Time: 7:00 PM CT
Location: Averst Ballpark (Springdale, AR)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (28-24 7 games back in the Texas League South)... Northwest Arkansas Naturals (24-23 1 game back in the Texas League North)
Streak: Won 2 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Series Record: 6-7-1
2011 Record against Northwest Arkansas: 3-2
All-Time Record against Northwest Arkansas: 67-66
Record since 2004 on June 3rd: 1-6
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (1-3 4.96 ERA) is making his first career start against Northwest Arkansas... Edgar Osuna (4-1 7.60 ERA) is 0-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 0.57 WHIP in 1 career start against Frisco
What to Watch for on the Mound: Frisco sends Carlos Pimentel out to the mound for the 11th time this season, while Northwest Arkansas sends Edgar Osuna out to the mound for the 9th time and 8th start as Frisco tries to finish off the sweep of the Naturals... Carlos Pimentel started for Frisco on Saturday in the TV game and gave up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 5 runs over 5 innings with 5 strikeouts. Frisco managed to win the game, however, as Pimentel hasn't gotten a loss since April 23rd, but has received no decisions in 6 of his 7 starts since then. Since losing 3 starts in a row to begin the year, Pimentel is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA over the 7 starts. On the season, the 21 year old righty has given up 53 hits and 23 walks over 49 innings with 40 strikeouts. He is 0-1 with a 3.04 ERA on the road in 4 starts. Pimente has struggled against the Texas League North, however, as he is 0-2 with an 11.45 ERA over 3 starts. Which means he is also 1-1 with a 3.08 ERA in 7 starts against the Texas League South... Edgar Osuna has won 4 out of 5 decisions this season, despite struggling mightily over the course of the season. Osuna has not posted a sub 4.50 ERA in a start since his first start of the season on April 11th against the Corpus Christi Hooks when he gave up 2 unearned runs over 5 2/3 innings. Since then, he has given up 45 hits, 10 walks, and 29 earned runs over 28 2/3 innings pitched. The 23 year old southpaw has still somehow managed to go 3-1 during that time. On the season, Osuna has given up 50 hits and 11 walks over 34 1/3 innings with 33 strikeouts. Right handed batters are hitting .364 against Osuna with 6 of the 7 homeruns he has given up on the season. At home, Osuna is 2-1 with a 6.75 ERA in 4 appearances/3 starts. He was a Texas League Mid season All-star last season.
Frisco Takes First 2 Again: Frisco received clutch homeruns in Thursday's 7-5 10th inning win over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals and took the first two games again from a Texas League North contender. Frisco is 2-0 in the month of June now and kept pace with the San Antonio Missions, who got a 9th inning walkoff homer from Kyle Blanks. Frisco's 28-24 record represents the 2nd best record in the Texas League, but is only the 2nd best in their division as well.
Jake Brigham Struggles: For the 3rd start in a row, Jake Brigham struggled with his command as he walked 4 batters and gave up 6 hits over 5 innings. He did manage to only give up 3 runs, however, which kept Frisco in the game. After walking 14 batters and striking out 37 over his first 40 2/3 innings, Brigham has walked 11 batters and struck out 8 over his last 11 2/3 innings. His groundballs have also gone down and his flyballs have gone up, as he has gotten 8 GB-12 FB his last 3 starts after getting 48-22 in his previous 8 starts.
Renny Osuna Homers Again: Renny Osuna has only hit more than 1 homerun in a month once in his career (last August for Frisco), let alone achieving the feat of homeruns in back to back games as he has done on the first two days of June this year. Renny Osuna hit a 2-run homerun in the top of the 10th inning to give Frisco a 7-5 lead, which eventually wound up as the final score. It was the second straight game that Osuna hit a game winning homerun, as Wednesday's solo shot was the difference in that game as well. It also represented his 4th homerun this season, which ties a career high for him and raised his OPS on the season to .802, which would be his highest since 2008.
Tommy Mendonca's Clutch Homer: Osuna never would have gotten the opportunity to hit the homerun if Tommy Mendonca wouldn't have hit one of his own in the top of the 9th inning to tie the game at 5-5. The homerun was Mendonca's 12th homerun of the year and gave him 34 RBIs, both of which tied him with Bianucci for the team lead. It was Mendonca's 2nd homerun in 11 at bats in the 9th inning this season.
Fabio Castillo Gets #5: Frisco seems to have found their new closer in hard throwing right hander Fabio Castillo, who got his 5th save of the season. All 5 saves have come in his last 6 appearances and he has thrown 4 perfect innings in his last 4 appearances for 4 saves.
Ruiz Continues Slump: Jose Ruiz came back hitting the ball like no other after the birth of his child as he went 19 for 45 (.422) from May 14th-May 27th with 3 homeruns and 6 doubles. But since then he has gone 0 for his last 19 over 5 games with 4 RBI and 1 walk. However, "that's the way baseball go".
Rare Struggle for Leonys Martin: Leonys Martin hasn't had much trouble with AA pitching to this point. But on Thursday he went 1 for 5 with 2 strikeouts (raising his season total to 6 in 76 AB) and he grounded into a double play as well. Still, the 23 year old outfielder is batting .329 with an OPS of .955, including a .416 OBP.
MLB Draft Stuff: Keith Law came out with his latest projected first round today on ESPN insiders, and has the Texas Rangers selecting high school third baseman Travis Harrison from Tustin HS (California). State of Texas players that he has going in the first round include: 3B Anthony Rendon, Rice (#2 to Seattle); RHP Taylor Jungmann, University of Texas (#12 to Milwaukee); OF Josh Bell, Dallas Jesuit Prep (#26 to Boston). The MLB draft begins on Monday and lasts through Wednesday. MLB Network will cover the first round on TV on Monday night beginning at 6:00 PM CT. MLB.com covers the draft on their draft central as well.
Last Year on this Date: Frisco crushed the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 12-2 on the road. Ben Snyder started the game for Frisco and gave up 2 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs over 3 1/3 innings. Warner Madrigal picked up the victory with 2 1/3 shutout innings as he combined with Beau Jones and Evan Reed to pitch 5 2/3 shutout innings of relief. Marcus Lemon went 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, a walk, and 3 RBI at the plate. Renny Osuna went 3 for 5 with a double and RBI. Every hitter in Frisco's lineup had at least one hit in the game as the team had 17 total hits. Guilder Rodriguez was the only batter in the lineup to not drive in a run.
Answer to Yesterday's Question of the Day: Billy Hamilton scored at least one run in 24 straight games from July 6th through August 2nd, 1894.
Around the Ranger's System
Yesterday's Record: 2-2
Round Rock (AAA) lost 11-1 to the Oklahoma City Redhawks on the road. Derek Hankins started for Round Rock and gave up 8 hits, 2 walks, and 7 runs over 3 innings with 2 strikeouts. Beau Jones gave up 2 hits and 1 run over 3 innings of relief with 4 strikeouts. Joey Butler went 2 for 3 at the plate for Round Rock. Chad Tracy went 0 for 3 with a walk for the Express. Brad Nelson went 2 for 4 with a double. Esteban German added a double as well.
Myrtle Beach (High-A) got a rare rough start from Joseph Wieland and lost 6-5 to the Frederick Keys. Wieland has been as close to automatic this season as one pitcher can get, but against the Keys, he hasn't been quite so automatic. He gave up 11 hits and 5 runs over 6 innings with 6 strikeouts and for the 8th consecutive complete start he did not issue a walk. Wieland has not walked a batter in his last 202 batters faced. Kennil Gomez pitched a scoreless inning of relief, but Trevor Hurley took the loss after giving up a run in his inning of relief. Mike Olt went 2 for 3 with a double, RBI, and walk for Myrtle Beach. Ryan Strausborger went 1 for 4 with 2 RBI in the game. Leury Garcia, Zach Zaneski and Jared Hoying each added a single as well.
Hickory (Low-A) defeated the Delmarva Shorebirds 5-3 on the road. Nick Tepesch started for Hickory and gave up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs over 6 1/3 innings with 5 strikeouts. Joseph Van Meter and Ryan Rodebaugh combined for 2 2/3 innings of relief and gave up just 1 unearned run. Jurickson Profar went 2 for 4 with a triple and 2 RBI. Odubel Herrera went 1 for 4 in the game at the plate. Josh Richmond added a 1 for 3 day with a double and a walk for the Crawdads. Tomas Telis, Christian Villanueva, Jake Skole, and Alejandro Selen all had a hit in the game as well. Jonathan Roof drove in 2 runs for Hickory.
Minor League Performance of the Day
There were some good minor league performances on Thursday, but Trevor May's start topped the list as the 21 year old right hander had another dominant performance for the Clearwater Threshers. May gave up just 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 unearned run over 8 innings and struck out 12 batters in Clearwater's 7-1 victory over the St. Lucie Mets. The matchup of May and Matt Harvey was one to watch and both lived up to the billing as Harvey gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run over 5 innings with 9 strikeouts. May lasted longer in the game, however, and earned the victory. On the season, Trevor May has given up just 46 hits and 29 walks over 61 innings with 80 strikeouts. He is 4-2 with a 3.54 ERA this season. His 12 strikeouts was the 2nd time this season that he had topped double digits. May was drafted in the 4th round of the 2008 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. He was listed as the 5th best prospect in the Philadelphia Phillie's system by Baseball America entering 2011.
As always...
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