MIDLAND, TX (May 31, 2026) -- The Amarillo Sod Poodles (26-24) fell to the Midland RockHounds (27-24), 2-1, on Sunday at Momentum Bank Ballpark. In a rematch of Tuesday’s pitchers duel, this time it was the RockHounds who got the extra clutch hit to secure a series split.
Druw Jones was hit by the first pitch of the game by Wei-En Lin and made him pay immediately by stealing second in the next plate appearance. Jones later came around to score the first run of the game on a two-out RBI single up the middle from Jansel Luis.
Ashton Izzi pitched very effectively with a lead in his second start of the week and third of the season at Midland, turning in four no-hit innings.As Amarillo dug into its bullpen in the bottom of the fifth, Cameron Leary erased the goose egg in the RockHounds run and hit column with a solo home run to right field off of reliever Logan Mercado.
Mercado retired the side in order in his second inning of work to end his afternoon, giving way to Alfred Morillo for the bottom of the seventh inning. A walk to Bobby Boser was enough to set the table for Euribiel Angeles, who drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out double to left field.
After the first inning, Lin worked around a pair of two-out singles in the second and dealt with just two more baserunners over his final five frames as he completed a quality start. Amarillo’s offense didn’t enjoy any further success when Midland went to the bullpen, with right-hander Jared Johnson tossing a perfect top of the eighth.
Southpaw Domingo Robles entered for his first save opportunity of the season in the top of the ninth inning, but walked the tying run in the form of Manuel Pena to open the frame. However, Pena was picked off by Midland backstop Cole Conn on the very next pitch, and two lineouts ended the contest.
POSTGAME NOTES
H TO THE IZZI: Sod Poodles starting pitcher Ashton Izzi struck out five RockHounds across his 4.0 innings pitched, the most in his three starts at Midland this year...Izzi tossed 10 shutout innings between Tuesday and Sunday, the largest workload by a Soddie in a single week this season.
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CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR:** Amarillo pitchers combined to allow three hits or less in a game for the sixth time this season in a losing effort...entering Sunday’s game, the Sod Poodles were 5-0 when holding an opponent to no more than a trio of hits.