NATURALS OPEN SECOND HALF WITH BLOWOUT WIN IN AMARILLO

Amarillo, TX – After stumbling to the end of the first half, the Northwest Arkansas Naturals opened up the second half of the 2022 season in blowout fashion, beating the Amarillo Sod Poodles on the road 20-6.

All nine Naturals in the lineup had at least one hit and scored once, while eight of nine drove in a run, as the Naturals set season-highs with 20 runs scored, seven doubles and five home runs, while tying season-highs with 17 hits and nine walks.

After Maikel Garcia doubled to lead off the game and the Naturals drew a pair walks, John Rave opened the scoring with a grand slam, the team's fifth of the season and his seventh home run of the year.

Northwest Arkansas scored four runs on four hits in the second inning to jump out to an 8-0 lead, then Tucker Bradley singled in the team's ninth run of the game in the fifth inning.

After Amarillo fought onto the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth, Seuly Matias drilled his 12th homer of the season out to center field, a two-run shot that at the time put the Naturals up 11-1.

While the Sod Poodles scored three in the bottom of the sixth on a home run, Tyler Gentry countered in the eighth with his fourth Double-A homer, a solo shot that pushed the score to 12-4.

Already up by eight heading into the ninth, Northwest Arkansas doubled its run total with a consistent offensive pressure. Bradley doubled in one, then Garcia doubled in two, his third hit and second for extra bases of the night.

With a position player then on the mound for Amarillo, Nick Loftin clubbed his seventh homer of the year out to left field, then Rave singled home a run and came across to score on Matias' second homer of the day.

Matias finished the day 3-for-5 with two homers and six runs batted in, his ninth career multi-homer game and a single-game RBI record.

Rave tied his career-high with a 5-RBI night, while scoring four runs in a 2-for-4 day that included two walks.

Garcia, Loftin and Bradley each drove in two runs, while Garcia and Robbie Glendinning each scored three times. For Glendinning, a 2-for-5 night with a pair of doubles was his fourth straight mutli-hit game.

On the mound, starting pitcher Dante Biasi was lifted from the game after 4.2 innings, but set a career-high with nine strikeouts. After Stephen Woods Jr. allowed three runs in 2/3 of an inning, Zack Phillips took over and retired the first seven batters he faced, throwing 2.2 scoreless innings to earn his second win of the year.

The Naturals look to improve to 2-0 in the second half Wednesday at HODGETOWN, as right-hander Alec Marsh takes the mound with a 7:05 p.m. CT first pitch.