Soddies Hurt by Gifted Runs, Fall in Fourth Straight to Missions

San Antonio, Texas (May 26, 2023) – The Amarillo Sod Poodles fell to the San Antonio Missions on Friday night, 8-2, but tied the Missions in the hit column with just five knocks coming from both clubs. Amarillo tied a season high of 11 walks allowed and committed two untimely errors that a quiet night at the dish could not overcome.

The Sod Poodles were retired in order in the top of the first to bring up the Missions' bats in the home frame. Amarillo starting pitcher Jamison Hill retired the first two batters with ease, one via the strikeout and the other by fly out. The Missions threatened a score after back-to-back two-out walks got runners on board but Hill fanned his second batter to finish the inning with no runs allowed.

In the next frame, Deyvison De Los Santos roped a two-out double for Amarillo's first hit but was left stranded.

San Antonio took hold of the lead in the bottom of the second. Hill was able to retire two batters but a pair of free passes were issued to get Missions on board and a blooping two RBI double in shallow left field pushed them both across. The next batter got plunked but a fly out helped Hill escape the frame without allowing anymore damage.

Amarillo's offense made a push in the top of the fourth. Caleb Roberts smoked a ball down the right field line for a lead-off double and was pushed 90 more feet on a groundout. A.J. Vukovich secured his return home with a sacrifice fly to get the Sod Poodles on the scoreboard, shortening the lead to 2-1 in the Missions' favor.

Hill's night came to an end and Blake Workman's began after he took over pitching duties in the home frame of the fourth. Hill walked off the diamond after allowing two earned on as many hits and four walks through 3.0 innings, fanning five Missions in the process.

Workman retired back-to-back batters but a hit-by-pitch and a pair of swiped bags got a runner on third base. However, the right-hander induced his third groundout to extinguish the offensive thrust.

Workman did not see the same results in his second inning pitched. He sat down the first batter on strikes but a fielding error and a catcher's interference put runners on first and second. A two RBI double followed and padded San Antonio's lead to three runs over Amarillo.

Jake Rice was the next bullpen arm to answer the call and took the reins in the bottom of the sixth. Rice was unable to register an out, beaning the first batter he faced and walking three straight for a Missions score before being relieved by Mitchell Stumpo.

Stumpo worked a groundout that got the lead runner at the plate but a balk call trailed in the next at bat and gifted another score. A walk juiced the bags once again and was capitalized on with an RBI single. Amarillo forced another out at home but the fifth batter of the frame was walked to push across San Antonio's eighth run and widen the deficit to seven.

Amarillo was sent back to the dugout in the order they came for the third straight inning in the top of the seventh.

Hugh Fisher took over pitching duties in the bottom half. He produced two outs, one from a groundout and another in the form of a punch out but a hit-by-pitch and a pair of walks loaded the bases and sent the fourth Sod Poodle in two innings to the mound. Austin Pope answered the call and put out the fire, fanning his first batter on four pitches and ending the frame.

Amarillo's offense came back to life in their next trip to the plate. A trio of one-out singles loaded the bases for the Soddies' first base runners since the fourth inning. Caleb Roberts successfully pushed one across from a fielder's choice and raised the stakes to 8-2.

Pope retired his fourth straight batter to bring Amarillo's bats back up in the top of the ninth but they were retired in 1-2-3 fashion, granting the Missions their fourth straight win over Amarillo, marking the first time this season that the Sod Poodles lost their first four in a six-game series.

Amarillo returns to Nelson Wolff Stadium on Saturday with Chad Patrick set to toe the rubber for the Sod Poodles in game five. First pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m.

NOTES:

DE DOS SANTOS: Deyvison De Los Santos went 1-for-3 at the dish with a two-out double and a walk on Friday night. It was the 19-year-old's first double poked off of a lefty in 31 plate appearances facing southpaws this season while also going for his first two-bagger with two outs. Additionally, he has earned all three of his doubles this season while down to two strikes. It was the D.R. native's first double in 32 games dating back to his 2-for-5 performance on 4/14/23 versus Corpus Christi where he poked a double and a homer.

CLIMB WITH CALEB: Caleb Roberts turned in a 1-for-4 night at the plate with a double, RBI and a run scored. Roberts extended his RBI streak to four games which is currently tied for first in the Texas League. His four-gamer is tied for the second longest RBI streak on the club this season behind Ryan Bliss and Adrian Del Castillo's five game streaks, sharing second place with former teammate Tristin English who earned a four-game RBI stretch before his promotion to Triple-A Reno. The lefty-bat has now safely hit in five of his last eight games played dating back to 5/17/23 at Frisco, earning eight hits, a double, a homer, and eight RBI across the date range. It was his first two-bagger on the road this season with all three doubles coming on Friday nights and when the team is trailing in runs.

THE XBH EXPRESS: The Sod Poodles managed to poke two XBH across their five total knocks in the loss. The Soddies are now on a 19 game XBH tear dating back to their five XBH outing on 5/5/23 at Corpus Christi. Amarillo is now 14-17 in contests where they poke multiple extra base hits.

RYAN BLESSED: Ryan Bliss went 1-for-3 with a walk. Bliss is 7-for-18 this series with his seven knocks accounting for a little over 1/5th of the club's 34 hits in San Antonio. Bliss has now hit safely in 34 of his 38 games played this season while maintaining his spot on the throne in the Texas League for AVG (63-for-166), hits and total bases (104). Among fellow D-backs minor leaguers, Bliss comes in second for AVG, fifth for OBP (.408) and first place for hits and total bags.

SYNTAX ERROR: The Soddies committed two errors in the loss for their eighth multi-error contest in 2023 and their second this series. Amarillo is 3-5 in contests where they commit multiple errors and are now 10-19 when getting tagged with at least one in a game. The Sod Poodles currently rank tied for last place in the Texas League for fielding percentage (.972) and have committed the second most errors (42) behind North West Arkansas' 43.

MAMBO NO. FIVE: The Soddies were only able to produce five hits at the plate on Friday. Amarillo has been held to five hits or less 13 times this season and holds a 4-9 record when they let this happen. Amarillo also held the Missions to five hits and have now held their opponent to this many or less knocks 10 times and are 6-4 under these circumstances.