Manuel Pena Homers twice, including a walk-off, in double header sweep

The Sod Poodles after an explosive game one walk-off in their first matchup with the Wind Surge on Tuesday night, rain postponed Wednesday’s contest to set up a double header on Thursday and it did not disappoint in the slightest.

Game one starter Jose Cabrera stayed red hot going 6.0 IP of 2 run baseball, with 4 strikeouts, and 2 walks. After that great showing Cabrera now has a 2.93 ERA in his last 5 starts even including a 5 ER appearance against the Hooks last week. 

Wind Surge shortstop Kaelen Culpepper provided all the offense that the Wind Surge would get in game one, depositing a solo shot over Bar 352 in left field in the third, and a single in the seventh to drive in his second run, en route to a 4/4 night. 

Manuel Pena, Jose Fernandez and Christian Cerda all homered in the game one win. Pena gave Amarillo the go-ahead run early before Fernandez and Cerda went back to back to give Amarillo a little breathing room. Cerda’s homer was his seventh of the second half, matching his total from the first half with a lot of baseball to play. 

Dan Kubiuk came in to relieve Cabrera and allowed just one run off Culpepper’s single before striking out Walker Jenkins and Gabriel Gonzalez to close the book on a fifth straight Sod Poodles win. 

Like Cabrera, game two starter Roman Angelo had a good July of his own. Angelo tossed 5.0 innings of 1 run ball, striking out 7 and walking just one batter. “Our goal as the starting staff and the relievers and everyone is keep the games close, let our offense go to work.” Roman Angelo said postgame. “They've been playing great all season. And so we just want to keep it close for them.”

“I think it was one of his best starts. Very consistent with the strike zone. I think he walked like one or two guys.” Sod Poodles catcher JJ D’Orazio said of Angelo. “I think he did a great job. He managed his stuff really well.”

Once again, Kaelen Culpepper did the damage early for Wichita, roping a double to drive in the only run off Angelo. The shortstop went 5/7 in the doubleheader. Walker Jenkins extended the Wichita lead to 2-0 with a solo shot off Zane Russell in the sixth inning, but Russell kept the game close for an offense that has been magic late in games in the second half.

Wind Surge starter John Klein held the Sod Poodles scoreless for 5 IP only allowing one extra base hit to Manuel Pena, continuing a great start at Double-A this season for the Twins prospect.

The Sod Poodles waved their wands one more time. After a walk-off in the series opener off the bat of Ivan Melendez, the Sod Poodles found themselves down two runs in the ninth before back-to-back singles from D’Orazio and Caleb Roberts put the winning run at the plate with two outs. Amarillo couldn’t have asked for a hotter bat to step to the plate in that moment. Pena has been scorching hot in the second half, slashing: .340/.384/.573/.957 since the break with 21 RBIs and 13 extra-base hits after 3 more on Thursday. 

“​​I feel like we did a great job.” D’Orazio said postgame. “We accomplished everything we were trying to do. We kept the game close, and we got the final shot to win it all.” 

Amarillo is now 6-0 in doubleheader contests this season and has won 6 games in a row, leading to a 6-game lead over the third-place San Antonio Missions. (Midland is 5 games back but won the first half, so they have already qualified for the Texas League playoffs.)