It seems as if the Amarillo Sod Poodles feel more at home on the road than anyplace else these days.
This past weekend, the Sod Poodles not only scored their second straight road series win, but emerged from their trip to Northwest Arkansas with their hottest streak of the season. They scored two wins in the top of the ninth inning of Sunday’s series finale to beat the Naturals 7-6 and notch their season-high fifth straight victory to close the first half of the Texas League season.
The Sod Poodles (32-37) return home to Hodgetown on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. to open the second half of the season by starting a six-game series with the Arkansas Travelers. However, with the way they’ve played on the road the last two series, it might be hard to blame the Soddies if they wanted to stay on the road.
They’ve won two straight road series, having won four of six at Tulsa two weeks ago, and they topped that at Northwest Arkansas, winning five straight after losing the series opener for a 5-1 series win.
The Sod Poodles had already clinched a series win heading into Sunday with a then season-high four straight victories, tying their best. They trailed 6-5 heading into the ninth and were three outs from their best win streak staying at four.
However, the top of the lineup struck for the Soddies, as Jose Fernandez led off the inning with a triple to right field and scored on a double to right by Tommy Troy to tie it. LuJames Groover then got another hit to right, this one a single, to drive in Troy with the go-ahead run.
Landon Sims relieved in the bottom of the ninth to preserve the win and gave up a pair of singles. However, he also induced a double-play grounder and got a groundout to first base to end it.
The series didn’t start with that much promise for the Sod Poodles. They opened with a 7-1 loss on Tuesday, but after that, the series was all Soddies.
Wednesday’s 3-0 win set the tone for the rest of the series. Right-hander Logan Clayton, who was called back up from Single-A Hillsboro on June 3, may have had the best starting outing of a Soddies pitcher all season, as he went seven shutout innings, giving up only two hits and striking out seven for his first win of the season as a Sod Poodle.
Clayton got all the support he needed when Troy got the Soddies on the board with a two-run home run in the top of the fourth.
The Sod Poodles didn’t give up any more than two runs in each of the next three games. Aside from Clayton, the highlight from the starting pitchers may have been Jonatan Bernal’s outing in Saturday’s 10-2 win.
Bernal, a 22-year-old native of Mexico, was making his first start for the Sod Poodles after getting called up from Visalia that day. He went five shutout innings, giving up only two hits, as that game guaranteed the Soddies a series victory.
Before giving up three runs in the bottom of the fifth Sunday, Sod Poodles pitchers had given up only seven runs in a 41-inning span.
The offense had to make some adjustments during the series. For the last three games of the series, the Sod Poodles were without leadoff hitter and centerfielder Kristian Robinson, who was placed on the seven day injured list. That means Robinson could return to action by next Friday’s game at Hodgetown.
Not only was Bernal called up, but two other pitchers, old and new were added to the roster at Northwest Arkansas. Reliever Eli Saul was called up from HIllsboro to start the series, and left-handed starter Avery Short also returned to the roster after an abbreviated stint at Triple-A Reno.
Prior to the start of the series, right-handed reliever Alec Baker was promoted to Reno.