Pfaadt's Gem Marred By Extra Innings Loss

Corpus Christi, TX – The Amarillo Sod Poodles dropped their Thursday night contest in Corpus Christi in extra innings after tying the game with a three-run ninth inning.

Right-hander and D-backs' No. 8 rated prospect Brandon Pfaadt got the ball for his 13th start of the year. The former fifth-round draft pick in 2020 entered the game leading the Texas League in strikeouts while ranking third in Double-A and tied for 10th in all of Minor League Baseball. He quickly added to that, striking out five of the first six batters he faced in the Hooks lineup including five straight after a leadoff fly out in the bottom of the first inning.

After retiring the side on strikes in the second, he added two more punchouts in the bottom of the third, giving him seven through his first three innings pitched. Pfaadt added two more in the 4th as he struck out at least two batters in each of the first four innings and tied his season-high with nine strikeouts. He had two previous games of nine strikeouts, one on May 25 at Arkansas and again just two starts later on June 5 against Midland.

He set a new season-high with a strikeout in the 5th to end the half-inning. His 11th strikeout came in the bottom of the 6th, once again ending the inning and putting the game into some serious no man's land as not only did Pfaadt get through six perfect innings, the Hooks carried a combined no-hitter into the top of the 7th as well.

Pfaadt struck out the leadoff batter in the seventh inning, tying his career-high for strikeouts in a single game, and also tying the franchise-high in the process. His last 12 strikeout games came as part of back-to-back 12 strikeouts games with Low-A Visalia in 2021. He struck out 12 on June 4 at Fresno and then followed that up with 12 more strikeouts on June 11 against Inland Empire. The last 12 strikeout performance by a Sod Poodle came on August 12, also against Corpus Christi, that time it was tossed from the right hand of D-backs' No. 4 rated prospect, Ryne Nelson.

Carrying a perfecto into the 7th, @Dbacks No. 8 prospect Brandon Pfaadt tied a career high with 12 K's for the @sodpoodles. pic.twitter.com/mnn2JYXVNs

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 24, 2022

The next batter wasn't as kind to the D-backs' No. 8 rated prospect. A one-out home run ended the perfect game Pfaafdt had working and scored the first run of the game for either side. Pfaddt got out of the inning with a pair of flyouts with a walk sprinkled in between.

Amarillo recorded their first hit of the game with a two-out single off the bat of Roby Enriquez in the top of the 8th. A balk advanced him into scoring position and allowed him to tie the game on the RBI single by Elvis Peralta. The second Hooks hit of the game was a leadoff single ahead of a flyout and stolen base. The second single of the inning put runners on the corners and brought an end to Pfaadt's night after 7.2 IP. Left-hander Mack Lemieux relieved him on the bump and was greeted with a three-run home run to put the Hooks ahead 4-1.

The seven-inning pitcher's duel officially came to an end when Corbin Carroll led off the top of the ninth with a triple, scoring on a RBI single from fellow outfielder Jorge Barrosa just one batter later. The very next pitch tied the game as Eduardo Diaz blasted his seventh home run of the year to straight-away left field. With nobody out, the Hooks made a pitching change. Ti'Quan Forbes singled but was caught trying to get into scoring position with one out and a flyout officially ended the Soddies' hopes of taking the lead in regulation.

Blake Rogers was the third pitcher used by the Sod Poodles and he proceeded to strike out the first two batters he faced. A two-out walk was nullified as Nick Dalesandro threw out his team-leading 10th batter of the year to end the bottom of the ninth.

Two straight flyouts started the top of the 10th before a wild pitch moved the runner from second to third. A strikeout ended the 10th and sent the game to the bottom of the first - and only - extra frame. With Rogers still on the mound, a single put runners on the corners and set up the sac-fly to end the game. The winning run came across to score and walk off the Sod Poodles for the fourth time in 2022.

The Sod Poodles and Missions continue their series with game four scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. first pitch tomorrow, June 24 at Whataburger Field. LHP Blake Walston (2-3, 7.12 ERA) takes the mound as the Soddies and the D-backs' No. 3 rated prospect will look to even the series at two games a side after dropping the last two in South Texas.

Notes:

Brandon's Dozen: The 12 strikeouts from Brandon Pfaasdt tied his career-high as well as the franchise-high for strikeouts in a game. For the D-backs' No. 8 rated prospect, the 12 strikeouts were the most in his professional career since June 11, 2021, when he struck out 12 Inland Empire (A-) batters. The 12 were also the most by any Sod Poodles pitcher, tying three others who also did it in 2021. The last 12 strikeout game by a Soddie came on August 12, 2021 - also against Corpus Christi - by RHP Ryne Nelson. Pfaadt has now increased his strikeout total to 96 and leads the Texas League by seven strikeouts. He jumped to second in all Double-A and is 6th in all of Minor League Baseball in the category at the end of Thursday's action. It was the 6th quality start of the year - second straight - and No. 17 in his professional career (35 starts).

Corbin Barrel(s): The D-backs' No, 1 rated prospect notched his 8th triple of the year, tying the franchise-high for triples in a single season along with Alek Thomas. His eight triples lead the Texas League and also lead all of Double-A. He ranks tied for second in Minor League Baseball. Carroll is now slashing .317/.432/.652 with an OPS of 1.084 in 57 games played. He has racked up a team-leading 16 homers, 11 doubles, and 39 RBI in his first full professional season.

Diaz Dinger: Eduardo Diaz mashed his seventh homer of the year, a game-tying two-run shot in the top of the ninth. It was his first home run since June 5 against Midland, also a two-run homer. In 66 at-bats with runners in scoring position, Diaz is hitting .364 with five home runs, five doubles, two triples, and 42 RBI. A night after seeing his nine-game hitting streak come to an end, Diaz bounced back in another clutch moment, turning on the first pitch he saw in his ninth-inning at-bat. Diaz's 45 RBI are the 5th most in the D-backs' farm system this year to go along with having the sixth-most hits on the farm in 2022.

Dramatic Losses: The Sod Poodles have lost four games in walk-off fashion in 2022 already after suffering eight walk-off defeats in 2021. Amarillo also dropped to 5-3 in extra innings this season, losing their first game in extras since May 15 in Springfield. Despite being no-hit into the 8th inning, Amarillo finished with six hits, tying the number of hits as Corpus Christi, falling to 1-5 in games they have had the same amount of hits in the box score as their opponent.

Error Free: With another 9.1 innings of error-free baseball, the Sod Poodles haven't committed an error in their last 35.0 innings played and have just one error in their last seven games played.