Weber’s 4-Hit Night helps the Pointy Boots Find the Launch Pad Against San Antonio
The Sod Poodles got their swagger back to take the series opener at Hodgetown. Dylan Ray once again shined despite the box score. Ray tossed a great outing outside of one bad inning in the 2nd that saw 9-Hole hitter Fransisco Acuna punish the Sod Poodles right hander for allowing a pair of walks and a single by tanking an 0-2 pitch out of the yard for a Grand Slam to give San Antonio a 4-0 lead early. No one else would cross the plate the rest of the night for the visiting Missions. Ray spun 4 straight scoreless innings after the 2nd, recording a line of: 6.0 IP / 5 H / 4 R / 4 ER / 4 BB / 4 K – on 97 Pitches and 57 Strikes. Ray would hand the ball to Cesar Gomez who tossed a gem of his own. The only other Pointy Point pitcher of the night only allowed a single hit (with 2 outs in the 9th) and striking out 1, in a dominant 3 inning save on 30 pitches and 24 strikes (80%).
The bats came alive to open the series, after San Antonio took that intial 4-0 lead, the Pointy Boots de Amarillo wasted no time taking that lead back. A 5-Run 2nd inning that saw a Drake Osborn walk, Jose Fernandez double, Andy Weber rip a 2-RBI single, before Kristian Robinson launched his team leading third home run of the season to give Amarillo a lead that they would never give back. After the Missions pulled starter Jagger Haynes the Soddies would take advantage of David Morgan, cracking 3 homers from LuJames Groover (an absolute tank to Bar 352), Gavin Conticello, and Drake Osborn in his Hodgetown debut. Fernandez would fall just a homer of his own short of the cycle after tacking on a triple off the wall in the 4th.
Coming into to Sunday against Frisco Sod Poodles Shortstop Andy Weber was hitting .170 for the season, but the last two games somethings has clicked for the Pointy Boots Shortstop.“I came in yesterday and worked in the cage a little bit. I’ve been struggling with some swing stuff going on, and I was able to kind of get a better feel for it yesterday. It gives me more time to see the ball and make good decisions.” Weber said postgame on Tuesday night. He has definitely seen the ball better his last two games, registering his first three hit game of the season on Sunday against the Roughriders, but there’s no place like Hodgetown to boost your confidence. Weber ripped 3 singles on the night and had driven in 3 runs before stepping to the plate against one of the best relievers in the Texas League in Missions closer Bradgley Rodriguez in the bottom of the 7th. Rodriguez hadn’t allowed a hit to a left-handed batter all season up until that point before Weber crushed a 2-2 inside pitch to the opposite field for a home run (2 on the season), putting away a game that was probably already out of reach.
After Weber and company had put the game out of reach the Missions sent a position player to the mound, a normal custom in a blow out but this one was a little special. Outfielder Wyatt Hoffman the son of Padres legend ,and possibly the best closer ever not named Rivera, Trevor Hoffman to the mound at Hodgetown. Hoffman would get out of the inning with a Tommy Troy, who extended his hit streak to 12 in the first inning, groundout to end the night for the Amarillo bats. The bats would produce 15 hits and 7 walks on the evening and hit 5-12 with RISP, a spot that they have struggled in so far this season.
On a night like this the dugout is jumping, “It’s fun man, everybody’s hitting, everyone’s doing well, we’re scoring a lot of runs, It’s hard not to have fun.” Weber said Tuesday night, “But at the same time we’re just happy to get the win and that’s the most important thing.” The Pointy Boots picked up win number 5 for Amarillo on Tuesday to help them climb out from last in the Texas League thanks to a Hooks third straight loss. The Sod Poodles will be back in action tonight at 7:05.
Probable Starting Pitchers
Avery Short (Left)
Short is back on the mound at Hodgetown tonight after posting his best outing of the entire season there against Springfield in his second start. Short had issues in has last start against San Antonio, facing only 7 batters with 3 of them playing longball in just .2 IP for the day.
EVT’s Diego Garcia on Henry Baez
Entering the season ranked as the Padres’ No. 12 prospect on Pipeline (No. 10 on EVT’s Ranking), Henry Baez is set to take the mound for his fourth start of the season. Baez is somewhat of a raw prospect for his age, but remains an interesting figure on the mound. At 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, Baez leans on inducing ground balls and soft contact for success on the mound. A strong 19 starts at High-A Fort Wayne in 2024 (76.1 IP, 3.30 FIP) led the Padres to promote Baez to Double-A, where he posted 50 innings with a 3.06 ERA, albeit with a below-average 15.4% strikeout rate. Baez’s bread-and-butter is his sinker, which lives at 91-94 mph and can touch 95 mph, with strong armside run. Baez’s main secondary is a sweeping breaking pitch that Baez calls his curveball, which sits at 79-82 mph and generates plenty of whiffs for him. His splitter is still developing, but can fall off the table in the mid-80s. So far this season, Baez has limited walks while increasingly pitching deeper into games, and is coming off five innings of two earned-run baseball against Jac Caglianone and Northwest Aransas. Baez faced Amarillo in his first start of the season, allowing two runs in two innings. For Sod Poodles batters to have success against the right-hander, they will need to avoid having quick at-bats, as letting Baez settle in allows him to keep batters flummoxed at the plate.
