Game 63: Frisco RoughRiders (Brandon Webb) @ Midland Rockhounds (Jason Bergmann)

Time: 6:30 PM CT
Location: Citibank Ballpark (Midland, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (34-28 9 games back in the Texas League South)... Midland Rockhounds (25-37 18 games back in the Texas League South)
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Series Record: 8-8-1
2011 Record against Midland: 8-2
All-Time Record against Midland: 111-99
Record on June 14th since 2004: 6-1
Starting Pitchers: Brandon Webb (0-1 13.50 ERA) is 0-3 with a 4.97 ERA and 1.62 WHIP in 5 career appearances and 4 career starts against the Midland Rockhounds... Jason Bergmann (0-1 11.88 ERA) is making his first career start against the Frisco RoughRiders

What to Watch for on the Mound: Frisco sends Brandon Webb to the mound for the 2nd time this season, while Midland sends Jason Bergmann to the mound for the 3rd time this year in a battle of former major league pitchers... Brandon Webb, a former National League Cy Young award winner, is making his second rehab outing for Frisco. In his last rehab start in Frisco, Webb gave up 8 hits, 2 walks, and 5 runs over 3 1/3 innings with 2 strikeouts. He took the loss in Frisco's 7-2 loss to the Tulsa Drillers on Memorial Day. Webb struggled with velocity as he rehabs from shoulder surgery in 2009. He sat in the low 80s in the start, hitting as high as 85 a couple times. Other than a few good sinkers, Webb looked far from the pitcher that finished in the top 3 in the NL Cy Young voting in three consecutive years from 2006-2008. With Arizona, Webb was 87-62 with a 3.27 ERA and 1.24 WHIP over 6 full seasons. His last major league pitch came on Opening Day in 2009... Jason Bergmann makes his third start for the Midland Rockhounds. He has pitched just 2 1/3 innings in the major leagues since the beginning of 2010 and like Webb had an injury issue with his shoulder. The 29 year old gave up 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs over 5 innings with 2 strikeouts in his last outing against the Corpus Christi Hooks. On the season, Bergmann has given up 12 hits and 5 walks over 8 1/3 innings with 2 strikeouts. Last season for the Washington National's AAA team, Bergmann gave up 42 hits and 19 walks over 50 2/3 innings with 56 strikeouts. He went 6-4 with a 2.84 ERA in 43 appearances. In the major leagues, Bergmann appeared in 56 games in 2009 and had a 4.50 ERA. He gave up 50 hits and 25 walks over 48 innings with 40 strikeouts. In 155 career appearances in the majors, Jason Bergmann has a 12-24 record with a 5.05 ERA. He has given up 400 hits and 153 walks in 389 2/3 innings with 299 strikeouts.

Frisco Crushes Midland, Evens Series: The RoughRiders bats came alive on Monday night in Midland, as the Riders scored early and often. Frisco amassed a season high 20 hits in the 13-6 victory over the Rockhounds. Four different Frisco hitters had 3 or more hits in the game and seven hitters had 2 or more hits. Much of the damage came in the 4th inning when Frisco had 6 hits and 7 runs. Frisco totaled 7 extra base hits in the game and had 20 runners reach scoring position.

Jake Brigham Gets Win: For the first time since May 1st, Jake Brigham was in the winning column. Brigham lasted 6 innings and gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, 6 runs (3 earned), and struck out 6 batters. It was the first time he had pitched 6 innings, walked less than 3 and struck out more than 3 since May 17th.

Mendonca, Bianucci Extend Streaks: It was the kind of game for Tommy Mendonca and Mike Bianucci where neither could do anything wrong. Both of them have been two of the best hitters in the league this season on the road, and both lived up to the billing once again. By the 4th inning, Tommy Mendonca was 3 for 3 and Mike Bianucci was a triple from the cycle with a 3 for 3 day. Mendonca eventually got as good as 4 for 4 on the day, before settling for a 4 for 6 day with a double and 4 RBI. Bianucci finished 3 for 6 on the day, including 7 total bases, and 4 RBI (all on a grand slam in the 4th inning). Mendonca's day extended his road on base streak to 29 games for Frisco and 35 games personally. Bianucci extended his homerun streak in Midland to 4 games. He has 5 homeruns in 6 games in Midland... without a multi homerun game.


Beltre Back in RBI Column: Engel Beltre has struggled a lot this season and on Monday he did something he hadn't done in 26 games. Beltre drove in a run on a double in the 4th inning, which he reached 3rd base on the throw on. It was Beltre's first RBI since April 22nd, a span of 26 games played for him. His season so far can be defined by the droughts that he has gone through, as Beltre also went through a 18 game extra base hit drought as well from April 10th to May 25th and a 13 game walk-less drought from April 16th to May 19th. Beltre also has not stolen a base since April 18th. He is currently batting .182 (15 for 82) since coming back from the suspension.

Jose Ruiz's Day: Jose Ruiz had a pretty complete, extremely productive day out of the 5th spot. He went 2 for 3 with a homerun, 3 RBI, walked one time, and hit a sacrifice fly. His only non-productive out was a groundout in the top of the 5th inning to end the inning with a runner in scoring position. The homerun was his 6th since May 14th and he has 21 RBI over the last 27 games since then. Ruiz is batting .327/.433/.653/1.086 in the 5th spot this season.


Enjoying The Consistency: Speaking of hitting well where you're spotted, here is the lineup's 2-6 as seen in Monday's game:

2- Osuna:        .316/.375/.402/.777
3- Mendonca: .381/.409/.556/.985
4- Bianucci: .252/.301/.537/.838
5- Ruiz: .327/.433/.653/1.086
6- Greene: .258/.319/.333/.652

Doubles Machine: Jonathan Greene went 3 for 5 on Monday and doubled in the top of the 6th inning. The double was his 18th of the season, which puts him 3rd in the Texas League in doubles, behind all-stars James Darnell and Luis Jimenez. He is batting .400 with RISP and 2 outs this season and .409 (18 for 44) when leading off an inning with a .509 OBP. Despite hitting .310 with runners on, Greene has yet to hit a homerun with runners on base.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 459 in 490 games (0.937 HR/G) is on pace for 2nd highest in Texas League history since stats were tracked by Baseball Reference beginning in 1950.

Term of the Day: Repertoire- The mixture of different pitches that a pitcher throws during a given outing; a pitchers stuff

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Midland Rockhounds 4-1 at home in front of 5,118 people. Tanner Roark started for Frisco and gave up 3 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run over 6 innings with 10 strikeouts. Ben Snyder and Josh Lueke combined for 3 shutout innings of relief to finish the game. Lueke got his 1st save of the season in the game. Emerson Frostad went 3 for 4 at the plate and finished a homerun short of the cycle. Matt Lawson went 2 for 4 at the plate with 2 runs scored for the Riders. Elio Sarmiento also added 2 hits in the game. Mitch Hilligoss and Wes Bankston each had a double as their lone hits in the game. Renny Osuna and Taylor Teagarden added hits of their own.

Answer to Yesterday's Question of the Day: Billy Beane was the 1984 Texas League All-star game MVP.


Around the Ranger's System

Yesterday's Record: 2-1

Round Rock (AAA) gave up 7 runs in the first 3 innings and lost 7-6 to the Nashville Sounds on the road. Brett Tomko started for Round Rock and gave up 9 hits, 1 walk, and 7 runs over 3 innings with 2 strikeouts. He served up 3 homeruns in the game. Derek Hankins and Zack Phillips pitched 5 innings of shutout relief for Tomko. Chad Tracy went 1 for 3 with his 14th homerun of the year for Round Rock. Tracy was also hit by a pitch in the game. Julio Borbon went 2 for 4 with a double, RBI, walk, and stolen base. Joey Butler extended his hitting streak with a 1 for 3 game including a homerun, walk, and 2 runs scored. Doug Deeds had a double as his lone hit. Omar Quintanilla went 2 for 4 with a homerun for the Express as well. Brad Nelson and Luis Cruz each added a hit as well.

Myrtle Beach (High-A) was rained out and will play a double header starting at 5:00 today. Justin Grimm and Barret Loux should be on the mound for the Pelicans.

Hickory (Low-A) scored 7 runs in the 7th inning and defeated the Asheville tourists 10-7 on the road. Nick Tepesch, who was named last week's South Atlantic League Player of the week, gave up 5 hits, 2 walks, and 6 runs (3 earned) over 5 innings with 4 strikeouts. Colby Killian received the win after giving up 1 run over 1 inning of relief. Jimmy Reyes and Ryan Rodebaugh combined for 3 innings of shutout relief. Jurickson Profar went 2 for 4 with a double, RBI, and walk in the game for Hickory. Odubel Herrera also went 2 for 5 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI for the Crawdads. Tomas Telis finished off the top 3 hitters in the order by also adding 2 hits of his own with a RBI. Christian Villanueva went 1 for 5 with a homerun and 2 RBI. Jake Skole reached base three times, including a 1 for 2 day with 2 walks and a RBI. Alejandro Selen, Josh Richmond, and Kellin Deglan each added a hit of their own. The first 6 batters in Hickory's lineup drove in at least one run.

Minor League Performance of the Day

Kody Hinze has had a big year in the middle of the Lancaster JetHawk's lineup and on Monday he took it to the next level. Hinze went 4 for 7 with 2 homeruns and 7 RBI in Lancaster's 11-8 14 inning win over the Lake Elsinore Storm. Kody Hinze is now batting .345 with 17 homeruns and 56 RBI for the JetHawks. He has a 1.130 OPS on the season, including a .480 OBP. He has walked 56 times to 55 strikeouts in 62 games on the year. The 23 year old first baseman is a Houston, Texas native and went to Angelina College. He was drafted in the 46th round of the 2005 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hinze joined the Houston Astro's organization during the 2008 season. He was a South Atlantic League All-star last year for the Lexington Legends.

As always...

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)
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- By Michael Damman