Corpus Christi Pitching Cools Down Sod Poodles Offense to Snap Win Streak

AMARILLO, TX (August 27, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (30-24, 66-56) fell to the Corpus Christi Hooks (27-27, 58-65), 7-3, on Thursday night at HODGETOWN. A pair of big innings plagued Amarillo starting pitcher Junior Sanchez, while the Corpus Christi bullpen cooled off a hot Soddies offense over the final five frames.

Following a similar script from the night prior, Corpus Christi jumped out to a two-run lead right away when Will Bush followed a Jason Schiavone two-out double with a wall-scraping home run to right field. The Hooks rattled off two more hits to continue the rally, but a flawless relay involving Druw Jones, Cristofer Torin, and Matt O’Neill cut down a potential third run at the plate to end the frame.

After helping wipe a run off the board in the top of the first, Torin put the Soddies in the run column in the home half of the inning by sending an elevated 0-2 fastball over the wall in left center field to cut the Corpus Christi lead to one run.

D-backs #17 Prospect Cristofer Torin is on FIRE 🔥

Soddies on the Board!#SoddiesSummer pic.twitter.com/7KcisBGjzm

— Amarillo Sod Poodles (@sodpoodles) August 28, 2026

Sanchez settled in after the first to hold the Hooks hitless over his next two innings of work, but ran into trouble yet again when the fourth inning rolled around.

After a strikeout of Tyler Whitaker to open the frame, the next three Hooks batters reached base to load the bases. Sanchez retired Hector Salas for the second out of the inning, but would not make it out of the woods unscathed as Justin Thomas Jr. drove in a pair on a double to left field and Trevor Austin put Corpus Christi up 6-1 on his two-run single in the next at-bat to force Amarillo to go to the bullpen.

Amarillo scratched across runs in the bottom of the fourth and seventh innings to pull within three runs, first on an O’Neill RBI groundout after Jones reached on error and moved himself up to third base by stealing second base and advancing 90 feet on a flyout to right field. The run in the seventh was a result of a Jones double that plated Avery Owusu-Asiedu.
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Antonio Menendez* and Billy Corcoran combined for 3.2 scoreless innings in relief for the Sod Poodles, but the Hooks were able to muster some offense against southpaw Will Mabrey, who allowed a double to Alejandro Nunez, the first batter he faced. Nunez would steal third base, allowing him to score easily on a safety squeeze bunt laid down by Brandon Forrester to extend the Hooks lead to 7-3.

Joey Mancini was called upon for the final six outs for Corpus Christi. The right-hander was up to the task, retiring the side in order in both the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings to complete the Hooks victory.

The Soddies will turn to Brian Curley on the mound to get back to their winning ways, while the Hooks will counter with Andrew Taylor.

POSTGAME NOTES

AOA-OK: Avery Owusu-Asiedu saw his 14-game hit streak to begin his tenure with the Soddies come to an end tonight, but still extended his on-base streak to 15 games with a walk in the third inning (8/11-c)...it remains the second-longest active stretch on the team as Trent Youngblood extended his active on-base streak to 16 games by drawing a walk in the fifth inning.

GRAN TORIN-O: Checking in with another multi-hit effort tonight was Cristofer Torin...he has collected two or more hits in six straight games (8/21-c), the longest such streak by a Sod Poodle since Dominic Fletcher from May 8-14 of 2022...he joined Wichita’s Ben Ross to be the only two players in the Texas League this year with a six-game multi-hit streak.