The Amarillo Sod Poodles are putting their rough start to 2025 further and further in the rearview mirror.
Sunday afternoon at Hodgetown, the Sod Poodles seized their opportunity to score their third straight series win in no uncertain terms against the Tulsa Drillers. In a snapshot of why they’ve so dramatically improved their fortunes, the Soddies beat the Drillers 6-1 to clinch a 4-2 series win, the first time since their Texas League championship season of 2023 that they’ve taken three straight series from their opponents.
After a 2-10 season start, the Sod Poodles (16-17) have overcome their youth over the last three weeks and shown major signs of life from both experienced and new players. Maybe it was just a matter of time before it happened, or at least that’s the way manager Javier Colins sees it.
“I think the boys have started relaxing and seen how important it is to play defense and pitching,” Colina said. “Our starting pitching now goes deep and we don’t have to burn the bullpen or think about making two or three errors in a game. For me baseball is defense and pitching because that’s how you win games. We know that the hitting side is a rollercoaster.”
Proving Colina’s theory, the Sod Poodles had two highly similar outings on the weekend to assure their series win. Saturday night, they clinched no worse than a series split when they won 5-1, giving them two similar victories at Hodgetown that had little to do with the hitter-friendly nature of the park.
Saturday, right-hander Dylan Ray had his second straight shutdown outing, as he lived up to his Texas League pitcher of the week honors from the previous week with his second straight six-inning, no-run outing to lead the way.
That still doesn’t mean that the Soddies didn’t have the usual elements associated with Hodgetown in place. The difference in the score Saturday was a pair of two-run homers by Andy Weber in the fifth and Kristian Robinson in the seventh.
Those weekend wins ended an unpredictable series which was plagued by weather which necessitated a doubleheader Thursday, which the Sod Poodles swept to grab the series momentum.
“The most important thing for me as a manager and this coaching staff is to bring a winning mentality every day,” Colina said. “We have to play pitch by pitch for 27 outs no matter what It was often cold and rainy but I don’t what to hear any excuse no matter what it is. This is professional baseball.”
Yet, the series didn’t get off to an auspicious start for the Sod Poodles. who lost Wednesday’s opener 8-2. Robinson did lead off the series with a homer off Tulsa starter Chris Campos and the Soddies led 2-0 after the first inning.
Left-hander Spencer Giesting was cruising along with five shutout innings and looked like he was going to keep his undefeated record. With his pitch count getting high with one out in the sixth, though, he was pulled after allowing a walk and a single and the Drillers it tied it 2-2 against reliever Gerardo Gutierrez.
Tulsa took a 3-2 lead in the eighth when Jose Ramos hit an RBI single off losing pitcher Zane Russell, then clinched it with five runs in the ninth, capped by a three-run homer from Ramos.
Thursday, in a pair of seven-inning games, the Soddies rebounded with 6-5 and 5-4 wins, the latter won in walk-off fashion when they scored the winning run on an error. Tulsa returned the favor Friday by scoring two runs in the top of the ninth to win 6-4, setting up the weekend to decide the series.
Sunday, the Drillers got on the board first in the bottom of the second with an RBI single against Sod Poodles starter Avery Short but only got one runner as far as third base the rest of the game. The Sod Poodles took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Ivan Melendez executed a hit-and run with an opposite field single to right to score Caleb Roberts. Robinson followed with a two-run double and scored on LuJames Groover’s single.
Ray of light
If there’s proof that a pitcher can learn from a rough time at Hodgetown, it’s Ray. He gave as good a starting pitching performance at Hodgetown this season as anybody Saturday, striking out seven and walking one while scattering five hits to even his record at 3-3 on the season.
“I’m just able to get ahead in the count right now and make hitters make weak contact early,” Ray said. “Guys are making good plays on defense and sometimes things just have to go your way. They’re going our way.”
Ray could well win his second straight TL pitcher of the week if his start against Tulsa is taken into consideration. He earned the previous week’s honors by going six shutout innings in a 4-0 win at Midland.
Last year Ray, who turned 24 on Friday, spent the entire season in Amarillo and had mixed results at Hodgetown. For him, it’s definitely a case of a year older and a year wiser.
“When you’re struggling you have to go back to when you were your best and try to match that,” Ray said. “The staff does a great job as far as game planning and scouting reports. A pitcher can never take all the credit. In a park like this when you first get called up you worry about it and it’s one of those things you can’t control. You have to be relentless in the strike zone, especially with runners on base.”
Ray and Giesting both pitched at least part of last season for the Sod Poodles and they obviously set the tone for the staff. It’s rubbed off on the bullpen, as the Soddies have been tough to beat if they’ve got the lead after six innings.
“It’s nice because it’s contagious,” Colina said. “One guy sees a pitcher going deeper the next one asks him what you been doing. The communication between those starters means a lot. The preparation for the next starter makes them know the information is there.
“It’s unpredictable. I want (Ray) every louting to go six or seven innings. We want to make sure when we take him out he’s in the best position to win the game and make sure it’s a positive outing.”
Mr. Robinson’s neighborhood
It might not be a coincidence that the Sod Poodles started winning consistently when Robinson was elevated to the leadoff spot in the lineup. After some early struggles, Robinson has been a definite spark plug for the Soddies, and his nine-game hitting streak is the longest current active streak on the roster.
Robinson is batting .292 and leads the team with 27 runs and 10 stolen bases. He’s also tied with Groover for the team lead in home runs with seven and with Gavin Conticello for the lead in RBIs with 22.
Like some of the team’s most successful players, Robinson played a full season in Amarillo last year after a cup of coffee late in the 2023 championship season. The difference is he’s a catalyst who now consistently makes things happen.
“I didn’t expect it but I like it a lot right now obviously,” said Robinson of hitting leadoff. “I think I try to take in that position the best I can can the biggest thing is helping my teammates and get a good feel for the guy on the mound. I do feel comfortable taking pitches and seeing what he’s got, but sometimes I just want to trust my instincts and gifts and attack.”
That’s an easy impulse to have at Hodgetown, especially when the wind is blowing out to left for right-handed hitters like Robinson. He knows where the best places to hit the ball are after over year at the park.
“Most importantly the thing is to try to keep it simple because there have obviously been instances where I’ve tried to do too much in this ballpark and it hasn’t turned out like I wanted it too,” Robinson said. “Every day I try to hit the ball hard and hit it on the line and see where it goes.”
On the run
It’s easy to assume that the Sod Poodles, especially when playing at Hodgetown, apply a muscle-bound approach offensively, relying on the long ball, and there’s some truth to that. Lately, though, they’ve developed a flair for manufacturing runs when necessary.
Robinson isn’t the only one who has some speed at the top of the lineup. No. 2 hitter Tommy Troy showed some larceny on the base paths as well this past weekend.
Tulsa couldn’t retire Troy on Saturday, as he had only one hit, but drew three walks. After each walk, though, Troy stole second, and his three steals equaled his professional career single game high.
Sunday, Troy had an infield single and added another steal, more than doubling his stolen base total for the season. Such results appear to be more by design than accident.
“Colina definitely wants to be more aggressive on the base paths and working on putting pressure on the defense is what you really want to do,” Troy said. “It’s been getting us a lot more runs so I love it. I’ve always wanted to steal more and I feel like I have the capabilities to do it. That’s just another way to impact the game. The coaches know when it’s a good time to go and they trust us to get a good jump.”
For faster players like Troy and Robinson, such a dimension gives them more enjoyment for the game.
“It’s really fun,” Robinson said. “We put our team in position to put pressure on the pitcher first. The goal is obviously to get more runs out of it but more importantly to make the pitcher make pitches and give him more of a challenge.”
It’s not necessarily the fastest players in the lineup who can cause chaos on the base paths and get results. Sunday’s go-ahead run was scored after Roberts drew a walk and stole second, only his second steal of the season, setting up the Melendez hit.
Making up the matinee
Six games were packed into five days due to Tuesday’s rainout. That’s happened at Hodgetown before, but not only was a game postponed from Tuesday, but an experience as well.
Tuesday was the only scheduled weekday matinee game of the season, as it was scheduled for an 11 a.m. start. That meant that local students who were prepared to attend for STEAM Day Education Day had to go to class instead. The Sod Poodles won’t have another weekday daytime start this season.
That doesn’t mean Hodgetown won’t have an Education Day this season. On May 20, the park will host a Pecos League game to commemorate STEAM Day, as the Pecos Bills will face the Roswell, N.M. Invaders for a matinee.
The Pecos League is an independent league operating in the desert and mountain regions of the western U.S.
To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left …
In an unusual occurrence in Sunday’s series finale, the Sod Poodles faced a unique pitching arrangement from the Drillers.
Coming into the game, they knew they would face a left-hander in starter Jackson Ferris, a top prospect for Tulsa’s major league parent club Los Angeles Dodgers. After Groover’s RBI single with two outs in the fifth, Ferris was pulled and eventually took the loss.
The southpaw parade for the Drillers didn’t stop there, though. Relievers Jorge Benitez, Christian Suarez and Kelvin Bautista were all left-handers as well, marking a rare instance of the Sod Poodles facing only lefties in one game.
The road goes on forever
The Sod Poodles will be gone for two weeks as they embark on their longest road trip of the season in both time and distance. They start a six-game series at Springfield, Mo. against the Springfield Cardinals on Tuesday.
After completing that series, the Soddies will embark on the longest possible road trip during a Texas League season, as they’ll return to Texas, but will go all the way south to Corpus Christi.
