Soddies by Morning: Amarillo Stumbles in Series Opener in Midland
The Sod Poodles drop the first game of the series for the fourth time in five openers this season as Midland’s 5 extra base hits are more than enough to take down Amarillo.
After last weeks series win against San Antonio the Sod Poodles looked to continue their momentum but Midland starter James Gonzalez had other plans. Gonzalez continued some momentum of his own, coming into Tuesday’s contest having tossed 9.1 scoreless innings in his previous 2 starts. that trend would continue this week. The starter would extend that streak 14.0 scoreless before the 5th inning when Jose Fernandez ambushed the first pitch that he saw Gonzalez, that would be the only run that the Sod Poodles would get off of the the Rockhounds right hander on the afternoon. Fernandez’s home run was his first of the season (and in Double-A) in 74 at bats, after some near misses including a triple against San Antonio last week to the deepest part of the park that came about as close as you can get without leaving the yard. Fernandez pushed his season averages to .342/.382/.500/.883 in 2025. That .342 average has him now in first place with Frisco’s Josh Hatcher, after Peyton Wilson was promoted after hitting .377 in the first month of the season for Northwest Arkansas before getting promoted to Triple-A Omaha. James Gonzalez would finish the day going 5.1 innings while allowing 5 hits, with the miniscule damage coming on the Fernandez home run, the Rockhounds right hander walked 3 and struck out a season high 8 batters, striking out the side in the second inning.
Amarillo starter Avery Short took the mound for the Sod Poodles, and after a clean first inning, struggled allowing the first two runners to reach. The Rockhounds turned to small ball and it paid off after a sacrifce bunt got Luke Mann in to third base before scoring on a fielders choice to get strike first for the Rockhounds. Midland would add on in the third inning when the Athletics #8 Prospect Henry Bolte singled to extend the lead after a Kristian Robinson error to 3-0. Short would produce a scoreless fourth inning before Bolte struck twice with another run scoring single, leading Short to be replaced with Grammes and the reliever gave up base hits by Colby Halter and Carter Aldrete, scoring 3 more runs, apart of a 4-run fifth to make it 7-1 Midland.The Sod Poodles knocked out Gonzalez after loading the bases in the sixth inning, but Midland went to one of the best relievers in the Texas League this season Mitch Meyers, who cleaned up the mess to end the 1-out threat. Almost every time Amarillo would put runners in scoring postion, Midlands arms would answer the call, holding the Sod Poodles to 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Wednesday.
Luke Albright started a new scoreless streak after his 6.2 innings streak was snapped in his previous outing. For the first time really all year we saw Zach Barnes struggle. The Rockhounds got to Barnes for 3 earned runs after Barnes allowed 4 baserunners in his .2 innings of work, before Zane Russell came in to get the final out of the game, with a 10-3 Midland Final.
Tommy Troy swung his way to his first multi-hit game since April 12 against Springfield, with 3 singles on the day, and driving in a run late, scoring Jack Hurley for the last Amarillo run. Jack Hurley has back-to-back games with a hit, and got aboard three times for the first time all season. The Sod Poodles outfielder is starting to look like he did last year after struggling in the last week, only reaching base 2 times in 13 plate appearances (1 hit, 1 walk). Don’t look now but Gavin Conticello has caught fire recently and picked up his 7th XBH hit is as many games.
We have a matchup of 2 of the top 10 strikeout pitchers in the Texas League today. Spencer Giesting will be back on the bump for the Sod Poodles. Giesting finally showed that he was human in his last start against San Antonio, and for the first time will be looking to bounce back. The Rockhounds will send Luis Morales to the hill posting a 2.33 ERA () this season, but since a rough start against the Hooks, the 6’3″ right hander has spun together 13 straight scoreless frames in his last two starts.
