Sod Poodles Win 6-4 In Opening Game Against Corpus Christi

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 @ Corpus Christi Hooks [HOU]

Amarillo Sod Poodles (20-23) | Corpus Christi Hooks (18-25)

Corpus Christi, Texas— The Amarillo Sod Poodles opened their Corpus Christi trip with a 6-4 victory over the Hooks at Whataburger Field. After trailing 4-2 through four frames, the Soddies battled back, plating four unanswered runs while the combined arms of Blake Rogers (W, 1-0) and Edgar Arredondo (S, 3) shut the door over the final frames. D-backs No. 8 prospect Bryce Jarvis, in his Double-A debut, tossed five and two-thirds innings and allowed four runs and six hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

In the opening game of the six-game series at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi, the Hooks tallied runs early to give the hosts the 2-0 lead. Chandler Taylor led the inning off with a single, who plated the first run following Kory Lee's one-out triple. Scott Manea added the second run on his singled to right-center field to bring across Lee.

In the next inning, in top three, the visiting Soddies found some offensive momentum when Renae Martinez led off with a double. After Luis Basabe walked with one out and Alek Thomas grounded out to put both runners in scoring position, Dominic Fletcher came through with a two-RBI single up the middle to tie things at 2-2.

After holding off Corpus in the bottom of the third, the Hooks broke through again in the fourth with another two runs when Lee and Manea knocked back-to-back solo home runs to make it a 4-2 matchup.

Amarillo kept the pressure on in the fifth and sixth innings, putting a solo run up in each half to tie things yet again. A walk and two singles in the fifth manufactured a run while, in the sixth, in his Double-A debut, Buddy Kennedy slugged a home run to tie the game at 4-4.

The Soddies took their first lead of the night at 5-4 in the seventh when Fletcher notched his second hit of the night, a double to left, to bring in Thomas and mark his third RBI of the game.

Amarillo continued to add on in the eighth courtesy of Basabe's sacrifice fly ball to score Martinez, who walked to leadoff the frame, to extend their lead to 6-4, which would be all the Sod Poodles needed the rest of the way.

*Notes:
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*Double-A Firsts: *Right-handed pitcher Bryce Jarvis, D-backs No. 8-rated prospect, and infielder Buddy Kennedy both made their Double-A debuts Tuesday night in Corpus Christi. In his first Double-A start on the mound, Jarvis tossed 5.2 innings and allowed four runs on six hits with three walks surrendered and three strikeouts. Kennedy went 1-for-4 in big fashion with his first Double-A home run in the sixth inning to tie the game at four apiece.

Blake's Back At It: Reliever Blake Rogers made his second appearance with Amarillo in 2021 on Tuesday night, tossing a gem. Through 1.1 innings, he did not allow a hit or walk and struck out three or his four batters faced. Rogers also notched the win in the outing.

Bullpen is Hot: The Soddies bullpen improved to 15-7 on the season with a 5.18 ERA over 43 total games following Tuesday's victory of the Hooks. Soddies relievers have combined for 11 holds and converted 11-of-16 saves over 180.2 innings with 232 strikeouts. The Soddies bullpen ties for fourth in Double-A in wins and tied for eighth in strikeouts.

Garrett's Streak Remains Intact: Stone Garrett extended his hit-streak on Tuesday to a career-high 13 games after doubling in his final at bat in the ninth inning. In the span, he is 25-for-57 (.438) with six home runs, five doubles, and 18 RBI. He currently leads the team in average (.315), home runs (8), and RBI (26).

*Soddies Stats: *Dominic Fletcher and Jose Herrera each extended their hitting streaks to 11 games. Herrera went 1-for-5 on Tuesday night. Fletcher went 2-for-5 with a double and single and knocked in three of the team's six runs. Herrera is now 18-for-44 with three doubles, two triples, three home runs, and 15 RBI over his last 11 games.

Tomorrow's Tidbits: The Sod Poodles head into game two of the six-game road trip in Corpus Christi. The Hooks currently lead the season series 8-6. The next home series for the Sod Poodles will start on June 29th with the Wichita Wind Surge making their first ever trip to HODGETOWN.