Soddies by Morning: Missions take Games 3 & 4, Groover, Melendez, Troy Homer

Wednesday Night

Long time Sod Poodles fans saw a familiar face tonight on the mound, as Luis Patiño returned to Hodgetown for the first time since 2019, this time to face his old team. The Soddies came into Wednesday riding a season-high four game winning streak.

LuJames Groover Home Run (9)

Amarillo didn't find a whole lot of success against Patiño tonight, but LuJames Groover was the exception. Groover started out the game with a pair of extra base hits off of the former Sod Poodle, including launching his ninth homer of 2025 on a 2-Out 2-1 92 MPH fastball from Patiño and despositing by Bar 352 in left field in the first to open up the scoring. That was the first run that Patiño has given up so far this season in his limited action of three starts. After that the right hander from Columbia would go to work on the Soddies batting order, going 3.2 innings (around what he's been limited to this season so far in his three starts) walking just one, and striking out batters on: 92 MPH Fastball and a pair of 85 MPH Sliders.

The box score really didn't tell the entire story for Roman Angelo. The Sod Poodles right hander fell just one strikeout short of tying the team season high for strikeouts with eight, but Angelo walked four extending his Texas League lead in that catagory. Despite the walks tonight Angelo did an overall really good job of getting himself of out of trouble for the most part outside of allowing back to back baserunners in the second before San Antonio center fielder Nerwilian Cedeño crushed a 1-0 pitch and put it on the berm in right to drive in three runs and give San Antonio the lead. The Missions would get one more run off of Angelo after Brandon Valenzuela ripped a double to drive in Devin Ortiz, who reached on another Angelo walk, to extend the lead to 4-1 where it would stay until Angelo was relieved after going six innings and throwing 96 pitches and 56 strikes (58% strike rate).

The Missions would add on after Angelos exit, the bullpens scoreless inning streak would be snapped. San Antonio would use a 4-run eighth inning at the expense of Alec Baker in his second inning of work loaded the bases before being relieved by Gerardo Gutierrez, who would allow a Ripken Reyes triple that would get lose in the corner and clear the bases. Fransisco Acuña has hurt Amarillo this series, even with all of his hits so far just being singles. Acuña's sixth hit and single of the set would deliver the eighth San Antonio run and make the game 8-1.

After Groover tied the team lead in home runs in the first inning, Ivan Melendez bombed his tenth in the top of the ninth to temporarily spoil reliever and old Big XII foe Tyson Neighbors Double-A debut, and make him 2/2 in his career off of the righty. Neighbors would shut the door after that and pick up strikout number one and eventually end the ball game to seal a Missions victory.

Thursday Night

There wasn't much to write home about for the home team on Thursday. Mission's starter Braden Nett came to play in game three. The Padres #9 Prospect (MLB Pipeline) picked up where his teammate Luis Patiño left off yesterday and shut down the Sod Poodles lineup for most of his start. Nett struckout eight Amarillo batters over six innings of work allowing three earned runs over the course of his start. The damage for the most part came off of the bat of Tommy Troy, who cracked his first opposite field home run of 2025 and his sixth of the season off of Nett on the first pitch to cut the lead to 9-3 Missions in the fifth inning to end the scoring for the night for the Sod Poodles.

Tommy Troy HR (6) First Opposite Field HR of the Year

Logan Clayton made just his second start of the season for Amarillo on Thursday, and it did not go according to plan. Clayton surrendered a totlal of 11 runs to the Missions, including a bases clearing triple for Ripken Reyes for the second consecutive night, making that the first time (since at least 2005) that that has happened in the Texas League. That wouldn't be the only triple for Ripken on the night as he would follow that at bat with another triple in his next trip to the plate, giving him his first three Double-A triples in his last two games. Clayton would do what was necessary for the Sod Poodles and eat innings, getting through 5.1 innings in the 11 run outing, walking three and striking out two.

The one bright spot on the night was the bullpen. The pen kept held the Missions scoreless the entire night. After struggling on Wednesday, the combination of Abner, Alvarez, and Zane Russell on his birthday combined for 3.2 innings of shutout baseball to neutralize a San Antonio lineup that has fired on all cylinders the last two nights.

Fridays Missions Pitcher Preview with Diego Garcia of The East Village Times

Amarillo will face off against right-hander Victor Lizarraga, who has had himself something of a roller-coaster season. Lizarraga struggled to a 9.42 ERA through May 14, and his next outing came in piggyback form in relief of rehabbing right-hander Matt Waldron. Since that outing (May 20), Lizarraga has made four appearances (two starts and two piggyback outings), and has allowed four earned runs in 16.1 innings in that span (2.20 ERA), striking out 12 and walking none in that span. Lizarraga is not going to blow away batters with overwhelming velocity, as he sits 89-92 with the fastball while topping out at 93 mph, but he will locate the pitch both low and high in the zone, as he generates whiffs on the heater at the top of the zone. Lizarraga compliments the heater with a curveball in the upper 70s, which is his best secondary pitch. The curve has impressive depth and solid two-plane motion, which allows it to play like a sweeper and generate ample whiffs. His slider and changeup are not as strong as the ol’ number two, but Lizarraga will intertwine those to set up for the strikeout. Despite his velocity not being overwhelming, Lizarraga is a full-blown pitcher through-and-through, using his strong command and sequencing to keep opponents at bay.