Soddies by Morning: Hurley's 3 Hit Night isn't enough, Sod Poodles drop Game 1 in Corpus Christi

The Amarillo Sod Poodles kicked off the second leg of their 2000+ mile road trip against Corpus Christi last night, and unfortunately the offense continued to sputter. Amarillo managed just one run in the first eight innings against the Hooks pitching staff before a Jack Hurley solo shot in the ninth drove in the Sod Poodles second run.

It didn't help that Tommy Troy, the Texas League leader in on base percentage, was notably absent after being scratched late Tuesday for the fourth straight game for an unknown reason. Troy wasnt the only key piece of the lineup scratched on Tuesday night as infielder Jose Fernandez coming off a weekend that he had three extra base hits, was a later scratch than Troy, just a few minutes before first pitch again for an unknown reason.

Corpus Christi opened the scoring with a John Garcia single after Soddies starter Roman Angelo walked back to back hitters in the second inning. That was also Corpus Christi's only hit off of Angelo in his 4.0 innings of work, but Garcia would take another Angelo pitch just deep enough to complete a sacrifice in the fourth. Angelo started out hot by striking out the side with a sharp changeup in the first, but had some command issues after that at times, throwing only 48.7% strikes, issuing four walks on the night and striking out six in the process.

Jack Hurley vs San Antonio

The bottom of the order did most of the little damage that Amarillo dealt, recording five of the six Sod Poodle hits on the night. Outfielder Jack Hurley recorded his second three-hit performance of his Double-A career with a pair of singles, and the home run, finding himself responsible for both Amarillo runs. Catcher and former Corpus Christi Islander Blake Osborn and shortstop Jean Walters, who slid into to the lineup replacing Troy, both hit singles of their own on the evening. LuJames Groover was the only 1-6 hitter in the Soddies lineup with a hit, after rolling an infield single in the eighth. After a 1-8 performance last night, Amarillo moved to 4-53 with runners in scoring positions in seven games on this, what feels like, never ending road trip.

The bullpen was rock solid. Alec Baker pitched two scoreless innings but got into some trouble after throwing eight straight balls to start the seventh inning, putting two on before acting manager Jordan Procyshen went to take the ball and put in Zach Barnes who came and threw four straight balls of his own to load the bases. After 12 straight balls from Amarillo pitching Zach Barnes went to work. Barnes froze the only Top 30 position player prospect for the Hooks Zach Cole for a strikeout on three pitches, and retired the next two to escape the frame without a run. John Garcia would add a third RBI to his tally in the eighth inning off of Jhosmer Alvarez to give Corpus enough breathing room to close out the win.

Amarillo 6.0 Games back of Midland

After dropping four to Springfield last week the Sod Poodles really needed to take advatage of a Hooks team that has consistently struggled all season, picking up only their 13th win of the year in the series opener. Instead Amarillo moves to 18-22 on the season and six games back of Midland in the Texas League South.

Amarillo will send right hander Jose Cabrera (2-1, 4.85 ERA - 3.97 FIP) to the mound with his mix of a mid-90s 4 seam fastball, a hard sinker that plays a similar speed, a upper 80s to lower 90s cutter, an upper 80s slider, a sweeper in the mid 80s, and finally a changeup that plays around 84-87 most days. Cabrera's 39 strikeouts find him 10th in Texas League but he uncharacteristcally generated only five swings and misses against Springfield last week and just a single strikeout in 5 innings of three run baseball. It will be Cabrera's first appearance since entering MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Diamondback's prospects after Tim Tawa's graduation, where Cabrera finds himself sitting at #25.

Jackson Nezuh (1-5, 5.04 ERA - 3.79 FIP) takes the ball for Corpus Christi after winning his first decision in Frisco in his last start.

Wednesday's Starter Jose Cabrera