Amarillo Drills Tulsa Behind 12-Run Outburst

Amarillo, Texas (June 29, 2023) – The Sod Poodles took a two-game lead in the series over the visiting Tulsa Drillers after a 12-7 win on Thursday night. Amarillo collected 15 hits, with all nine starters pitching in with at least a hit on the scoresheet.

Seeing Tulsa plate the first run of the game, Amarillo responded with a seven spot in their first inning. The big frame got started with a Ryan Bliss single before Jordan Lawlar was plunked. A successful double steal put both into scoring position for A.J. Vukovich. The D-backs' no. 11-rated prospect brought both home with a two-RBI single. A pair of bloop singles brought the red-hot Caleb Roberts to the dish. He doubled home another run before the Drillers made a call to their bullpen with just one out in the bottom of the first. Tim Tawa greeted the new arm with a three-run home run that hugged the left field line to make it a 7-1 game.

Peter Solomon was back on the mound after the lengthy bottom of the first from his offense. Consecutive two-out hits - one being a two-run home run -cut the Amarillo lead to 7-3. A quiet bottom of the second and top of the third brought on the third Tulsa pitcher Amarillo faced through their first three at-bats of the night.

Deyvison De Los Santos started the inning with a single into right field. Following a fielder's choice ground out that erased De Los Santos, Tawa sent his second ball over the fence to put Amarillo back up by six runs at 9-3. Tulsa capitalized on a throwing error, following it up with a triple to score their fourth run of the game. An RBI groundout made it 9-5.

Amarillo kept things rolling in the bottom of the fourth. Lawlar bunted his way on base before stealing his second base of the game. Vukovich tallied his third RBI of the night with a single before he swiped second himself. The third straight single of the inning scored Vukovich ahead of Adrian Del Castillo adding the fourth consecutive single of the inning. Del Castillo was left stranded on third as the inning came to a close with the game sitting at 11-5 in Amarillo's favor.

Right-hander Mitchell Stumpo struck out two in his first inning of work in relief of Solomon. Amarillo was retired in order for the first time in the game during the bottom of the fifth to send Stumpo right back to the mound. A leadoff walk came around as the Drillers hit their second home run of the game to cut the Sod Poodles advantage to 11-7. Lawlar picked up his second hit of the game and later scored as Seth Beer drove him home to extend the lead to 12-7 and the last run of the game for the Sod Poodles.

Austin Pope, Michel Otanez, and Josh Green combined to keep the Drillers scoreless over the final three innings. Pope worked 2.1 IP with Otanez working two outs in the top of the ninth before working into a bit of trouble with three walks in the inning. Green came in for the final out of the ninth and left a pair of Drillers stranded on base.

Up two games in the series, Amarillo will aim to take a commanding three-game lead in the opening series of the second half on Friday night. RHP Luke Albright (5-2, 5.65 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Sod Poodles. He will be opposed by Tulsa's RHP Kyle Hurt (2-3, 3.89 ERA). First pitch for the first game of Independence Weekend at HODGETOWN is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

NOTES:

TOUCHDOWN: Amarillo's seven runs in the bottom of the first inning tied their season-high for runs in an inning. It was the fifth time this year and the first since the seventh inning against Springfield on May 31 at HODGETOWN. Amarillo set their franchise-high with an 11-run inning on June 11, 2022 against Frisco. The Sod Poodles did their damage in the first inning on six hits, two shy of the most hits in any single inning so far this year (8, 5/5 @ Corpus Christi)

TIMMY TWO TANKS: Tim Tawa added home runs nine and 10 to his 2023 campaign, going 2-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI. His multi-HR game is the second of the season so far by a Sod Poodle, matching A.J. Vukovich's two-HR game on June 10 in Midland. It is the first multi-HR game of Tawa's 213-game professional career. His five-RBI tied his career-high, previously set on June 17, 2021 at Spokane as a member of the Hillsboro Hops. Tawa is the fifth member of the 2023 Sod Poodles to reach double-digit home runs this season. The former Stanford Cardinal is now up to 39 RBI on the year, fourth most on the club.

SCORED BY VUK: A.J. Vukovich regained the team lead in RBI in his ongoing see-saw battle with Ryan Bliss. The outfield prospect went 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored on Thursday night. Vukovich is now hitting .320 (31-for-97) with 30 of his 43 total RBI coming right at home. His 30 RBI in front of the hometown fans are the most by a Sod Poodle this season.

STOLEN BY....THE LAW?!?: Jordan Lawlar swiped his 23rd bag of the year, going 3-for-3 on stolen base attempts on Thursday night. His three steals are the most in a game by a Sod Poodle this year, breaking a tie of two stolen bases in the same game which had been done eight times so far in 2023, including three times by Lawlar himself. His 23 steals are tied with Ryan Bliss for the most this season after Bliss stole one of his own against the Drillers on Thursday night. The team stole five bases in total, tying for the second-most in a game this year (4/8 @ Frisco).

WE ALL HIT: All nine Amarillo starters earned a hit on Thursday night, the fifth time this year they have accomplished that feat. Six of the nine turned in multi-hit games as the Sod Poodles racked up a total of 15 hits in the win.

SUPREME PONTWHIFF: Austin Pope pitched 2.1 IP for Amarillo and was the third pitcher used in the game. Of his seven batters faced, Pope struck out five of them, matching his season-high for punchouts in a game. He has now struck out five in a game three times in 2023. The five strikeouts are tied for the third-most in any of his 69 relief appearances in his professional career. The right-hander struck out six in relief twice during his 2019 season.

*AGENT ZERO: *Despite it being just 0.1 IP, Josh Green pitched his eighth consecutive scoreless appearance in relief for Amarillo. The right-hander has worked 11.1 IP without a run allowed dating back to June 3. Over his last eight trips to the mound, Green has faced 42 batters and surrendered just six hits and two walks while adding 10 strikeouts. The eight straight scoreless games are now tied for the second-most by an Amarillo hurler this year, matching Andrew Saalfrank's streak from May 7-30. Green was credited with his third save of the year with all three coming in his last six appearances. In now 19 at-bats with a runner in scoring position, Green has allowed just two hits, good for a .105 BAA.