Walston & Crew Blank San Antonio 7-0
September 16, 2022 – Texas League (TL) – Amarillo Sod Poodles News Release
San Antonio, TX – The Amarillo Sod Poodles got six scoreless innings from left-hander Blake Walston on the hill to earn their sixth straight win. The offense strung together seven runs on nine hits as they cruised to a series win over San Antonio.
Friday night’s ballgame began with Jorge Barrosa turning a routine single into a double with his 60-grade speed. A ground-out helped advance him over to third base prior to runners being put on the corners with a one-out walk. Deyvison De Los Santos scored Barrosa with a RBI single and pushed Tristin English over to third base. A wild pitch scored English as Amarillo jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning.
LHP Blake Walston got the start on the mound for Amarillo. The D-backs’ No. 5 rated prospect retired six of the first eight batters he faced with a pair of strikeouts in the second inning. The two clubs were each retired in order during their next at-bats as the game headed to the top of the fourth inning.
Blaze Alexander roped a gap shot to right-center field for a one-out double. Tim Tawa extended his streak with a single into left field sending Alexander trucking around third base for home. A perfect throw kept Amarillo from extending their lead for the time being.
Walston was aided by some fine defense behind him in the bottom of the fourth frame. Following a leadoff walk, Alexander reeled in a hard-hit line drive in time to send the ball back to first base for the double play.
Eduardo Diaz tripled to start the top of the fifth inning for Amarillo. A Nick Dalesandro walk set the stage for him to swipe second base. An errant throw on the stolen base attempt scored Diaz and pushed Dalesandro to third base. Jordan Lawlar scored Amarillo’s fourth run of the game on a sacrifice fly. Walston retired San Antonio in order in the bottom of the fifth inning to send the Sod Poodles back to the plate.
Amarillo tacked on another two runs in the sixth in part to another Blaze Alexander single followed by a RBI single off the bat of A.J. Vukovich and a double by Diaz.
Walston stranded a leadoff double in the Missions half of the sixth inning by sitting down the next three to exit the sixth without a run allowed.
The first two Amarillo batters in the top of the seventh inning reached base via a walk and hit by pitch. De Los Santo’s second RBI extended the Sod Poodles’ lead to seven runs.
Fellow southpaw Kenny Hernandez took over pitching duties in relief of Walston. He tossed two scoreless innings and allowed just one hit with a strikeout and walk. The third straight left-handed pitcher used by Amarillo was Jake Rice who finished the game on the mound. He stranded two base runners following a leadoff double and walk in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Amarillo will go for their seventh straight win on Saturday when they send RHP Ross Carver (2-4m 9.56 ERA) to the hill. San Antonio will counter with fellow right-hander Brandon Komar (4-4, 6.45 ERA). First pitch for game five is slated to start at 7:05 PM.
Notes:
Party On, Wally: In Blake Walston’s final start of the year, the D-backs’ No. 5 rated prospect finished his season with six scoreless innings and struck out four with two hits scattered. The win cemented Walston’s run of 13 straight starts without a loss dating back to June 24. Over his final 13 starts of the year, the 21-year old went 5-0 with a 4.16 ERA and 75 strikeouts to 60 hits in 69.2 IP.
Extenders: Tim Tawa and A.J. Vukovich each extended their hitting streaks in the win. Tawa picked up a hit in his 10th consecutive game, going 1-for-4 with a single in the 4th inning. Over his streak, Tawa is hitting .306 (11-for-36) with a pair of doubles and five RBI. Vukovich also went 1-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored in Friday night’s win. The D-backs’ No. 12 rated prospect is now hitting .343 (11-for-32) over his last eight games played in Double-A.
Extra Bases Eduardo: Eduardo Diaz had a bit of a power surge, hitting a triple and double with a RBI and run scored. They were just his third and fourth extra-base hit in his last 19 games played. Diaz is now back tied for the team-lead in doubles with Jorge Barrosa at 28.
Two For Me, Two For You: Blaze Alexander and Deyvison De Los Santos each recorded a multi-hit game for the Sod Poodles. Alexander went 2-for-3 with a double while De Los Santos went 2-for-4 and a pair of RBI. It was Alexander’s 27th multi-hit game of the season and the fourth for De Los Santos in his 9th game since being promoted from High-A Hillsboro.
A Series Dub: With their fourth straight win to begin the series, Amarillo earned the series win over San Antonio, moving to 8-8-8 in their 24 series in 2022. It is the first series win since taking 4-of-5 against Midland from August 16-21. Amarillo also extended their season-best winning streak to six games with wins over Arkansas to close out the team’s final home series of the year before heading to San Antonio.
Goose Egg: Amarillo hurled their fifth shutout of the season and first since August 23 in Corpus Christi. The Sod Poodles have been apart of 12 shutout games so far, going 5-7 with each of their last three coming in a winning effort.
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