By: Alex Morales
Amarillo, TX -- The El Paso Diablos was clinging onto a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, but the Amarillo Sox managed to string three hits together to tie the game at two. The game went into the 10 inning where Albenis Machado singled to right to bring in the winning run as El Paso won 3-2 Tuesday night at Amarillo National Bank Sox Stadium.
The Diablos (28-53) jumped out of the gate with a run in the first inning when Maikol Gonzalez led off the inning with a base hit. He stole second and third base and was brought in by first baseman Javier Brito to put El Paso up 1-0 after an inning.
Starting pitcher Scott Hodsdon was coming off a complete game shutout and did not miss a beat as he did not allow a run until the bottom of the fifth, when shortstop Jason White tripled to bring home catcher Kevin Butler to even the score at one.
Amarillo (38-44) could not hold the lead as starting pitcher Ryan Mitchell was letdown by his defense as first baseman Lee Cruz made an error that brought home Machado to give the Diablos a 2-1 lead after six.
The Score stayed the same until the bottom half of the eighth when Amarillo received hits from three straight batters that brought home the tying run to make it 2-2 after eight. Hodsdon finished the inning, but did not return for the ninth.
Mitchell came back out in the top of the ninth and did not allow a run as he was able to go nine and give his team a chance to win the game in walk-off fashion.
In the ninth, the Diablos went with Reyes Dorado out of the bullpen and he walked leadoff batter Jeremy Sauceda to begin the frame. Butler then sacrificed Sauceda to second. Manager Jorge Alvarez brought in reliever Adam Rowe and he proceeded to walk White to put runners on first and second with one out.
Rowe then was able to get Adam De La Garza to hit a ground ball to third baseman Johan Garcia who threw to second to try to turn the double play. Second baseman Martin Parra could not handle the throw and everyone was safe.
The Diablos brought in Kyle Cremers and he shut the door on the rally as he was able to get Tim Alberts to ground out to Parra to end the inning.
El Paso scored in the top of the tenth when Machado singled off reliever Chad Povich when he the pitch over the head of De La Garza to score Garcia to make the game 3-2 after nine and a half innings. Cremers came out for the bottom half and was able to seal the game and victory for the Diablos.
Cremers (2-0) pitched an inning and two thirds and received the win. He gave up no runs on one hit. He struck out two and walked one in his outing. Hodsdon went eighth innings allowing two runs all earned on 11 hits. He struck out seven and walked one in the no decision.
Tomorrow is game three of the four-game series as the Diablos will look to earn their third straight series win. Game time is set for 7:05 pm at Amarillo National Bank Sox Stadium.