Angel Ortiz spent Saturday night finding ways onto the bases, and Logan Mercado spent it making sure Frisco could not do anything with its chances once Amarillo had found its way back.
That was the shape of the Sod Poodles’ 6-5 win over the RoughRiders at Riders Field: not a clean offensive night, not a loud one from top to bottom, but a comeback built on patience, one swing from Ortiz and 5.1 scoreless innings from the bullpen after Frisco had pushed Amarillo into a four-run hole.
The Sod Poodles won despite totaling only three hits. Ortiz reached four times, going 1-for-2 with his 11th home run, three walks and two RBIs. Mercado earned the win, improving to 5-2, with 3.1 scoreless innings, six strikeouts and one walk.
The game started with Ortiz running Amarillo into an immediate lead. After he walked in the first inning against Aidan Curry, Ben McLaughlin lifted a soft fly toward right-center that found grass and skipped away from Yeison Morrobel. Ortiz kept coming, scoring from first on McLaughlin’s 24th double for a 1-0 lead.
Frisco answered in the second and then took command in the fourth against Wellington Aracena. The RoughRiders tied it on Marcus Lee Sang’s two-out single to left, with Lee Sang taking second on an error, and Keith Jones II followed with a ground-ball single to right to make it 2-1.
The heavier damage came two innings later. Morrobel doubled to open the fourth, Malcolm Moore lined a double into the gap to score him, and Gleider Figuereo doubled in Moore. After a walk and a fielder’s choice loaded the bases, Rafe Perich drew a walk that forced in Figuereo and pushed Frisco’s lead to 5-1.
Aracena allowed four earned runs in 3.2 innings, striking out five and walking two. Before the game, Brian Curley had framed the task for his fellow starter simply.
“The biggest thing for him to have success is just trust his stuff, get in the zone, and just go after guys like he’s really good at.”
— Brian Curley, Amarillo Starting Pitcher
Aracena’s night did not follow that script for long enough. Mercado’s did.
He entered with the bases loaded in the fourth and struck out Arturo Disla to stop the inning there. From that point, Frisco never scored again. Mercado worked through a fifth that included a walk, handled the sixth in order, and stranded Disla after a one-out double in the seventh by striking out Morrobel and Moore.
That gave Amarillo time to build a comeback with almost no margin for wasted traffic. The Sod Poodles loaded the bases in the fifth on Alberto Barriga’s walk, Jean Walters’ single and Trent Youngblood’s hit by pitch. Curry left with the bases full, and Zach Bryant walked Ortiz to force in a run. Avery Owusu-Asiedu’s sacrifice fly brought Walters home, and McLaughlin’s forceout scored Youngblood, trimming the deficit to 5-4.
It stayed there until Ortiz came up against Wily Villar in the seventh. On a full count, Ortiz drove a fly ball out to right field, the kind of swing that carried the game from comeback pressure to a tie score in one arc. His homer made it 5-5 and gave Amarillo the final proof that a night with three hits could still be enough.
Curley, speaking earlier about his own reset after trouble, had described the broader pitching mindset that fit the way Amarillo survived the middle innings.
“Well, it just comes back to being really, really confident in your process and going back to the same things regardless of the result.”
— Brian Curley, Amarillo Starting Pitcher
Amarillo went ahead in the eighth without another hit. Druw Jones walked, Danny Serretti walked, Junior Franco moved both runners with a sacrifice bunt and Barriga was hit by a pitch. Walters then grounded to second, leaving Figuereo only the out at first as Jones scored the go-ahead run.
The lead still needed defending. Will Mabrey opened the bottom of the eighth and created trouble with Figuereo’s single and two walks around a strikeout. Carlos Rey entered with the bases loaded and one out, and Dylan Dreiling swung at the first pitch. Jones made the catch in center, and when Keith Jones II was caught off second, Amarillo had an 8-3-6 double play that felt as strange as it was essential.
Rey took the ninth from there, striking out Perich, getting Disla on a foul pop and retiring Morrobel on a lineout to left. He earned his seventh save with 1.2 scoreless innings.
Frisco finished with eight hits, led by Figuereo’s 2-for-4 night with a double and an RBI. Villar took the loss and blown save after allowing two earned runs in two innings.
Amarillo’s line was odd and enough: six runs, three hits, one error. Frisco had five runs, eight hits and one error. The difference was what the Sod Poodles did around the edges, and what their bullpen refused to give back after Ortiz pulled them even.