Homer Happy Sod Poodles Cruise Past Frisco

Amarillo, Texas (July 15, 2023) – The Amarillo Sod Poodles evened the series against Frisco with an 11-4 win on Saturday night. Caleb Roberts led the charge with a pair of home runs, two of the five total home runs the Sod Poodles hit for the game.

Two batters into the bottom of the first inning, Roberts tied the game with a solo home run after seeing Frisco plate a run in the top of the first. Tim Tawa then broke the tie as he swatted his 14th home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning to give Amarillo a 3-1 lead.

After Jamison Hill retired six straight, his offense gave him an even bigger cushion to work with in the bottom of the third. Roberts hit his second home run in as many trips to the plate after Jordan Lawlar was plunked to start the third inning. The next two Sod Poodles batters each reached ahead of Deyvison De Los Santos. The D-backs' no. 4-rated prospect tallied his second hit of the night and also drove in the sixth run of the game for Amarillo as A.J. Vukovich was able to score after reaching on an error. With two aboard, Neyfy Castillo capped a six-run Sod Poodles inning with a three-run home run of his own.

Hill retired the first two he faced in the top of the fourth before working around a two-out walk for his third straight clean inning. Amarillo was kept off the scoreboard for the first time during their fourth trip to the plate.

Hill made it four straight scoreless innings after stranding a runner on third in the top of the fifth inning. His night came to an end with Conor Grammes taking over pitching duties to begin the sixth inning. Frisco cut into the Amarillo advantage with three runs - all coming with two outs to make it a 9-4 game.

Amarillo looked poised to score again in the bottom of the sixth inning with Camden Duzenack hitting a one-out double and later advancing to third on a wild pitch. However, with Lawlar drawing a walk, Roberts laced a ball to right field that was hauled in with a diving catch and able to double-off Lawlar before Duzenack could tag up and score. Christian Montes De Oca worked a 1-2-3 inning in his first inning of work in relief of Grammes before turning it back over to the offense. Ivan Melendez provided Amarillo with the 10th run of the game, mashing a 428-ft solo home run in the bottom of the seventh.

Montes De Oca worked yet another hitless inning as he returned for the top of the eighth, punctuated by a leaping grab by Tawa at second base to rob a would-be hit. Amarillo loaded the bases with just one out in the home half of the night's penultimate inning. Vukovich brought home a run with a productive ground out to push the Sod Poodles' lead to seven runs at 11-4 with no additional runs coming across.

Raffi Vizcaino closed the door on Frisco in the ninth to secure the win on Saturday night. The right-hander worked a hitless final inning with a strikeout to begin the ninth.

LHP Yu-Min Lin makes his Amarillo and Double-A debut for the Sod Poodles to close out the series tomorrow. First pitch on Sunday is slated for 6:05 p.m.

NOTES:

IT'S A BEACH BALL: Caleb Roberts swatted two home runs as part of a 3-for-4 night at the plate. He homered in each of his first two trips to the plate before having to settle for a single in the fourth. Saturday night marked the second multi-HR game of his pro career and first since August 24, 2022 when he was wearing a Hillsboro Hops uniform. Roberts is now up to 11 home runs through 53 games played in 2023 and is the sixth player to reach double-digit home runs this year for Amarillo. His 11 dingers are now a single-season career-high for the former fifth-round selection by the Diamondbacks in 2021.

TAWA KNOCK-A-HOMA: Tim Tawa joined Roberts in setting a single-season career-high, hitting his 14th long ball of the year. Tawa broke the tie with his two-run home run in the bottom of the second. Saturday night's home run was his sixth home run in his last 12 games played dating back to June 29th when he swatted his first multi-HR game of his professional career.

THAT'S PARA-NICE: Jamison Hill turned in yet another strong start for Amarillo and picked up his fourth win of the season. The right-hander gave Amarillo 5.0 IP with just two hits allowed and one earned run. It was his second-straight win, the first time winning back-to-back starts since he won three-straight from June 29-July 10 last season when he was in Hillsboro. Over his last eight starts this year, Hill is now 4-0 and wields a 3.94 ERA since June 1st. Over the span, he has allowed two or fewer runs in six of those starts.

MORE LIKE LU-WOW: Ivan Melendez has now homered in each of his first two games for Amarillo after hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning on Saturday night. The D-backs' 7th-ranked prospect's 20 home runs are tops in the organization this year. He is also the eighth different Sod Poodle to homer in consecutive games so far in 2023. It was the fourth time he has had back-to-back games with a home run already this year, and Saturday was his third straight game overall with a home run dating back to his final game in Hillsboro before his promotion to Double-A. He had a string of four-straight games with a home run while in Hillsboro from May 9-13.

SIX ON THE BEACH: The Sod Poodles recorded their seventh six-run inning this year in the bottom of the third. The club now has a total of 18 innings where they have scored at least five runs. The six-run frame paved the way for the 14th time Amarillo has scored at least 10 in a game this year, with 11 of those 14 now coming at home. The last six-run inning came in game two of the doubleheader in Springfield last Saturday night.