchise-high with 11 strikeouts.

Amarillo matched the the three runs scored by the Hooks in the bottom of the third inning, giving the Pointy Boots runs in each of the first three innings of tonight's game. Amarillo plated their runs on four hits highlighted by D-backs' No. 3 rated prospect Geraldo Perdomo's opposite field double off the wall in left-center field.

Jameson saw just three Corpus base runners reach base over the next three innings, all due to walks. He worked around those thanks to four strikeouts and two double plays including a strike em out, throw em out double play in the fourth. Corpus added a run in the top of the seventh to cut the Amarillo lead in half at 8-4. Jameson's HODGETOWN debut came to an end after his second consecutive quality start to begin his Double-A career. He tied his career-high with 7.0 innings pitched and allowed four runs - three earned - on five hits including the two solo home runs in the third. He retired eight via the strikeout including the final out of his night.

As they did in the third frame, Amarillo matched the Corpus run with one of their own to keep the Hooks at bay. The Pointy Boots rallied with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, stringing together two singles to score Luis Basabe who also singled earlier in the frame. \

Right-hander Mitchell Stumpo came to the mound riding a nine game scoreless streak out of the Amarillo bullpen. Stumpo had not allowed a run since his Double-A debut back on June 25th on the road in Corpus. He gave up a leadoff single before a wild pitch and caught stealing took that runner of the base path. A single and strikeout put the Hooks down to their final out. Stumpo then walked a batter before the Hooks hit what appeared to be a three-run home runt to right field. With the short fence in right, the ball caromed off the top of the yellow line but managed to stay in the park. After a meeting between the umpires, they correctly ruled it as a two-RBI double. Regardless, it brought an end to Stumpo's scoreless streak before a walk to the next batter brought an end to his outing. Left-hander Mack Lemieux came on for the final out of the eighth and picked up a strikeout to keep the Amarillo advantage at 9-6.

Garrett jumped on the first pitch of the bottom of the eighth, adding to his home run total and giving himself a two home run cushion over his Amarillo teammates. It's his first multi-HR game of the year, making him the fourth Amarillo player this year to smack two home runs in the same game. Four more singles in the inning plated another two runs as Amarillo pushed their lead back out to six runs heading into the top of the ninth.

Lemieux headed back to the mound and picked up a strikeout to start the final frame. A single and ground rule double gave the Hooks two runners aboard. Corpus stayed alive with a two-RBI single with two outs to make it a 12-8 game. Lemieux battled back to pick up his third strikeout of the night, securing the win for Amarillo.

The series continues tomorrow night as the Sod Poodles will send RHP Ryne Nelson (1-1, 3.25 ERA) to the mound as the Soddies aim to take the series lead. First pitch from HODGETOWN is scheduled for 7:05 PM for another Thirsty Thursday at the ballpark.

Notes:

Two Homers, One Stone: Sod Poodles outfielder Stone Garrett regained his team home run lead after seeing Dominic Fletcher tie him atop the category in last night's game. Garrett, who had not hit a home run since July 2nd against Wichita put Amarillo ahead in the first inning with his three-run homer. He added to it with a solo shot in the top of the eighth inning, sending the first pitch of the at bat off Bar 352 beyond the left field wall. Garrett became the fourth Sod Poodle this year with a multi-HR game. Buddy Kennedy had the most recent multi-HR game for Amarillo, doing so on July 18th on the road in Midland. It was Garrett's fourth multi-HR game of his career and first since April 14, 2018 when he was with Jupiter (A+, MIN). His 13 home runs not only lead the team, but are tied for the second most among all D-backs' minor leaguers in 2021, two off the lead of Neyfy Castillo (Visalia).

Sturdy 30: Garrett's three-run home run in the first inning gave Amarillo 30 runs in the first inning this season. It was the only inning that the Sod Poodles had not yet reached 30 runs coming into tonight's game. Still, Amarillo has a -26 run differential in the first inning this season, with their opponents having scored 56 runs in the first inning of games this year.

Drey's (home) Debut: In his HODGETOWN debut, right-hander and D-backs No. 20-rated prospect Drey Jameson (1-0) collected his first Double-A win after tossing seven frames of five-hit, four run (three earned) ball with three walks surrendered and eight strikeouts. His seven frames tied a career-high and it marked the second time in three bids he met the feat. Jameson has tossed five quality starts in his last six and, in that span, has only allowed 11 earned runs in 37 innings with 48 strikeouts.

A Streak Of Seven: D-backs' No. 4 rated prospect Alek Thomas continued his hot streak at the plate, picking up another two hits, extending his current streak to seven straight games with a hit. Thomas is hitting .464 (13-for-28) with two home runs, two doubles, a triple, and 10 RBI in this span. The longest streak of Thomas' professional career so far is a 20-game hit streak that he had in his first professional season. He made his pro debut with a three-hit night on June 18, 2018 before going hitless the next night. He then hit safely in his next 20 games. Thomas hit safely in 25 of his first 28 professional games while hitting .325 with three doubles and five triples.

1 Through Nine: For the sixth time this season, every player in Amarillo's starting lineup recorded at least one hit. It last happened on July 30th here at home against San Antonio. It is the second time this year it has happened against Corpus Christi with the first coming in the Pointy Boot's 19-4 win over Corpus on June 9th at HODGETOWN. Seven of the nine starters recorded multi-hit games led by Garrett and Luis Basabe who each tallied three hits in the win.

HODGETOWN Advantage: In 37 openings during the 2021 campaign, HODGETOWN has seen a total of 207,490 fans. Across Minor League Baseball's 120 teams, the attendance mark ranks 16th overall in total home attendance, 12th in average home attendance, and fifth with teams below 40 openings. In the team's inaugural season in 2019, HODGETOWN welcomed 427,791 fans during the 68 regular season games and totaled just below 450,000 with four postseason games.

15 or More: For just the third time this year and 13th in Sod Poodles history, Amarillo tallied 15 or more hits in a game. The last time in 2021 came back on June 9th when Amarillo picked up 20 hits, tying the franchise record in the 19-4 win over Corpus. Each of the previous two instances in 2021 came in 20-hit outbursts. Tonight's 18 hits were more than the last two games combined for Amarillo.