Soddies Trounce Missions To Start Homestand

Amarillo, TX – The Amarillo Sod Poodles defeated the San Antonio Missions 19-10 on Tuesday morning at HODGETOWN in a marathon game that featured 31 combined hits and eight HR.

Amarillo rewrote their 2022 record books, notching a season-high 19 runs, 16 hits, and four home runs, while also overcoming a six-run deficit, their largest comeback of the year. Two Soddies had six RBI, and four players had multiple hits.

The game started with No. 10 organizational prospect Brandon Pfaadt on the mound for his first start at HODGETOWN in 2022. He was granted an early lead in the bottom of the 1st after Corbin Carroll and Dominic Canzone scored on a 2-RBI single by Leandro Cedeno.

Pfaadt allowed a run to score in a four-hit 2nd inning, but he cruised through the rest of his start to the tune of 4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K. His eight strikeouts were a single-game high by any Sod Poodle pitcher in 2022, and all of them were swinging Ks.

Jeff Bain relieved Pfaadt in the top of the 5th, and the Missions promptly took the lead with a three-run frame. After a leadoff groundout, Bain surrendered a double followed by a two-run home run by Brandon Dixon. Two batters later, Tirso Ornelas took him deep on a 112-MPH solo shot, the second home run of the inning to make it 4-2. It was also the hardest-hit HR at HODGETOWN this season.

Brett de Geus relieved Bain in the top of the 6th, and the Missions carried over their momentum en route to four more runs. De Geus allowed a leadoff double followed by back-to-back walks, and Esteury Ruiz made him pay with a grand slam to left field. The 4-RBI homer was the third the Sod Poodles have allowed this season.

Trailing 8-2, Amarillo's offense began to come to life in the bottom of the 6th. Cedeno and Ti'Quan Forbes led off the frame with a walk followed by a double, and Blaze Alexander brought home one on an RBI fielder's choice. Juan Centeno scored Forbes on an RBI double play, and the Soddies stranded two runners in scoring position to end the inning.

Not to be deterred, the runs kept coming in the bottom of the 7th after a scoreless top of the inning tossed by Justin Vernia. Canzone and Dominic Fletcher led it off with a walk-double combo, and Cedeno scored Canzone on an RBI sac fly. Forbes scored Canzone on an RBI single, and Blaze Alexander followed him with a single and a stolen base to put two runners in scoring position. Juan Centeno took full advantage of the situation, blasting a three-run home run to make it a 9-8 Amarillo lead.

The Missions battled back in the top of the 8th, reclaiming the lead off of new pitcher Blake Workman. After a leadoff double, Dixon blasted his second home run of the day, a two-run dinger to left field. Entering the 8th, the Sod Poodles trailed 10-9.

The bottom of the 8th turned out to be the most productive inning of the season for Amarillo, notching 10 runs off of seven hits and bringing 15 batters to the plate. The first two batters reached on a hit by a pitch and a walk, and Cedeno gave Amarillo a 12-10 lead with a three-run homer to left field. The next two batters singled and reached on another HBP, and Centeno added to the lead with his second home run of the day, a 439-ft no-doubter to center field to make it 15-10. Jancarlos Cintron then singled and was immediately scored by a Carroll RBI triple, and Carroll scored on an RBI single by Eduardo Diaz. Not to be left out of the hit parade, Canzone strode into the batters box and launched 504-ft moonshot to centerfield, a two-run home run that was the longest tracked at HODGETOWN in 2022. The Sod Poodles drew two more walks after the dinger, but stranded them both after the three-HR, 10-run inning.

Junior Garcia entered in the 9th in a game newly blown wide open, and retired all three batters he faced to secure the Sod Poodle victory. Despite the blown save, Blake Workman (1-0) earned his first victory of the year while Nolan Watson (0-1) blew the save and earned the loss for the missions.

The offensive onslaught saw a number of individual 2022-season records set as well. Cedeno (2-for-5, HR) and Centeno (2-for-5, 2 HR) both notched 6 RBI, the most by a Sod Poodle since Michael De La Cruz' six on June 5, 2021 and the second-most in Double-A this season. Forbes scored three runs off of four hits, which ties Canzone for the most hits by a Sod Poodle this season. Canzone also scored four runs and drew four walks, both single-game team highs. The 15-batter 8th inning was the also first time the Soddies have batted around in 2022, and the 16-hit overall performance was the first game this year in which every batter has recorded a hit.

All told, Amarillo notched 18 RBI with two doubles, a triple and nine walks while only striking out three times. The Missions notched four doubles, but struck out 13 times and left eight runners on base.

With the win, the Sod Poodles have now continued their streak of non-consecutive wins or losses to 10 games. They will look to put together their first winning streak of the season tomorrow, April 20, with first pitch against the Missions at 7:05 pm.

Notes:

Franchise Marks: The Sod Poodles set a new franchise-high in runs in an inning after plating 10 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. The Soddies entered their half of the frame trailing 10-9. After the first two batters of the inning were put on base, Leandro Cedeño put Amarillo in front for good with his third home run of the season. In total, seven hits including three home runs in the inning were used to set the franchise-high for runs in an inning. The previous mark was set back on June 5th, 2021 when the Sod Poodles scored nine runs in the 6th inning against Frisco. The Sod Poodles used two home runs in the inning in that contest including a grand slam.

*Better In Pairs: *Sod Poodles catcher Juan Centeno went 2-for-5 with both hits coming via three-run home runs and both homers came off Missions' pitcher Nolan Watson (7th and 8th innings). For Centeno, the multi-HR game was the first of his professional career that has spanned over 4,099 games including 708 career games in the big leagues. It is the first multi-HR game by a Sod Poodles player this season and first since Eduardo Diaz ended the 2021 season with a pair of home runs. It was the 18th multi-HR performance by a Sod Poodles player since 2019.

LOOOONG GONE: Outfielder Dominic Canzone's 8th inning home run off Moises Lugo was hit 504'8" feet, according to Trackman. It is the longest HR hit this season at HODGETOWN, topping Juan Centeno, who held the record for three whole batters. Centeno's briefly-record-breaking home run of the day was his second of the day and was hit 439 ft off the center-field batter's eye. Canzone cleared the batter's eye and left the ballpark, landing in the City Hall parking lot.

*Walking To First: *Not only does Dominic Canzone mash baseballs, by drawing four walks on Tuesday, he joined Rodrigo Orozco (2021) as the only two Sod Poodles players to earn four walks in a single game in franchise history.

*Ti'QUAN-DO: *With a 4-for-5 day at the plate, INF Ti'Quan Forbes joined Dominic Canzone as the only Soddies with four-hit games so far in 2022. After joining the Sod Poodles on the Sunday before their trip to Tulsa, Forbes has now played two games at HODGETOWN, and has gone 7-for-10 (.700) with a double, home run, four RBI, and five runs scored.

*Well Pfaadt: *Making his second start of the season, and first at HODGETOWN, Right-hander and Dbacks' No. 10 rated prospect pitched a doozy. Over 4.0 IP, Pfaadt allowed just one run on five hits and added a season-high eight strikeouts. The eight punchouts are the most for any Sod Poodles pitcher this season through 10 games.

One Through Nine: Tuesday's contest marked the first time this season all nine of the Sod Poodles starters have recorded a hit. Despite ranking second in Double-A with total team hits (97), the Sod Poodles had not had all nine starters get in the box score with a hit in the same game this season before today.

*Pitching Woes: *As a pitching staff, the Sod Poodles have allowed the most hits and home runs in Double-A through the first 10 games of the season. The 105 hits allowed are four more than San Antonio and are eight ahead of Corpus Christi who plays Arkansas later tonight (4/19).