Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Dr. Pepper Ballpark (Frisco, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (24-22 7 games back in the Texas League South)... Northwest Arkansas Naturals (22-19 1st place in the Texas League North)
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Series Record: 5-6-1
Record against Northwest Arkansas: 1-1
All time Record against Northwest Arkansas: 65-65
Record since 2004 on May 27th: 5-1 with one off day
Starting Pitchers: Jake Brigham (2-3 4.56 ERA) is making his first career start against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals... Zach Miner (0-1 4.50 ERA) is also making his first career start against the Frisco RoughRiders.
What to Watch for on the Mound: Frisco sends Jake Brigham out to the mound for the 10th time this season, while Northwest Arkansas sends Zach Miner out to the mound for the 3rd time this season in the rubber match of a 3 game set... Jake Brigham had his worst start of the season last time out when he gave up 2 hits, 4 walks, and 5 runs (all earned) in just 1 2/3 innings with 2 strikeouts. The model of consistency on Frisco, it was the first time Brigham hadn't gone at least 5 innings in a start and the first time he had given up more than 3 earned runs in a start. Still, Brigham has put together a pretty solid year otherwise as he has given up 40 hits and 19 walks in 47 1/3 innings with 46 strikeouts. He has struck out at least 6 batters in 5 of his 9 starts to this point. Brigham's 2.42 K/BB ratio is currently 2nd on the team among the starters with more than 1 start. Richard Bleier leads Frisco with a 4.333 K/BB ratio. Even with the bad outing last outing, Brigham still is 1-2 with a 3.95 ERA in 5 May starts. Opponents have hit just .225 against him this season, including a .207 batting average from right handed batters... Zach Miner will be making his 3rd start for the Naturals. He went just 2 innings in his last outing, but gave up 2 hits, 3 walks, and 1 run in the start with 2 strikeouts against the Arkansas Travelers. Miner missed all of the 2010 season with a right elbow injury, which required surgery last May. In 157 career games (35 starts) in the major leagues, Miner is 25-20 with a 4.24 ERA. The 29 year old last pitched in 2009 when he appeared in 51 games for the Detroit Tigers and went 7-5 with a 4.29 ERA. He was drafted by the Braves in the 4th round of the 2000 draft.
Frisco Shuts Out Naturals: Frisco won 3-0 on Thursday afternoon to move to 24-22 on the season and are now 7 back of the San Antonio Missions. Frisco got help from Robbie Diaz, who played in hsi first game since being send down from AAA. Diaz homered to left field to extend the Riders lead from 1-0 to 2-0 and another run was added to give just a bit more cushion. Frisco got a strong start from Martin Perez and Fabio Castillo got his 2nd save of the year.
Martin Perez Strong in Start: For the fourth start in a row and 5th out of 6 starts, Martin Perez worked at least 6 innings in a start. Perez moved to 2-0 on the season after he gave up 5 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 5 batters over 7 shutout innings. In the process he also passed current Chicago White Sox southpaw John Danks for 2nd place on the all time Frisco RoughRider strikeout list with 168 career strikeouts. Perez now trails only Thomas Diamond in strikeouts, who accumulated 310 over parts of 4 seasons with Frisco. Martin Perez has now given up 18 hits, 11 walks, and 2 earned runs over his last 26 2/3 innings pitched over 4 starts and is 1-0 with a 1.47 ERA in 5 starts in the month of May. Among the 50 pitchers with at least 10 starts this season in minor league baseball, Martin Perez is tied with Hayden Simpson of the Peoria Chiefs (Low-A Midwest League) for the fewest decisions with 2.
The Other Martin: Leonys Martin went 1 for 2 in the game with a hit that he turned into a double, a sac bunt, and a hit by pitch. He is now batting .315 with a .393 OBP%, .537 SLG%, .930 OPS, and has 8 extra base hits in 12 games, including 5 doubles. He also has 6 walks to 2 strikeouts on the year.
Stoneburner Keeps Hitting: Davis Stoneburner went 2 for 4 with a RBI double in Thursday's win, which put the Riders on top 1-0 in the first inning and ended up being the difference in the game. It was the 4th game in his last 5 games that Stoneburner has driven in a run, and he now has 6 extra base hits in his last 10 games. During those 10 games, Stoneburner is batting .410 (16 for 39) with a 1.092 OPS.
New Frisco RoughRider: The Texas Rangers announced they will be promoting left handed pitcher Robbie Erlin from Myrtle Beach to Frisco. There had been speculation lately that he and/or Joe Wieland would be promoted given how well both have been doing in Myrtle Beach this season. Robbie Erlin will start for Frisco on Sunday afternoon for his first AA start. For Myrtle Beach this season, Erlin is 3-2 with a 2.14 ERA in 9 starts. He has given up just 25 hits and 5 walks in 54 2/3 innings with 62 strikeouts for the Pelicans. He didn't walk more than 1 batter in any of his 9 starts. Right handed hitters hit just .106 against Erlin. He has the lowest WHIP of any pitcher in minor league baseball this season with a 0.55 WHIP. The next closest is A.J. Griffin of the Burlington Bees (Low-A Midwest League)/Stockton Ports (High-A California League) with a 0.75 WHIP.
Last Year on this Date: Frisco defeated Northwest Arkansas 8-5 at home as the Riders pounded out 15 hits. Tanner Roark started for Frisco and gave up 6 hits, 0 walks, and 5 runs over 5 2/3 innings with 6 strikeouts. Ben Snyder picked up the win, his first of the year, as Josh Lueke, Snyder, and Cody Eppley combined for 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Emerson Frostad, Taylor Teagarden, and James Tomlin each had 3 hits in the game. Matt Lawson and Wes Bankston each added 2 hits a piece as well. Lawson hit his 3rd homerun of the year at the time. The RoughRiders accumulated 7 extra base hits in the game and got RBIs from 6 different players.
Answer to Yesterday's Question of the Day: Alex Carrasquel, who made his debut on April 23, 1939 for the Washington Senators. He would pitch over 8 seasons and finished with a 50-39 record and 3.73 ERA.
Around the Ranger's System
Yesterday's Record: 4-0
Round Rock (AAA) gave up 3 runs in the 9th inning, but held on to win 6-5 over the Reno Aces. Neil Ramirez started for Round Rock and received a no decision after he gave up 4 hits, 4 walks, and 2 runs over 4 innings with 3 strikeouts. Yhency Brazoban got the win after pitching a scoreless inning of relief. Justin Miller, Zach Phillips, Mark Hamburger, and Pedro Strop each pitched 1 inning of relief as well. Mark Hamburger struck out 2 in his perfect inning of relief. Strop gave up 5 hits and 3 runs with 1 strikeout in his inning of relief. Matt Kata led Round Rock's offense with a 3 for 5 day, including 2 doubles and 2 RBI. Chris Davis went 1 for 3 with 1 RBI for the Express, while Chad Tracy went 1 for 3 with 2 RBI. Joey Butler finished with a 0 for 4 day, including 2 strikeouts.
Myrtle Beach (High-A) scored 2 runs in the 8th inning to defeat the Salem Red Sox 5-4. Robbie Ross started for Myrtle Beach and gave up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 4 runs (all earned) over 6 1/3 innings with 7 strikeouts. Johan Yan got the win in the game after pitching 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief, while Zach Osborne picked up his 2nd save of the season. Mike Olt went 1 for 3 with his 8th homerun of the season and a walk. Ryan Strausborger went 1 for 4 at the plate as well for the Pelicans with a double. Former Riders David Paisano and Mitch Hilligoss each had a hit in the game as well. Jared Prince, Santiago Chirino, and Leury Garcia added a hit in the game, too .
Hickory (Low-A) scored 4 runs in the 6th inning and won 6-4 over the Charleston River Dogs for their 3rd win in a row and 4th in 5 games. Luke Jackson started for Hickory and gave up 3 hits and 4 walks with 5 strikeouts over 3 1/3 shutout innings. Colby Killian picked up his 4th win of the season after giving up 3 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs over 2 2/3 innings pitched with 2 strikeouts. Ryan Rodebaugh got his 4th save of the season with 1/3 scoreless inning of relief in the 9th inning. Jurickson Profar went 1 for 4 with his 5th homerun for Hickory. He is now batting .304 with a .979 OPS and 15 extra base hits over the last month. Josh Richmond went 2 for 3 with his 5th homerun for the Crawdads and walked as well. Jake Skole went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI, while Teodoro Martinez also added 2 hits, including his first homerun of the season. Tomas Telis went 0 for 3 with a walk and Andrew Clark and Alejandro Selen each added a hit.
Minor League Performance of the Day
Darin Gorski has been a strikeout machine so far this season and on Thursday he added to his outstanding strikeout total. In the St. Lucie Met's 5-1 win over the Dunedin Blue Jays in Florida State League play, Gorski gave up just 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run (a solo homerun) over 7 2/3 innings while he struck out 13 batters Of the 13 strikeouts, 8 were looking, including 5 of his last 7 strikeouts over the final 2 2/3 innings. On the season, Gorski is 2-0 with a 2.14 ERA and has given up 38 hits and 13 walks in 41 1/3 innings with 63 strikeouts. Darin Gorski was drafted by the New York Mets in the 7th round of the 2009 draft out of Kutztown University.
As always...
Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)
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