It all seems set up for the Amarillo Sod Poodles to start the second half of their Texas League season strong.
That could still happen, but it will have to wait for now.
Coming off a five-game winning streak to close the first half of their season on a roll with a series win at Northwest Arkansas, the Sod Poodles returned home to Hodgetown to open the second half of TL play against the Arkansas Travelers. For four of those six games, though, the Soddies couldn’t take advantage of their homefield.
Needing a win Sunday to earn a series split, the Sod Poodles fell behind again for the second straight game on the weekend, as Arkansas won 8-5 to win the series by a 4-2 margin.
It was a wildly mixed bag on the field for the Soddies, who won one game despite giving up 11 runs in the seventh inning. They started the series slowly offensively, scoring only four runs in losing their first two games, while their normally reliable bullpen was inconsistent.
“I know everybody wants to win and the boys are competing,” Sod Poodles manager Javier Colina said. “Baseball right now is not going our way. We just need to execute better pitches. When you make a mistake at the top of the strike zone the other team is going to take advantage and that’s exactly what they did.”
The series followed a pattern which has been prevalent for the Sod Poodles this season, as they lost the first two games decisively, came back to win the next two in thrilling fashion, then fell behind early in the last two to drop the series. During the weekend, they never held the lead.
Only once in the series did any of the Soddies starting pitchers go the required five innings to get the win had they qualified for such a situation. Ironically, that came in Friday’s 17-15 slugfest win, when Jonatan Bernal went five innings and had the lead when he left, only for the bullpen to have a meltdown.
Such short starting outings meant the bullpen got a serious workout for the Sod Poodles at Hodgetown last week, for better or worse.
“When the starter doesn’t give you the lift you need with four or five innings, you don’t want to burn the bullpen in the first two or three games of a series because you want somebody for Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Colina said. “I don’t want to take a guy out and that be the easy way out. I want to see if he can bounce back and fight. We have to be a little careful about that.”
It looked like good news that right-hander Logan Clayton was slated for two starts in the series, especially after he threw seven shutout innings in his last start before the series against Arkansas, posting aa 3-0 win over Northwest Arkansas. However, it was hardly home sweet home for Clayton at Hodgetown.
Clayton faced seven batters in the first inning of the series opener and retired only one, earning him an extremely early ticket to the showers. He gave up six runs in the first as the Sod Poodles lost 11-1.
Sunday was only a little better for Clayton, who lasted 2 2/3 innings and gave up six runs before exiting. The bullpen pitched respectably the rest of the way to keep the Sod Poodles in it with a chance to split the series.
“This is so unpredictable with what we’re going to get,” Colina said. “It’s a roller coaster and we’re going through a little bump right now, but this series is over. We’ve got to play better baseball all the way around.”
Wednesday night, right-hander Jose Cabrera gave the Soddies some innings in his start as he went 4 2/3 innings , but the Travelers got to him for 12 hits and nine runs, including six in the fifth inning to break a tie and claim an 11-3 win.
The Sod Poodles evened the series in the next two nights with the two most entertaining games of the series. Thursday, they won 4-3 in the bottom of the 11th when Ivan Melendez drove in new addition Ryan Waldschmidt on a bloop single to right.
Friday might have been the most Hodgetown like game of the season to date. The Sod Poodles hit seven home runs, gave up 11 home runs in the seventh, then walked it off on Christian Cerda’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for a wild 17-15 victory.
That capped a comeback after the Travelers took a 15-12 lead with 11 runs in the seventh.
“It’s crazy because that inning when they scored 11 runs was 47 minutes so I brought three pitchers in,” Colina said. “Then the bullpen bounced back and we won with that walkoff, so I respect that. Even when it wasn’t that pretty we got that W.”
The rush of Friday’s win didn’t carry over into Saturday, though. Right-hander Roman Angelo continued to have some rough luck, as he remained winless after giving up four runs in the second to put the Soddies in a hole which they never climbed out of in a 9-4 loss.
In an unusual scheduling quirk, the Sod Poodles are off on Monday as usual, then go to Midland for three straight games before returning home to host Midland for three more games to conclude the series starting on Friday with the Fourth of July, with an early 6:05 p.m. start. After that, the Soddies have the following Monday before hosting Frisco for six games, giving them nine games at Hodgetown in 10 days for their longest stretch at home this season.
All told, the Sod Poodles will play 15 of their first 18 games to start the second half of the season at home.
“It’s hard when we play at home,” Colina said. “The wind was blowing so hard and it was tough to pitch. It is what it is but we have to move forward. We’re happy to be home, but at the same time the pitching is kind of hard.”
Top prospect Waldschmidt makes Amarillo debut
With Kristian Robinson on the seven-day injured list, that gave the Sod Poodles room to bring in Ryan Waldschmidt as the team’s fourth outfielder last week. Waldschmidt was called up from Class A Hillsboro last Monday and is ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the Soddies major league parent club Arizona Diamondbacks organization.
It was a mixed bag for Waldschmidt in his Hodgetown debut, as he still played all six games against Arkansas. He batted .192 on the week, but drove in five runs and scored four.
Waldschmidt batted fourth or fifth all week, and got his first Hodgetown homer with a two-run shot during Friday’s slugfest. Sunday, he hit a two-run single in the bottom of the first inning to briefly tie the game 2-2.
However, what may have gotten Waldschmidt the most noticed Sunday was what he did in the field in the first two innings in right field. He made a pair of diving catches in the first and second innings, one of which saved a run.
“He’s a great athlete,” Colina said of Waldschmidt. “I love his energy. He plays the game the right way. He just got here but the expectations are high for him. He’s hitting fourth or fifth already in our lineup. We’re happy to have him.”
Groover’s future
Another top prospect for the Diamondbacks currently in Amarillo is going back home for a bit, but it will be a happy visit.
Third baseman LuJames Groover, the No. 10 prospect for the Diamondbacks, has been selected to play in the Major League Baseball Futures Game during All-Star Week in Atlanta on July 12. It will be something of a homecoming for Groover, who’s from East Point, Ga.
Groover has been with the Sod Poodles the whole season after getting called up to Amarillo late last season. In 67 games he’s batting .301 with 10 homers and 36 RBIs and is second in the Texas League in both batting average and hits with 78.
He’s one of six Sod Poodles to be named to play in the Futures Game, along with pitcher Adtrian Morejon (2019), outfielder Alek Thomas (2021), outfielder Corbin Carroll (2022), shortstop Jordan Lawlar (2023) and second baseman Ryan Bliss (2023).
Groover will be joined by another member of the Diamondbacks organization, outfielder Slade Caldwell, who is currently at Hillsboro and who could well be playing in Amarillo by next season.
Speaking of future prospects
Fans who were interested in seeing potential major leaguers at Hodgetown this past week certainly weren’t disappointed. There were three top 100 prospects who made their Double-A debuts at Hodgetown.
Waldschmidt, at No. 91, is the lowest ranked of the prospects (Caldwell, incidentally, is No. 90). The Travelers, the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, had two top 75 prospects who came out at Hodgetown for the first time, and they got noticed.
Arkansas outfielder Lazaro Montes showed why he’s ranked as the No. 30 prospect in baseball at Hodgetown. Montes hit three towering homers and drove in seven runs last week to show he belongs at this level.
Also debuting at Double-A for the Travelers was middle infielder Michael Arroyo, the No. 75 prospect in baseball. He also made a splash, hitting .333 with a homer and six RBIs.