Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (10-15 7 games back in the Texas League South)... San Antonio Missions (17-8 1st place in the Texas League South)
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 4-6
Series Record: 1-5-1
Record against San Antonio: 2-3
Record Since 2005 on May 4th: 4-2
Starting Pitchers: Tommy Hunter (rehab)... Casey Kelly (2-0 4.10 ERA)
What to Watch for on the Mound: Tommy Hunter makes his first start for Frisco since 2009, while Casey Kelly makes his 6th start for the San Antonio Missions... Tommy Hunter suffered a groin strain during spring training and has been on the DL since then. He will make the start for Frisco and is expected to pitch 3-4 innings for the RoughRiders. Hunter made 8 starts for the Riders in 2008 and gave up 52 hits and 17 walks in 52 1/3 innings with 28 strikeouts, while compiling a 4-2 record and 3.78 ERA. He also appeared in 5 games (3 starts) in 2009, going 1-0 with a 4.98 ERA. He gave up 30 hits and 4 walks in 21 2/3 innings that year. Hunter was drafted by the Rangers as a 1st round supplemental pick (54th overall) in the 2007 draft. In his major league career, he is 22-12 with a 4.45 ERA in 45 games/44 starts... Casey Kelly takes the mound for San Antonio for the 6th time this season. In his last outing against Midland, Kelly gave up 9 hits and 2 walks over 5 innings with 4 strikeouts and 1 run (earned). Kelly has given up 2 runs or less in 3 of his 5 starts this season and has gone 6 innings with 2 runs or less twice. On the season the 21 year old right hander has given up 30 hits and 9 walks with 19 strikeouts in 26 1/3 innings pitched. Casey Kelly was a centerpiece in the trade that sent Adrian Gonzalez to Boston over this past offseason. The former Red Sox 1st round pick was rated as the San Diego Padre's best prospect and was rated by Baseball America as the 31st best prospect entering 2011 in baseball.
Riders Team Cycle in 6th Keys Comeback: The Frisco RoughRiders may not have had an individual player hit for the cycle like the Missions did on Monday, but Frisco pulled off the team cycle in the 6th inning to help pull off the comeback 5-3 victory over San Antonio on Tuesday. Davis Stoneburner led off the inning with a double to right centerfield. He then scored on Renny Osuna's 1st homerun of the season, which brought Frisco within 1 run at the time. Guilder Rodriguez followed Osuna with a triple to the gap in right centerfield and scored on Michael Bianucci's game tying RBI single to complete the team cycle.
Pimentel Struggles: After coming off a strong start against San Antonio last Thursday, Carlos Pimentel struggled through his 5th start of the year. Pimentel gave up 4 hits, 4 walks, and 3 runs (all earned) in 4 2/3 innings pitched. He struck out 3 batters and made just 53 strikes in 96 pitches. All 3 runs came on a homerun given up to Jaff Decker, his 9th of the year. He got the no decision in the start, however, which is his 2nd straight no decision.
Quality Bullpen Work: The Riders were able to keep the team in the game by having great bullpen work from Ben Snyder, Ramon Aguero, who got the win, and Mark Hamburger, who got his 2nd save. The bullpen threw 4 1/3 innings of shutout baseball by allowing 1 hit and 1 walk with 7 strikeouts. Mark Hamburger pitched the final 2 innings for his 2nd 2 inning save of the season. He has retired 14 batters in a row.
Overlooked, but Not Forgotten: With Bianucci and Mendonca providing fireworks and Jonathan Greene providing a little bit of average and power, Jose Ruiz can get overlooked in the Rider's middle of the order, but he should not be. With a 2 for 3 day Tuesday, Ruiz extended his on base streak to 12 in a row and out of the 22 games that Ruiz has appeared in this year for Frisco, he has reached base in 20 of them. The only two games he hasn't were the rain shortened 5 inning game against Arkansas on April 19th and the first game of the double header on April 16th against Springfield, a 7 inning game. On the season Ruiz is batting .325 with a .402 on base percentage and he's batting equally well against both right handed pitchers and southpaws.
Neftali Feliz to Pitch Tonight: While Tommy Hunter is scheduled to start the game for the Riders on rehab, former RoughRider and rehabbing Texas Ranger Neftali Feliz is also supposed to pitch tonight. Feliz went on the DL with rotator cuff inflammation on April 23rd.
Last Year on this Date: Frisco defeated San Antonio 6-4 on the road. The Riders pounded out 13 hits against Missions pitching. Blake Beavan started for Frisco and picked up the victory, his 3rd win at the time. Beavan gave up 8 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs in 5 innings with 7 strikeouts. Zach Phillips picked up the save by striking out the side in the 9th after Brennan Garr and Ben Snyder pitched 3 innings of scoreless relief combined. Marcus Lemon, Matt Lawson, Wes Bankston, Andy Jenkins, and Renny Osuna all had 2 hits in the game. Johnny Whittleman went 1 for 4 with a double and 3 RBI.
MLB Notes: In case you missed it, Francisco Liriano of the Minnesota Twins threw a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox last year. It was his first complete game of his career... Andre Ethier of the Los Angeles Dodgers extended his hitting streak to 29 games last night with a single in the bottom of the 4th against the Chicago Cubs.
Around the Ranger's System:
Round Rock (AAA) scored 7 runs in the 1st inning and beat the Iowa Cubs 9-3. Seth McClung started for Round Rock and gave up 7 hits, 5 walks, and 3 runs in 5 innings with 5 strikeouts. Joey Butler went 2 for 5 with a double, triple, 3 RBI, and 2 runs. He is batting .276 now. Robbie Diaz went 2 for 4 with a walk at the plate. Matt Kata went 3 for 6 with a homerun and 2 RBI. Beau Jones, Justin Miller (different one), and Yoshinori Tateyama combined for 4 shutout innings of relief.
Myrtle Beach (high-A) scored a season high 20 runs and defeated the Potomac Nationals 20-6 in an early game. The Pelicans also had a season high 23 hits in the game. Robbie Ross was the beneficiary of the run support, as he picked up his 3rd win after giving up 8 hits and 5 runs (all earned) with 4 strikeouts in 6 innings. Kasey Kiker gave up 1 unearend run in 2 innings of relief with 4 walks. Big story was the offense, however, which had 5 players with at least 3 hits and 6 with at least 2. Every Pelican had at least 1 hit in the game. Myrtle Beach had 16 extra base hits in the game! Six hitters had at least 2 RBI in the game and 7 of the 9 hitters had a RBI. Five players had 3 runs in the game, while seven had at least one. They even had 3 players get caught stealing on the basepaths, too. Jared Bolden extended his RBI streak to 4 games and 7 of 8 games on the season.
Hickory (low-A) Postponed due to rain. No date to be rescheduled.
Minor League Performance of the Day
Myrtle Beach's catcher Zach Zaneski came into Tuesday's day game with a .233 batting average (10 for 43), 4 doubles, 1 homerun, 8 RBI, 16 total bases, and 3 runs scored. The 24 year old catcher left the Pelican's 20-6 beatdown of the Potomac Nationals with a 5 for 6 day, 3 doubles, 2 homeruns, 7 RBI, 14 total bases, and 4 runs scored. Nearly doubling his totals in most stats, if not some of them. Zaneski was undrafted out of the University of Rhode Island. This is his fourth year in the minor leagues.
As always...
Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)
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And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/
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