AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – The Amarillo Calf Fries beat the San Antonio Missions, 6-4, Thursday night at HODGETOWN, stretching their winning streak to four games and moving to the front of the Texas League South Division second-half playoff race among eligible teams.
Early trouble, early answer
Right-hander Brian Curley made his first career start at HODGETOWN but ran into trouble in the top of the second inning when Junior Franco overran a fly ball down the left field line, allowing a leadoff triple. San Antonio converted the opportunity on a two-out RBI single from Chris Sargent to take a 1-0 lead.
Amarillo answered quickly.
Solo home runs from Angel Ortiz and Jean Walters in the bottom of the second put the Calf Fries ahead, 2-1, giving Curley a lead he would not relinquish.
Amarillo builds the cushion
The Calf Fries extended their advantage in the fourth inning.
Ortiz added another extra-base hit and Franco reached on a base hit to put two of the first three batters on base. Both scored on RBI singles by Walters and Jesus Valdez, pushing the lead to 4-1.
Druw Jones drove in the fifth Amarillo run the following half-inning, giving the Calf Fries a four-run cushion heading into the sixth.
Curley’s night, Grosz’s challenge
After the second-inning trouble, Curley settled in and retired the minimum from the third through the fifth.
The No. 15 D-backs prospect returned for the sixth with an 88-pitch count, but manager Javier Colina turned to Josh Grosz after two hits to open the frame.
Grosz struggled with command early, throwing two wild pitches that advanced runners from second to third.
The first allowed Tirso Ornelas to score on a Braedon Karpathios sacrifice fly.
The second set up Ryan Jackson’s run-scoring single, which plated Jake Cunningham and trimmed the deficit to 5-3.
Logan answers, Murphy responds
Gavin Logan halted any Missions momentum with a solo home run to the opposite field off Ian Koenig in the bottom of the sixth, restoring a three-run lead at 6-3.
San Antonio’s Kai Murphy answered in the top of the seventh, taking Grosz deep to right-center field to make it a 6-4 game.
Murphy’s home run led off the inning, but Grosz retired the next three batters to close out his outing.
Late-inning relief holds
Carlos Rey followed Grosz and worked around a leadoff walk, stranding a runner at third with the help of two strikeouts.
Sandro Santana entered for his first save opportunity with the Calf Fries and converted, ending the game by catching Carson Tucker looking at strike three with the tying run at the plate.
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