If the results are any indication, fans won’t need to wait for weekend games to see plenty of fireworks at Hodgetown as long as the Soddies are batting.
The Sod Poodles guaranteed themselves a series victory over the Tulsa Drillers with a rare doubleheader sweep during an even more rare Monday contest. In a twinbill featuring two seven-inning games facilitated by rain Sunday, they erupted offensively in the first game, rolling to a 15-7 win, following that up by using a big late inning and holding on for a 10-9 win to complete the sweep and put an exclamation point on the week.
Not only did the Soddies have the series in the bag before they started the final game, but they were about to set a club record. A total of 7,588 fans were in attendance for the finale, setting a franchise record for single-game attendance.
It’s extremely early in the second half, but the Soddies made a statement by posting a 5-1 mark against Tulsa and are tied with Midland for the lead in the TL South Division after one week of play.
“Tulsa’s a really good baseball team,” Sod Poodles manager Shawn Roof said. “They’re always a really good test, but we’ve been playing some really good baseball the last month and a half of the season. I’m really excited about how the guys came out here and played together. They were definitely aggressive in all facets of the game.”
The final three games of the series were the prototype for the sort of offense fans have come to expect at Hodgetown, which was particularly good news for the Soddies. They started the weekend Saturday with what had to be one of their best wins of the season, as they rallied from a six-run deficit for a 12-10 victory, guaranteeing themselves no worse than a series split.
That was just a warm-up for Monday, the lone one this season in which the Texas League was scheduled to play. Instead of the scheduled nine-inning, Sunday’s rainout forced two seven-inning games.
The first one started at 4 p.m., before any significant crowd appeared. However, the tone was set in the bottom of the first, when Jordan Lawlar (on an inside the park hit) and A.J. Vukovich hit back-to-back home runs for a 2-0 lead.
Tulsa rallied with four runs off Soddies starter Deyni Olivero in the top of the second, but in the bottom of the inning, Vukovich gave the Sod Poodles the lead with a three-run homer. The Drillers came back to tie it on Diego Cartaya’s two-run homer in the third, but when Caleb Roberts led off the bottom of the frame with an opposite field blast to left, the Soddies never trailed again, as they scored six runs to make it 12-6.
Vukovich wasn’t finished either, as he hit his third homer of the game, a three-run shot in the fourth to cap the scoring. He now leads the team with 15 homers and 53 RBIs.
“I actually did it once in high school,” said Vukovich of three-homer games. “I definitely didn’t think it would happen for awhile and I don’t know why. It seems really tough to do, but sometimes you just wake up and have that feeling at the plate and you know you’re on that day.”
Playing in the day at Hodgetown didn’t hurt the prospects for a big offensive day, and the two teams combined for 15 homers over the two shortened games Monday. Vukovich embraced the hitter-friendly conditions in the hitter-friendly park.
“I honestly really like the doubleheaders just because you get to see a lot of at-bats and it gets you in the flow really quick,” Vukovich said. “When the 4 o’clock game starts you can really see it. Everyone was seeing the ball really good on both sides, especially early.”
By the third inning, every starting Sod Poodle had collected at least one hit, as they ended up with 15 on the day.
The second game was more competitive, with a comparable amount of offensive entertainment. Tulsa hit five homers (albeit, four of them solo shots), and led 5-4 going into the bottom of the fifth.
With the top three hitters in their lineup coming to the plate, Tulsa reliever Ryan Sublette hit Seth Beer with a pitch to force in a run and tie the game. On the next pitch, Roberts hit Sublette, blasting the ball over the left field wall to clear the bases and give the Sod Poodles the lead for good at 9-5.
“I’ve been pretty aggressive pretty much my whole life to be on the fastball,” Roberts said. “I knew (Sublette) was going to come at me with that after hitting Beer with that slider, so I made a good swing on it. You know that the ball flies pretty good here.”
The Sod Poodles built a 10-5 lead, but being in Hodgetown, it wasn’t necessarily that safe. In the sixth, Tulsa’s Carson Taylor hit his second homer of the game (teammate Jorbit Vivas also had a pair) to make it 10-6.
Soddies reliever Raffi Vizcaino came on and gave up two walks and a single to load the bases before he was relieved by Jeff Green, on his first pitch threw a wild pitch to bring home a run. Yusniel Diaz then singled to left to bring home a run and Kody Hoese hit a sacrifice fly to score a run and make it 10-9.
Taylor then hit a potential double play grounder that second baseman Tim Tawa booted to put the go-ahead run at first. But one pitch later, Green got Austin Gauthier to hit into a double play grounder and end the game.
Roberts named TL Player of the Week
Roberts capped a big week by being named the Texas League’s Player of the Week for June 26-July 2. In that span, he batted .438 with three homers and four RBIs and has reached base safely in his last 14 games.
In addition to that, Roberts also threw out a runner at third in Monday’s first game from left field.
“I’ve been working with (Termell) Sledge our hitting coach in my set up and a few other adjustments,” said Roberts, who’s now hitting .259. “Just really being consistent in my main goal. We’ve been having really good at-bats the whole series and we just want to keep it going. It’s a long day but we just grind out at-bats to get the win.”
This is the second time a Sod Poodles player has been honored by the TL, as Ryan Bliss was Player of the Month for May.
“It’s always exciting to have somebody win Texas League Player of the Week,” Roof said. “When he came back from an injury you could tell he was pressing and trying to do a little too much, which we all do. You’re starting to see him stay within himself. He’s another guy who’s staying within the zone and laying off tough pitches outside the zone.”
Bliss and Lawlar: The Future is now
A pair of Sod Poodles have been chosen to play in the Sirius XM All-Star Futures Game, and it’s no surprise that it’s the top two guys in the lineup.
Leadoff hitter and second baseman Bliss and No. 2 hitter and shortstop Lawlar have both been selected to the National League team this Saturday in Seattle as part of Major League Baseball’s All-Star week. Bliss and Lawlar are the only players from the Sod Poodles parent club Arizona Diamondbacks organization selected for the game.
They aren’t the only players with Amarillo connections either. Heston Kjerstad, a Randall High graduate who is playing for the Baltimore Orioles Class AAA affiliate in Norfolk, Va., is an outfielder on the American League roster.
This is the third straight year the Sod Poodles have had a player in the Futures Game. In 2021, outfielder Alek Thomas played in it, and last year outfielder Corbin Carroll, who is starting for the National League in the MLB All-Star Game next week representing the Diamondbacks, appeared in it as well.