Amarillo Sod Poodles settle for split at Corpus Christi

It could be said that the Amarillo Sod Poodles have found some consistency during the second half of Texas League play.

The catch is that they’re in about the same place they were before.

For the second straight series, the Sod Poodles went into the weekend with a chance to take a series with just one win on Saturday or Sunday. But for the second straight weekend, they had to settle for a series split, as they fell 3-2 at the Corpus Christi Hooks to split the series with three wins and three losses.

That was similar to the previous series at home at Hodgetown against Wichita, when they won the first three games but lost the next three to settle for a split. The Soddies will return to Hodgetown on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. to start a six-game series against Northwest Arkansas.

Sunday’s finale fairly typified a series in which there wasn’t a whole lot of offense. The Sod Poodles took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Lyle Lin’s RBI single, then after Corpus Christi tied it in the bottom of the third, they went up 2-1 in the next half-inning on J.J. D’Orazio’s RBI groundout.

However, the Hooks got to Soddies starter Yu-Min Lin for two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Lin walked Brice Matthews to force in a run, then Collin Price hit a sacrifice fly to center to put the Hooks ahead 3-2.

The best news was that relievers Gerardo Gutierrez, Jamison Hill and Jake Rice didn’t give up a run the rest of the way. Despite getting two runners on base in two of the final four innings, the Sod Poodles could bring home the tying run.

A series win looked highly likely after the Soddies took three of the first four games of the series. They opened with an 11-5 win Tuesday with Yu-Min Lin taking the first win on the mound, but they were unable to score more than five runs in any of the final five games of the series.

The teams split a pair of 10-inning games, with the Hooks winning 2-1 on Wednesday and the Sod Poodles winning 3-2 on Thursday, as Jean Walters squeezed home Neyfy Castillo on a sad. On Friday, Dylan Ray picked up his first win of the season for the Soddies in a 5-1 victory, allowing only two hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings.

One reason for the lack of offense over the final five games of the series was the absence of Ivan Melendez, who is second in the Texas League in home runs with 18 behind Sod Poodles teammate Tim Tawa. Melendez was placed on the seven-day injured list Wednesday.

That same day, outfielder Wilderd Patino was called back to Amarillo from the Sod Poodles parent club Arizona Diamondbacks Class A affiliate Hillsboro.

Also, right-hander Dylan File, the team’s hottest pitcher over the previous two weeks, was called up to Class AAA Reno and was replaced on the roster by Joe Elbis, who was called up from Hillsboro.