Saturday, September 11, 2021 vs. Tulsa [LAD]

Tulsa Drillers (59-54) | Amarillo Sod Poodles (55-57)

The Sod Poodles made professional baseball history Saturday night at HODGETOWN when Stone Garrett, Buddy Kennedy, Dominic Fletcher, and Dominic Canzone hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs in the third inning, leading Amarillo to a 20-12 victory and series win over the Tulsa Drillers.

According to SABR and MiLB, the four straight home runs in an inning is only the fifth documented instance in Minor League Baseball history and only the second time it happened since 1993.

Soddies starter and D-backs No. 6 rated prospect Bryce Jarvis tossed his shortest outing of the season with 2.1 innings with four hits and three runs allowed and three strikeouts in 59 pitches. Blake Workman earned his third win after 2.1 frames of his own with four runs allowed on four hits with four strikeouts. Newcomer Denson Hull made his Double-A debut and tossed three scoreless frames with just one hit allowed and two strikeouts to earn his first Double-A save.

The Soddies broke the game open right off the bat in the first frame initiated by a leadoff walk by Ben DeLuzio and a single by Geraldo Perdomo. A flyout by Garrett sent a tagging DeLuzio to third base while a stolen base put runners on second and third with one out. Kennedy put the home squad on the board with a double to centerfield to plate DeLuzio, keeping two runners in scoring position. A sacrifice fly ball off the bat of Fletcher made it a 2-0 contest and following a walk by Canzone, Tulsa manager Scott Hennessy made the call to the bullpen after Drillers starter Gus Varland's 35-pitch performance. Reliever Zack Plunkett took over and Eduardo Diaz welcomed him with a line-drive RBI single up the middle to extend the Soddies lead to 3-0 before he struck out Andy Yerzy to end the frame.

In the top of the second, after Drillers leadoff batter Justin Yurchak walked and Hunter Feduccia singled, outfielder Devin Mann, who hit a pair of home runs in each of the last two games, tied the game at 3-3 with one swing as he homered for the fifth time in the series.

In the bottom half of the second, DeLuzio got the Soddies offense restarted with a triple to straightaway centerfield. Perdomo followed up with his second hit of the night to drive in DeLuzio before Kennedy knocked a two-run home run to right field. Fletcher drew a walk and quickly sped around to score courtesy of Canzone's double, which induced another pitching change. Diaz faced new reliever Melvin Jimenez and singled to right field to bring in Amarillo's fifth run of the frame and make it an 8-3 contest.

The momentum strengthened for the Sod Poodles in the bottom of the third when they plated seven runs on five home runs, including back-to-back-to-back-to-back round-trips by Stone Garrett, Buddy Kennedy, Dominic Fletcher, and Dominic Canzone to jump out to a 15-3 advantage.

The game's scoring continued in the fourth when Tulsa plated five runs of their own in the half on four hits, hit-by-pitch, walk, and an error to narrow the deficit to seven runs in the 15-8 game.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Soddies tacked on with a solo run when Canzone hit an RBI single to plate Perdomo who walked and stole two bases to bring it to a 16-8 score.

In the fifth, the Soddies put up runs for a fifth consecutive inning, adding four more runs on five hits, including two triples.

The Drillers piled on four runs of their own in the top of the sixth, highlighted by Mann's second home run of the night to bring the score to 20-12.

The final frames of the contest went scoreless with only three hits combined.

The series finale between the Sod Poodles and Drillers will take place Sunday afternoon at HODGETOWN. Right-hander Ryne Nelson (3-3, 3.32 ERA) gets the ball for Amarillo and will face off against Tulsa righty Landon Knack (2-1, 4.11). First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PM.

Notes:

BACK-to-BACK-to-BACK-to-BACK: The Soddies met a very rare feat in baseball when Stone Garrett, Buddy Kennedy, Dominic Fletcher, and Dominic Canzone hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs Saturday night. According to SABR and MiLB, the four straight home runs in the third inning is only the fifth documented instance in Minor League Baseball history (July 1, 1923 by Wichita Izzies; May 15, 1934 by Buffalo Bisons; May 7, 1993 by Omaha Royals; June 24, 2019 by Salem-Keizer Volcanoes). In Major League Baseball, the instance has happened only 10 times dating back to 1961. The last time it happened in MLB was on August 16, 2020 when White Sox batters Yoan Moncada, Yasmani Grandal, Jose Abreu, and Eloy Jimenez hit four straight in the fifth inning against the Cardinals.

*Homer Kings: *With six home runs on Saturday night, the Amarillo Sod Poodles have now hit 142 home runs during the 2021 season to mark the most homers in a single season in franchise history, topping the 139 by the 2019 Texas League Champions.

Homer Happy: The Soddies and Drillers have currently tied the Amarillo franchise record for home runs in a series with 30. It also tied a season-high with nine home runs combined by both teams. The franchise record for home runs in a game by two teams was set two years to the day at 11 combined with the same teams facing off on September 11, 2019, in game two of the Texas League Championship series between Amarillo (2 HRs) and Tulsa (Tulsa franchise-record 9 HRs).

*Records Broken: *The Soddies set new franchise highs with their 20 runs (19 previous high), 24 hits (20 previous high), 32 runs combined by two teams (24 previous high), and 37 hits combined by two teams (33 previous high).

*Franchise Firsts: *The five runs scored by Geraldo Perdomo marked the first time a Soddies player has ever scored the amount while the five hits by Buddy Kennedy was a first in franchise history.

Two In One: Buddy Kennedy became the seventh Soddies player to hit two home runs in a game during the 2021 campaign with his pair on Saturday night. The franchise record for home runs in one game for a player is three set by Edward Olivares in 2019 (5/5 vs. ARK).

Consecutive Homers: Dominic Canzone knocked his second home run in as many nights and became the eighth Sod Poodles player in 2021 to hit home runs in back-to-back games.

Series Win: The Soddies notched their sixth series win with a fourth victory against Tulsa Saturday night. Overall, the Soddies are 6-6-7 (W-L-S) on the season with one more regular-season series to go in 2021.

All Aboard: With just one out in the third inning, every batter in the Sod Poodles lineup had already recorded a hit and collected 15 runs on 14 combined hits with six home runs. It marked the ninth game this season where every batter in the starting nine recorded a hit. Every player in the lineup except for one on Saturday also had multi-hit nights.

Long One: The Saturday night contest at HODGETOWN between the Sod Poodles and the Drillers marked the longest home game since the stadium opened at four hours and eight minutes, breaking their previous high of 3:49 set on June 9. The longest nine-inning game ever in the Texas League was marked at 4 hours and 17 minutes between Midland (20 runs) and El Paso (18 runs) on June 23, 1991. In MLB, the longest recorded nine-inning game was the second game of the Wild-Card Series that lasted 4 hours and 50 minutes played between the New York Yankees and home team Cleveland Indians on September 30, 2020.

He Was Runnin': Geraldo Perdomo became the third player in Soddies history to reach three stolen bases in a game. It marked the fourth time this season an Amarillo player has met the feat - McCarthy (2x), DeLuzio (once).

Crooked Number: Amarillo's seven spot in the bottom of the third inning Saturday night marked just the fourth time the Soddies have met the feat in 2021 and first time since July 2 vs. Wichita (7th inning).

Double-A Debut: Southpaw and recent newcomer Denson Hull made his Double-A debut Saturday night and did not disappoint after tossing three shutout frames with one hit allowed and two strikeouts while earning his first Double-A save.