Sod Poodles on Short End of Low Scoring Affair

San Antonio, Texas (August 23, 2023) – Amarillo dropped their Wednesday night game against the San Antonio Missions by a score of 4-2. The two teams combined for just 11 hits with seven of those coming after the middle of the fifth inning. Deyvison De Los Santos homered again for Amarillo, extending his current hit streak to nine games in the loss.

Three straight walks to begin the top of the second helped to score the game's first run of the night. Making his first appearance with Amarillo since May 2022, Jancarlos Cintron picked up a RBI in his first at-bat of the night. The Sod Poodles second baseman used a productive groundout to his San Antonio counterpart to score De Los Santos for Amarillo's first run.

The offense turned it back over to Peter Solomon on the mound with a 1-0 lead. The right-hander worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the first inning before retiring the Missions in order during his next trip to the rubber. Solomon worked another runner-less inning in the third before leaving a leadoff single once again stranded during the bottom of the fourth.

With each team managing just two hits per side after the top of the fifth inning, the Missions' third hit of the game put them in front of Amarillo. After issuing a leadoff walk, Solomon retired each of the next two batters he faced. The fourth batter of the inning made it 2-1 as Cole Cummings hit a two-run home run.

De Los Santos wasted no time getting that run right back. Leading off the top of the sixth, the D-backs' no. 5-rated prospect made it back-to-back games with a home run as he knotted things up at 2-2. It would be the only damage done in the inning with Solomon returning to the mound for the bottom of the frame.

San Antonio got their leadoff man aboard for the third straight inning. A wild pitch and a fly-out allowed the runner to move to third with just one away. Another wild pitch got far enough away from Juan Centeno behind the plate for the go-ahead run to put San Antonio back in front. Solomon got the next batter out before Jake Rice was called upon to get the final out in the frame. Amarillo was sent back in order in the seventh with Rice then working around a pair of baserunners to keep it a one-run game through seven innings.

The Sod Poodles were once again held in check in the top of the eighth with Will Mabrey checking in on the mound to face San Antonio in their half of the inning. Two doubles gave the Missions a two-run cushion with Amarillo down to their final three outs of the ballgame.

Consecutive singles to start the top of the ninth gave Amarillo their fourth and fifth hits of the night with nobody out and the tying run aboard. After a flyout and a pitching change, both runners were able to advance into scoring position on a passed ball. A pair of strikeouts ended the Amarillo threat as the Missions hung on to take game two on Wednesday night.

Game three of the series will take place on Thursday with the Sod Poodles sending Luke Albright to the bump. The right-hander leads the team with his seven wins on the year. First pitch from Nelson Wolff Stadium is slated for 7:05 p.m.

NOTES:

NINE IS FINE: A two-hit night including back-to-back games with a home run extended Deyvison De Los Santos' hitting streak to nine games. The D-backs no.5-rated prospect is 4-for-8 with two home runs, a double, three RBI, four runs scored, and a walk through the first two games against the Missions. His nine-game hit streak is his second-longest of the season behind a 12-game streak he had from June 29-July 25. He has hits in 27 of his last 31 games since July 14th with 13 multi-hit games during the stretch. He is hitting .323 (41-for-127) with eight home runs, eight doubles, a triple, and 23 RBI over his last 31 games played. His 75 total bases are T-7th in all of Double-A since coming back from the All-Star break with his eight home runs being good for T-10th. With 17 XBH and his .323 AVG, he ranks T-2nd and T-9th respectively across the Texas League since July 14th when he returned to the active roster.

JUAN TWO: After going 18 games between multi-hit efforts, Juan Centeno now has two multi-hit games in his last three appearances with a 2-for-3 night at the plate on Wednesday that included a double. His double against the Missions also gives him three doubles in his last three games after collecting two on August 18th against Arkansas. Juan and Deyvison De Los Santos combined for four of the five hits Amarillo got against the Missions for the game. Centeno also matched his season-high with hits in seven straight dating back to August 6th while extending his on-base streak to a season-best 13 games.

RISPY BUSINESS: Amarillo is now 1-for-22 with RISP in the two games to begin the series after going 0-for-10 in game two of the series. As a team, Amarillo is hitting .274 on the year with RISP, the second-best mark in the Texas League behind Midland's .284

SOLOMON IN SAN ANTONIO: In his first appearance against the Missions this year, Peter Solomon worked 5.2 IP, allowing just three hits with three earned runs coming across on his watch. Over his last two starts, Solomon has worked 11.2 IP, allowing eight hits and six runs. He was one out away from collecting back-to-back quality starts.

A STRIKEOUT MACHINE: After another 1.1 IP of scoreless ball, Jake Rice has made it five of his last six without allowing a run for the left-hander. Over his last six, Rice has struck out 16 compared to just three free passes. He has a 17.5 K/9 rate over his last six appearances and has allowed just six hits during the stretch. He is up to 50 strikeouts on the season in 34.1 IP, and the fifth primary reliever to reach 50 + strikeouts this season. Kyle Backhus leads the way in that department with 63 through 39 games and 53.0 IP.