Brian Curley did not let the first inning become the story Friday night, and the Amarillo Sod Poodles made sure the last two innings did not rewrite it.
Curley gave up Arturo Disla’s two-run homer in the first, a deep drive to left that cleared the home run terrace and put Amarillo in an immediate hole, then spent the next five innings keeping Frisco from adding on. That gave the Sod Poodles time to climb back, and their 4-2 win at Riders Field ultimately came down to the things that have traveled well for them in this push: enough contact, enough speed, enough pitching and two throws home when the game still had room to tilt.
The win dropped Amarillo’s magic number to four.
Curley earned it by settling the night after Disla’s 16th homer of the season. The right-hander allowed two earned runs over six innings, struck out four and walked one, working around traffic in the second and a single in the fifth before leaving with the lead.
That lead took a while to arrive. Austin Roberts opened with three scoreless innings for Frisco, striking out four, and Leandro Lopez carried a 2-0 lead into the fourth before Druw Jones began pulling Amarillo back into the game. Jones singled with one out, then scored when Ben McLaughlin sent a ground ball through the left side to cut the deficit in half.
It was the first piece of a game that kept returning to Jones and McLaughlin. Jones went 3-for-4, scored twice and stole two bases. McLaughlin went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run, and his swing in the sixth changed the game.
With two outs and nobody aboard against J’Briell Easley, Jones singled to right and stole second. McLaughlin, choking up with the count full, drove a ball into the right-center gap. Jones scored easily, McLaughlin cruised into second with his 23rd double, and a game that had been dragging behind Frisco’s early homer was tied.
Danny Serretti did not leave it there. He followed with a sharp line drive to center, scoring McLaughlin and giving Amarillo a 3-2 lead on a two-out rally that made Easley the losing pitcher and charged him with a blown save.
The shape fit what Trent Youngblood had described before the game, talking less about one big swing than about how Amarillo’s lineup has been able to pass the game along.
“We stack good at bats. We’re not a huge home run hitting team, at least the majority of our guys. We just try to play the game the right way, play it hard, play it fast.”
— Trent Youngblood, Amarillo Sod Poodles Designated Hitter
That was the offensive part. The defensive part came after Curley turned the game over.
Tayler Montiel handled the seventh without allowing a run, working around a walk. Alfred Morillo ran into immediate trouble in the eighth when Sebastian Walcott and Rafe Perich opened with singles, but Angel Ortiz erased the threat from left field. After Morillo struck out Disla, Yeison Morrobel flew to Ortiz, and Walcott tried to score. Ortiz’s throw found catcher Alberto Barriga at the plate for an inning-ending double play that preserved the one-run lead.
Amarillo then made the margin less fragile in the ninth. Barriga walked, Jean Walters sacrificed him to second and Youngblood singled him to third. Cristofer Torin followed with a sinking liner to left, one that dropped in front of Keith Jones II and brought Barriga home for a 4-2 lead. Torin finished 2-for-4 with a walk and the RBI.
The run mattered almost immediately. Sawyer Hawks opened the bottom of the ninth by allowing Max Wagner’s sharp double to right, putting the tying run at the plate with nobody out. Marcus Lee Sang then hit a grounder to short, and Torin made the throw home to cut down Wagner. Hawks took it from there, striking out Ian Moller and getting Keith Jones II on a grounder to second for his first save with Amarillo.
Tayler Montiel, Morillo and Hawks each threw a scoreless inning after Curley. Frisco finished with nine hits but no runs after the first, while Amarillo finished with four runs on 10 hits and no errors.
For a team trying to finish off a postseason spot, that combination carried more weight than style points. Youngblood had said before the game that the standings give September a different edge.
“I mean, you know, everybody wants to play meaningful baseball. It just means a little bit more, and I haven’t had that in, you know, a few years”
— Trent Youngblood, Amarillo Sod Poodles Designated Hitter
Friday had that feel by the end: a deficit contained, a lineup that found the right swings, and two defensive plays at the plate that kept Frisco from turning Amarillo’s comeback into something temporary.