Seth Beer Completes Comeback With Walk-Off Home Run

Amarillo, Texas (August 5, 2023) – The Sod Poodles jumped out to a first-inning lead on Saturday night before finding themselves in a five-run hole after the top of the seventh. From that point on, the Sod Poodles scored six unanswered runs to top the Corpus Christi Hooks 8-7 in walk-off fashion for the second time in this series.

Batting in the leadoff spot for the first time this year, Kevin Vicuña wasted no time getting the Sod Poodles on the scoreboard. He sent the third pitch he saw over the left-center field wall for Amarillo's ninth leadoff home run of the season. Two batters later, Ivan Melendez swatted his eighth home run since arriving in Double-A to give the Sod Poodles a 2-0 lead.

After relieving Will Mabrey in his spot start that went 0.2 IP and 33 pitches, Mitchell Stumpo needed just one pitch to end the top of the first. He then worked around a pair of two-out singles in the top of the second to keep the Hooks off the scoreboard.

The Sod Poodles was retired in order during their second trip to the plate and then saw their advantage cut in half in the top of the third. Hooks left fielder Joey Loperfido homered for the third straight game to make it a 2-1 game. Corpus would later tie the game in the third before building a four-run lead in the top of the fourth inning.

Amarillo loaded the bases with the potential-tying run at the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning. However, a groundout robbed the chances to cut into the deficit.

Christian Montes De Oca spun two hitless innings before turning things over to Jake Rice in the top of the seventh. A leadoff home run on the first pitch in the inning made it a 7-2 lead for Corpus before Rice proceeded to strike out the side.

Vicuña notched his third hit of the game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to start a rally. Caleb Roberts followed him aboard with a single of his own to put runners on the corners. A wild pitch put both into scoring position with Melendez heading to the dish. The D-backs' no. 7-rated prospect added his second hit of the night which also brought home both runners for his third RBI of the night.

Rice worked his second consecutive clean inning and added another two strikeouts to give him five for his outing.

Tawa led off the bottom of the eighth with his third single of the night and was able to advance to second base on a wild pitch. A single placed runners on the corners where Tawa was able to score off the second wild pitch of the inning. After two strikeouts, three straight singles, punctuated by Roberts' second hit of the night erased the five-run deficit and brought the game even at 7-7.

Kyle Backhus was brought on to relieve Rice in the top of the ninth. The left-hander got a fly ball for the first out of the inning before a walk put a runner aboard for Corpus. The southpaw struck out each of the next two batters he faced to send the game to the bottom of the ninth.

After taking the first pitch he saw for a strike, Seth Beer pounced on the second one. He sent the pitch over the deepest part of the park for Amarillo's first walk-off home run of the year.

The Sod Poodles now own a 3-2 series lead over the Hooks and have regained a two-game lead in the Texas League South. The series will come to a close on Sunday night with RHP Luke Albright taking the mound for Amarillo. The right-hander leads the Sod Poodles in wins and strikeouts on the year.

NOTES:

DEFENDED THE DIAMOND: Seth Beer kicked off the Saturday night fireworks with his walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. It was his second home run of the series, and his eighth overall on the season. It was Amarillo's second walk-off of the series, fourth overall, and the first walk-off home run of the season. Beer delivered the seventh-ever walk-off home run in franchise history a day after International Beer Day. The last walk-off home run prior to Beer's on Saturday night was Jorge Barrosa's walk-off of Frisco on June 10, 2021.

COLLECTING HITS LIKE INFINITY STONES: Kevin Vicuña tagged his second home run of the season as he led off the game on Saturday night for his first longball since May 14, 2023 against Midland. It was also his first-ever leadoff home run in his now 593-game professional career. The leadoff blast was Amarillo's ninth of the season and the first since Camden Duzenack started the ballgame on June 11 at Midland with a home run. He finished the game 4-for-5, tying his career-high for hits in a game which he has now done six times. His last multi-hit game came all the way back on September 18, 2022 when he was in Double-A with the Philadelphia Phillies organization. This was the fifth four-hit night this year by an Amarillo player and the second of the series after Caleb Roberts had four-hits to begin the series on Tuesday.

MELENDEZ SMASH: Ivan Melendez homered for the eighth time in 17 games since joining the Double-A ranks. He upped his season total to 26 home runs, seven more than the next closest D-backs' minor leaguer which also just so happens to be his teammate, A.J. Vukovich. Since arriving in Amarillo on July 14th, the D-backs' seventh-ranked prospect is tied for the most home runs in all of Double-A with the second-most RBI over the span with 21. His .735 SLG in 17 games is the third-highest while his 50 total bases is also second.

CARDINAL SURFER: Tim Tawa turned in a three-hit night at the plate, doing so all with singles as he went 3-for-4 with a run scored. It was Tawa's fourth three-hit night of the season and his second multi-hit game of the series. Against Corpus this week, Tawa is now hitting .353 (6-for-17) with two doubles, three RBI, two runs scored, and a walk.

ROBERTS DOWNEY JR: Caleb Roberts was one of four Amarillo players to turn in a multi-hit night, going 2-for-5 with the game-tying RBI in the bottom of the eighth. After his night at the plate, Roberts is now hitting .267 on the season, which is the highest AVG among active Sod Poodles. He entered the game tied with A.J. Vukovich who had the night off on Saturday. In the series, Roberts is hitting .474 (9-for-19) with a home run, two doubles, a triple, three RBI, four runs, and a walk.

THE HUMAN TORCH: Jake Rice set a season-high with five strikeouts. It was the most strikeouts in an outing for the former ninth-round selection since May 20, 2022, when he also fanned five with Hillsboro. Rice has made two appearances during the series, working 3.0 IP and allowing three hits and just one earned run with six strikeouts.