Welcome to "Chatter from the Pressbox", the website dedicated to the Pressbox of the Frisco RoughRiders, the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.

Today's Matchups Around the Ranger's System

Today's (5/20) Match-Ups Around the Ranger's System

Round Rock: Martin Perez (3-3 5.27) vs. Fresno Grizzlies: Andrew Kown (3-1 2.61) @ 1:00 PM CT

Myrtle Beach: Kyle Hendricks (1-4 2.91) @ Wilmington Blue Rocks: Sugar Ray Marimon (3-0 2.65) @ 12:30 PM CT

Hickory : Santo Perez (2-2 6.19) @ Asheville Tourists: Daniel Winkler (4-2 6.06) @ 1:05 PM CT



Saturday, April 23, 2011

Game 15: Corpus Christi Hooks (Kyle Greenwalt) @ Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel)--- TV GAME

Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (6-8 3 games back in the Texas League South)... Corpus Christi Hooks (5-9 4 games back in the Texas League South)
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 3-7
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (0-2 13.50 ERA)... Kyle Greenwalt (0-1 6.10 ERA)

What to Watch for on the Mound: Both team's starters look to rebound from getting beat around pretty well in both of their first two starts... Carlos Pimentel got knocked around in his last outing last Sunday when he gave up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 6 runs (5 earned) at Arkansas. In his last home start (April 11), Pimentel pitched well through 3 innings before giving up 2 singles and 2 doubles in a 3 run 4th inning and went single, single, wild pitch, hit by pitch to open the 5th inning before getting pulled. Pimentel has given up 14 hits and 4 walks in 6+ innings this season and he's been hit particularly hard by right handed batters who are hitting .500 against him on the season. Of course left handed hitters are also hitting .400 against him, so nobody has been an easy out... Kyle Greenwalt has not gotten hit around quite as hard as Pimentel, but he has given up 7 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings pitched, while 12 hits and 2 walks have come against him. Rated as the 24th prospect in the Astros system by Baseball America, Greenwalt will be making his first career start against Frisco. Opponents hit .332 against Greenwalt last year when he pitched for Lancaster (California League), and they hit .278 against him in 2009 when he pitched for Lexington (South Atlantic League). Command has always been Greenwalt's strength as he has given up 100 walks in 398 2/3 career innings in the minor leagues (2.26 BB/9).

Rider's Offensive Explosion: The Riders pounded out a season high 19 hits in front of a sellout crowd on Friday night and tied a season high with 11 runs in the shutout victory. The Riders had 4 homeruns as a team, which also was a season high, and their 11-0 win marked the largest margin of victory since an 18-4 win over the Springfield Cardinals on July 4, 2009. The Riders the same amount in the game, that they had in the previous 4 games combined, and their shutout was their 2nd in 3 games.

A New Team Leader on Board: Tommy Mendonca came into Friday night's game 2 for 13 (.154) on the year against left handed pitchers. He then went 2 for 2 with 2 opposite field homeruns in his first 2 at bats against Dallas Keuchel. The 2 homeruns gives him 6 on the season, which now leads the team and his 3 RBI in the game gives him 14, which also leads the team. Mendonca has shown that everything great with him comes in twos. His first 2 homeruns came in back to back days, then his next 2 homeruns came on the doubleheader a week ago, and on Friday night he hit 2 in one game. In the game, Mendonca had 2 hits, 2 runs, and 2 homeruns. He has 3 homeruns on Friday's and 3 homeruns on Saturday's this year.

Hits And RBI All the Way Around: Every Rider contributed in the game on Friday, whether it be by hits (8 of the 9 Riders had at least 2 hits) or RBI (7 of the 9 Riders had a RBI). In the end, every player either had 2 hits, or a RBI, and in the case of 6 of them it was both.

Greene Monster: Jonathan Greene didn't start all that much in the first week of the season. He only played in 2 of the team's first 6 games. But, with his play in the last week, one could go out on a 100% limb that he's earned himself a starting role on the team for as long as he is here. Greene is 10 for his last 19 with 2 doubles and a homerun. On Friday, he went 3 for 4 with a homerun and reached on a walk as well. His batting average now sits at a team high .444 and his OPS is a team high as well, at 1.167.

First Win for De Los Santos: Command was still an issue at times for Miguel De Los Santos, who sat in the low 90s for most of the start, but it's hard to argue with the results as De Los Santos gave up 1 hit (an infield single by Jimmy Paredes to open up the 4th inning) and threw 5 shutout innings. He walked 5 batters and struck out 4 to earn his first victory in AA. In 13 2/3 innings this season, De Los Santos has given up 9 hits and walked 11 batters. He has given up 3 hits over his last 9 innings.


More Bullpen Dominance: Adalberto Flores extended his scoreless streak to 9 innings with 2 shutout innings of relief in the win and Fabio Castillo added a pair of 2 shutout innings of his own. Together they gave up 5 baserunners over the 4 innings with 3 strikeouts.

First TV Game of the Year: Be sure to tune into TXA 21 tonight for the first Frisco RoughRiders TV game of the year! The RoughRiders radio broadcaster, Aaron Goldsmith, will be joined by Jason Cole, who runs the Lonestar Dugout (the Texas Ranger's scout.com website) for all 10 of the TV games this season.  For a schedule of all of the Riders TV games, check out this page.

Around the Ranger's System: 

Round Rock (AAA) scored a run in the top of the 9th inning and held on to beat the Oklahoma City Redhawks 2-1. Shortstop Luis Cruz supplied the difference for the Express with 2 solo homeruns in the game. Chad Tracy went 1 for 4 and Craig Gentry went 1 for 3 in the game. The Express were 1 for 1 with RISP, something you don't see very often in a game, let alone in a game where the 2 runs were via solo homeruns. Outfielder Endy Chavez was thrown out at home on the lone hit with RISP, however. Seth McClung allowed 1 run, 1 hit, and walked 4 batters in 5 innings, while Zach Phillips and Mark Lowe combined for 4 shutout innings of relief. Zach Phillips now has a 1.74 ERA in 7 appearances for Round Rock.

Myrtle Beach (high-A) shutout the Kinston Indians by a 10-0 score. Robbie Ross gave up 3 hits and 2 walks in 5 2/3 scoreless innings with 4 strikeouts. He is now 2-0 on the season with a 0.00 ERA. Johan Yan and Chad Bell preserved the shutout with 3 1/3 perfect innings of relief. Travis Adair went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles, a homerun, 4 RBI, and 3 runs in the blowout victory. Leury Garcia went 3 for 5 in the game with a double and a RBI. Third baseman Michael Olt went 1 for 4 with a run scored. 

Hickory (low-A) got blown out by the Hagerstown Suns 17-1 as Baseball America's top prospect Bryce Harper went 3 for 3 with a double, a homerun, 6 RBI, 2 walks, a stolen base, and 3 runs. After a slow start, Harper is still hitting .306 with an OPS nearing 1.000. As for the Crawdads, well 2 pitchers pitched a scoreless inning Ryan Rodebaugh and Colby Killian. Carlos Melto took the loss after giving up 1 hit, 5 walks, and 5 runs in 1 1/3 innings pitched. Hickory's defense didn't help, as the team committed 5 errors in the game, which led to 3 unearned runs. Tomas Telis went 1 for 4 at the plate with the lone RBI. Jonathan Roof went 1 for 4 at the plate. Teodoro Martinez and Odubel Herrera each went 1 for 4 at the plate as well.

Minor League Performance of the Night:

There were plenty to go around on Friday night, including Harper's night, but Asheville's Kyle Parker probably had the biggest night of the group. The Colorado Rockie's 1st round pick in 2010 out of Clemson, Kyle Parker went 4 for 6 in Asheville's 13-12 walkoff win over Lakewood, including a double and a grand slam. In all, he was a triple short of the cycle, drove in 7 runs, scored 3 runs, including the winning run in the 9th inning after opening the inning with a single. On the season, Kyle Parker is batting .412 with 5 extra base hits in 10 games and 11 RBI. He has a 1.081 OPS so far on the season.

As always...

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)
Station to Watch the Game on: TXA 21

Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109
Follow Us on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/pressboxchatterFollow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540
And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

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