The Red Raider & Max Effort; 'Hounds Win, 5-1

RockHounds 5, Amarillo Sod Poodles 1

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Momentum Bank Ballpark

Entering Saturday night’s match-up at Momentum Bank Ballpark, both starting pitchers were coming off their finest performances of the year, one of them a no-hitter ... Amarillo’s Matt Tabor tossed a seven-inning no-hitter last Sunday against the Missions at San Antonio.

Ty Damron’s performance at Corpus Christi wasn’t the same kind of headline-grabber, but the left-hander allowed just one run over six innings in an 8-1 win over the Hooks. The former Texas Tech Red Raider picked up right where he left off … and was even better … in leading the RockHounds to a 5-1 win over the Sod Poodles.

The victory gave the RockHounds wins in 10 of their last dozen games.

Damron (see “Kibble & Bits,” below) pitched six scoreless innings before yielding a single run in the seventh. He allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out six to earn his second consecutive win.

As the match-up foreshadowed, offense was tough to come by - - the teams combined for just 10 hits, five for each club.

Max Schuemann, who joined the club this week from (High-A) Lansing when Jeremy Eierman was placed in the Injured List, had a breakout game with a pair of RBI doubles, driving in three of the RockHounds’ five runs.

Jhonny Santos walked to open the fourth, Logan Davidson reached on the first of two costly Sod Poodles errors, and Jonah Bride singled to load the bases. Tabor came back with a pair of strikeouts before Schuemann’s double to center … his first hit at the Double-level … drove in two runs, eventually becoming the game-winning swing.

Davidson opened the sixth with a walk and stole second base and Bride reached on the second of Amarillo’s two errors (Tabor gave up all five runs but, with the miscues, all were unearned). Davidson scored on a fielder’s choice before Schuemann and Kyle McCann capped the inning with back-to-back two-out RBI doubles.

Kibbles & Bits

In his last two starts, Ty Damron has allowed just two runs over his last 12⅔ innings (a 1.42 ERA in this two games), with 13 hits, three walks and 11 K’s. Ty was selected by the A’s in the 15th round of the 2016 draft out of Texas Tech.

Max Schuemann was 0-for-8 in his first three games, but broke out in a big way Saturday, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI to lead the club. When he was called up at the start of the week, Max led ALL of Minor League Baseball with 34 stolen bases … and had been caught just twice (he is still tied for third in all of the minors).

Next Game: Sunday, July 18

RockHounds vs. Amarillo Sod Poodles

Final of a six-game series and sixth of a 12-game homestand

First Pitch at 2:00

Family Day & Ice Cream Sunday

Five tickets for $25 … coupon in the Sunday Midland Reporter-Telegram

Probable Starters

AMA Ryne Nelson (RH, 0-1, 6.39)

RH Kyle Friedrichs (RH, 1-3, 5.84)

Next at Rocky Town!

The Corpus Christi Hooks come to town next week for a six-game series (July 20-25) at Momentum Bank Ballpark.