Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: ONEOK Field (Tulsa, OK)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (29-24 7 games back in the Texas League South)... Tulsa Drillers (28-24 1st place in the Texas League North)
Streak: Won 3 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Series Record: 7-7-1
2011 Record against Tulsa: 2-1
All-Time Record against Tulsa: 60-70
Record Since 2004 on June 4th: 3-3 with 1 off day
Starting Pitchers: Robbie Erlin (1-0 4.26 ERA) is 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 1 career start against the Tulsa Drillers... Joey Williamson (0-1 2.63 ERA) is making his first career start against the Frisco RoughRiders
What to Watch for on the Mound: Frisco sends Robbie Erlin to the mound for the 2nd time this season, while the Tulsa Drillers send Joey Williamson to the mound for the 6th time this season, including his 2nd start... In case Robbie Erlin doesn't know it, there are other teams in the Texas League than the Tulsa Drillers, but he just wouldn't know it yet with how the schedule worked out. Erlin makes his 2nd start for Frisco and looks to build on his solid debut for the Riders last Sunday. Erlin gave up 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs over 6 1/3 innings with 3 strikeouts in Frisco's 9-3 victory over Tulsa. Erlin threw first pitch strikes to 19 of 25 batters in that start and went to 2 strike counts with 14 of the batters as well. The 20 year old southpaw had a dominant season with Myrtle Beach before getting the promotion to Frisco. He was 3-2 with a 2.14 ERA in 9 starts for the Pelicans and led minor league baseball in WHIP with a 0.55 WHIP at the time of his promotion. Opponents hit just .132 against him in the Carolina League (25 hits in 54 2/3 innings) and he walked just 5 batters to 62 strikeouts in that time as well. Erlin was listed by Baseball America as the 4th best prospect in the Ranger's system entering 2011. He was selected in the 3rd round of the 2009 draft by Texas...Joey Williamson will make his 2nd start of the year for Tulsa and just his 16th career minor league start in 4 seasons in the minors. In his first start for Tulsa earlier this year, Williamson gave up 3 walks and 1 hit over 4 shutout innings with 1 strikeout against the Arkansas Travelers on April 27th. Williamson has a 3.72 ERA in 4 appearances as a reliever for Tulsa as well. He last pitched for Tulsa on May 22nd and gave up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs over 2 innings with 2 strikeouts. Joey made an appearance for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (AAA) on May 26th against Albuquerque and gave up 2 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run over 3 2/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. Williamson was supposed to be in Tulsa much quicker than 2011, but before the 2010 season he retired from baseball... after posting a 22-3 record in his previous 3 seasons in the minor leagues, including an 18-0 start in his first 74 minor league appearances. You can read more about the story here. Joey Williamson was drafted by the Rockies in the 36th round of the 2007 draft out of Notre Dame.
Riders Crush Naturals, Finish Sweep: Frisco finished off their 2nd sweep of the season by cruising to an 18-5 victory over Northwest Arkansas. Frisco scored in all but 2 innings during the game, including 13 runs by the end of the 5th inning. They had a baserunner reach in every inning and had a baserunner in scoring position in every inning except the 3rd inning. Their 18 runs scored were tied for the 2nd most scored by Frisco since 2004.
Most Runs Scored:
1. 19-2 vs. Tulsa on July 13, 2006
T2. 18-4 @ Northwest Arkansas on June 3, 2011
T2. 18-4 @ Springfield on July 4, 2009
4. 17-8 @ Springfield on April 15, 2007
T5. 16-9 @ Midland on May 15, 2008
T5. 16-2 vs. Midland on May 12, 2004
T5. 16-5 @ Round Rock on July 23, 2004
Carlos Pimentel's Start: While the story of the game may have been the offense, Carlos Pimentel turned in one of his best starts yet. The 21 year old right hander gave up just 3 hits, walked 2 batters, and gave up 2 runs over 7 strong innings with 4 strikeouts in his 2nd victory this season. While sometimes in high scoring games the starting pitchers can "receive" a victory, Pimentel "earned" his on Friday. It was Pimentel's longest outing of the season and the least amount of hits he has given up in a start.
Bianucci Drives Home 6 Runs: Mike Bianucci finished Friday's game with 3 hits, 2 doubles, and 6 RBI. His 6 RBI was the most by a RoughRider since Tim Smith (who started for Northwest Arkansas on Friday) drove in 7 runs in Frisco's 18-4 demolition of the Springfield Cardinals on July 4th, 2009. Johnny Whittleman, who is in the Royal's organization now, also drove in 6 runs in that game as well. The 6 RBI for Bianucci, however, are not a career high in the minors as he drove in 7 runs on April 17th for the Hickory Crawdads against Asheville and drove 6 in on August 15th, 2008 for the Spokane Indians against Salem-Keizer. Of the 6 runs that Bianucci drove in on Friday, 5 of them were with 2 outs, so talk about clutch hitting. It's also probably the reason that despite driving in 6 runs and reaching base 3 times, Mike Bianucci did not score a run of his own. He is now batting .455 (10 for 22) this year with RISP and 2 outs
Offensive Explosion: Frisco finished with 6 players with 2 or more hits in the game and had 5 players reach base 3 or more times. They also finished with 8 of the 9 starters driving in a run and 7 of the 9 starters scoring a run. Every starter either scored or drove in a run. Amazingly, however, Frisco had the leadoff batter reach base only 3 times out of the 9 innings. Considering they had 17 hits and 18 runs that is quite a low total. Consider that they had the leadoff hitter reach 3 times in both of the previous 2 games and they only scored 12 runs with 16 hits in those 2 games combined.
Speaking of Offensive Explosions: The Texas Ranger's organization in general had a big, big night on Friday. Between the 5 full season teams (Hickory to Texas) playing on Friday, they combined to score 59 runs and accumulated 74 hits. There were 22 Texas Rangers organizational players that had 2 or more hits in a game and 31 players reached base at least twice. There were a combined 30 extra base hits hit between the 5 teams. Hickory and Frisco each scored 18 runs in their games and the Rangers combined with those 2 teams to each have at least 17 hits in their games. All five full season teams won their games.
Mendonca Drives In 3: Tommy Mendonca went 1 for 4 with a triple, walk, and 3 RBI. It marked the 10th time he has driven in multiple runs in a game this season for Frisco. He also struck out, however, which marked the 13th consecutive game that Mendonca has struck out at least once. Expect more big hits out of Mendonca in Tulsa, however, as he is batting .366/.393/.624/1.016 on the road this season.
Getting Comfortable With #2: Renny Osuna, who provided some of the heroics in the first two games of this series, went 2 for 5 with another RBI, a walk, and 3 runs scored. He batted #2 for the 19th gmae this season and is batting .349/.400/.446/.846 in the #2 hole of the lineup. He has scored 15 runs and driven in 13 in the 19 games.
Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Northwest Arkansas Naturals 5-4 in 10 innings on the road. Richard Bleier made the start for Frisco and gave up 9 hits and 4 runs over 6 innings with 1 strikeout and 0 walks. Cody Eppley, Josh Lueke, and Adalberto Flores combined for 4 innings of scoreless relief. Josh Lueke picked up his first win of the season, while Flores got his first save of the year. Guilder Rodriguez led the team with 3 hits in the game in 4 at bats. Elio Sarmiento drove in 2 runs, while Renny Osuna and Taylor Teagarden drove in a run a piece with all having 1 hit. Joey Butler, James Tomlin, and Marcus Lemon each added a hit as well.
Around the Ranger's System
Yesterday's Record: 4-0
Round Rock (AAA) scored 8 runs between the 3rd and 5th and defeated the Oklahoma City Redhawks 8-4. Brett Tomko started for Round Rock and gave up 5 hits and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts over 5 shutout innings. Mark Hamburger continues to struggle for Round Rock as he gave up 3 hits, 2 walks, and 3 runs over 1 2/3 innings. His ERA sits at 11.37 currently. Chris Davis went 3 for 5 with a double, triple, and 2 RBI. Ironically, he was a homerun short of the cycle. Joey Butler went 1 for 3 wtih a triple, 2 RBI, and walk for the Express. Chad Tracy went 1 for 4 with a RBI. Taylor Teagarden, Esteban German, Brad Nelson, Luis Cruz, and Doug Deeds each added a hit a piece.
Myrtle Beach (High-A) won 4-1 over the Lynchburg Hillcats on the road. Justin Grimm made his 2nd start for Myrtle Beach and turned in another good start. Grimm, who replaced Erlin, gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run over 6 2/3 innings with 6 strikeouts. Joe Ortiz and Ryan Kelly pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief as Kelly picked up his 8th save, which leads the Texas Ranger's minor leagues. Mike Olt went 1 for 5 with a RBI at the plate for Myrtle Beach. Ryan Strausborger went 2 for 5 with a double and got his 17th stolen base of the year. Leury Garcia went 2 for 4 with a double and a homerun. Jared Prince, Jared Hoying, and Santiago Chirino each added a hit in the game for the Pelicans.
Hickory (Low-A) crushed the Delmarva Shorebirds 18-6 on the road on Friday. Roman Mendez started for Hickory and gave up 8 hits, 3 walks, and 6 runs over 4 innings with 9 strikeouts in a rare bad start for him. Ben Henry picked up the win with 4 innings of shutout relief and Nicholas McBride pitched a scoreless inning of relief to finish the game. Tomas Telis went 4 for 6 with 2 doubles, 5 RBI and 3 runs. Jurickson Profar went 3 for 4 with a double, 2 RBI, 2 walks, and 3 runs. The 18 year old's OPS is up to .945 for the season. Josh Richmond went 2 for 5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. Jhonny Gomez and Kellin Deglan each had 3 hits in the game for Hickory, including a double by Gomez and 2 RBI. Teodoro Martinez reached base 4 times with 2 hits, including a tirple, and 2 walks, as well as 2 RBI. Odubel Herrera added 2 hits including a triple, and 3 RBI. The Crawdads went 10 for 22 with RISP as a team.
Minor League Performance of the Day
On a day when there was obviously lots of offense, one man stood alone. Corey Dickerson of the Asheville Tourists went 3 for 3 with 3 homeruns and 10 RBIs in Asheville's 13-5 victory over the Augusta Greenjackets. Dickerson hit 2 sacrifice flies in the game as well, as he totaled 12 bases in the game. Dickerson hit a sac fly in the 1st inning, hit 3-run homerun to centerfield in the 3rd inning, hit another sac fly in the 4th inning. He then finished with a 2-run homerun to right field in the 6th inning and another 3-run homerun to right field in the 7th inning. On the season Corey Dickerson is batting .283/.357/.638/.994 for Asheville with 13 doubles, 12 homeruns, and 31 RBI in 39 games. The 22 year old outfielder was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 8th round of the 2010 draft. Corey Dickerson was listed as the Colorado Rockie's 26th best prospect by Baseball America entering the 2011 season.
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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