Game 66: Frisco RoughRiders (Martin Perez) @ Corpus Christi Hooks (Xavier Cedeno)

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Whataburger Field (Corpus Christi, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (36-29 10 games back in the Texas League South)... Corpus Christi Hooks (24-41 22 games back in the Texas League South)
Streak: Lost 1 in a row
Last 10: 5-5
2011 Record against Corpus Christi: 6-7
All-Time Record against Corpus Christi: 101-96
Record on June 17th since 2004: 3-4
Starting Pitchers: Martin Perez (4-1 3.03 ERA) is 1-3 with a 5.65 ERA and 1.78 WHIP in 8 career starts against the Corpus Christi Hooks... Xavier Cedeno (4-4 3.77 ERA) is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 5 career appearances and 3 career starts against the Frisco RoughRiders.

What to Watch for on the Mound: Frisco sends Martin Perez to the mound for the 14th time this season, while Corpus Christi sends Xavier Cedeno to the mound for the 14th time as well in a battle of southpaws... Martin Perez looks to shake off his worst outing of the season as he took the loss in last Sunday's 9-2 loss to Midland. Perez gave up a season high 12 hits, walked 1 batter, and allowed 6 runs (5 earned) over 5 2/3 innings in the loss. He struck out 3 batters as well. Even still, Perez has put together a much more consistent season thus far for Frisco. Before the loss, Perez had won 3 starts in a row and Frisco is 7-2 in his last 9 starts. On the season, the 20 year old southpaw has given up 68 hits and 27 walks with 68 strikeouts in 71 1/3 innings pitched... Xavier Cedeno got off to a slow start early this season, but he has turned it on lately. Cedeno is 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA over his last 10 starts. During that time, opponents have hit just .225 against the southpaw and he has induced a 2.02 GO/AO ratio. In his last start, Cedeno gave up 5 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs over 5 innings with 6 strikeouts against the San Antonio Missions. He received a no decision in the start. On the season, the 24 year old has given up 71 hits and 30 walks with 66 strikeouts over 76 1/3 innings. His last start against Frisco came on May 15th, when Cedeno gave up 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs over 6 innings with 5 strikeouts.

Offense Goes Silent In Frisco's Loss: In case anyone was wondering, Frisco is no longer in Midland. That was apparent on Thursday when Frisco lost 5-2 and only scored 1 run in the first 4 innings after scoring 29 runs in the first 4 innings over the previous 4 games. Frisco fell to 10 games behind the San Antonio Missions in the first half. If Frisco stays 10 or more back, they would become the 14th second place team since the Texas League moved to 1st half and 2nd half seasons in 1977, to finish 10 or more back of the division winner. 

Tommy Mendonca Extends Streak: Mendonca extended his road on base streak this year to 32 games and 38 personally as he hit a homerun in the 4th inning. Mendonca finished the game 1 for 3 with the homeurn and a walk in the 7th inning. Mendonca's road batting line is up to: .347/.463/.684/1.147 on the season. His road BABIP is a ridiculous .500. He is tied for the lead in RBIs among all minor league players in the month of June with 4 others, including San Antonio's Vince Belnome with 20 for the month so far in 15 games.

Bleier Struggles: Southpaw Richard Bleier continued his recent struggles as he gave up 10 hits and 5 runs with 4 strikeouts and 0 walks over 6 innings. Bleier has given up 5 or more runs in 4 of his past 6 starts, including his last 2 now. On the season, Bleier is now 1-3 with a 5.56 ERA. Opponents are batting .316 against the 24 year old now as well.

Inching Closer: Renny Osuna drove in a run in the 8th inning with a sacrifice fly to score Guilder Rodriguez from third base. Osuna now has 95 RBI in his career for the Frisco RoughRiders. With another RBI he will tie Kevin Mahar for 10th on the All-Time RBI list and with 2 more he will move onto the list. He is already 3rd on the hits list, 6th on the runs list, and 9th on the stolen base list.

Abreu Baffles Frisco Again: If any team ever needs a win against the Frisco RoughRiders they should just try to get Erick Abreu. The 27 year old is now 4-0 in his career against Frisco. He held the incredibly hot Riders offense to just 3 hits, 1 walk, and 1 run over 7 innings with 7 strikeouts.

All Kinds of Notable Names On Prospect Hot Sheet: Each Friday during the baseball season Baseball America will put out a "prospect hot sheet" highlighting the best minor leaguers, specifically prospects, from the past week. This week's #1 was Matt Moore, the Tampa Bay Ray's prospect, who threw a no-hitter yesterday. Notable Names from this past weeks' list, which you can find here:

#2 Shelby Miller: The Springfield Cardinal's pitcher might be the best pitching prospect in baseball. Frisco could get their first look at him in the next few weeks. 
#5 Luke Jackson: The right hander is a pitcher for the Hickory Crawdads, the Texas Ranger's low-A affiliate.
#10 Wil Myers: The Northwest Arkansas Natural's outfielder is one of the top prospects in the game. He was hurt during their trip to Frisco, but has since returned with a bang.
Honorable Mention:
- Luis Jimenez- The Arkansas Traveler's third baseman was selected to the Texas League All-star game.
- Jose Altuve- The Corpus Christi Hooks second baseman is 5'7" but can really hit. He went 2 for 4 with a double, RBI, and run scored on Thursday against Frisco. 
- Mike Trout- The Arkansas Traveler's centerfielder is on pretty much everyone's list as either the #1 or #2 prospect in baseball.
- Blake Beavan- The former Frisco RoughRider was part of the trade that sent Cliff Lee to Texas last summer. He was also the Texas League pitcher of the year in 2010 and is coming off an 8 shutout inning performance in AAA, where he gave up 4 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 6.

Helium watch
Rougned Odor, Rangers- " Our friends in the scouting world have eyes beyond just the teams playing official games. Bill Mitchell has a report today on a Mariners prospect who was throwing up to 100 mph in spring training and will start in the short-season Northwest League. Odor, a 17-year-old shortstop who signed out of Venezuela for $425,000 in January, will join him in the NWL, following in the aggressive path the Rangers used when they assigned shortstop Jurickson Profar to Spokane in 2010 after signing him for $1.55 million out of Curacao in 2009. Odor separated himself at extended spring training with his sweet swing, advanced approach at the plate and ability to hit the ball to all fields. He probably projects better at second base down the road, but his he should have plenty of bat for a middle infielder."

Texas League Homerun Tracker: 478 homeruns in 512 games (0.934 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Lucky seventh- The second (bottom or home) half of the seventh inning, which was once regarded as lucky for the home team.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco lost 2-0 to the Corpus Christi Hooks on the road. Blake Beavan started for Frisco and gave up 8 hits, 1 walk, and 2 runs over 6 innings with 5 strikeouts. Beau Jones and Andrew Laughter followed with 2 scoreless innings of relief. Marcus Lemon went 2 for 4 with 2 doubles for Frisco. Matt Lawson added a double as well as part of a 1 for 4 game. Joey Butler, Mitch Hilligoss, Renny Osuna, and Guilder Rodriguez each added a hit as well for the Riders.

Answer to Yesterday's Question of the Day: Frisco has been the Texas League Organization of the Year twice (2010 and 2005).

Around the Ranger's System

Yesterday's Record: 2-2

Round Rock (AAA) gave up only 1 hit against the Nashville Sounds, but lost 1-0 on the road. Scott Feldman made the rehab start for Round Rock and gave up 2 walks and 0 hits over 5 shutout innings with 5 strikeouts. Derek Hankins gave up 1 hit, 1 run, and 0 walks over 2 innings of relief with 4 strikeouts. Beau Jones pitched the final perfect inning of relief. The only hit given up was a homerun by Brett Carroll off of Hankins. Julio Borbon, Omar Quintanilla, and Brian Barden each had singles in the game for Round Rock. Joey Butler's 16 game hitting streak came to an end for the Express with a 0 for 2 day including a walk.

Myrtle Beach (High-A) scored 8 runs in the first 5 innings and crushed the Frederick Keys 11-1. Wilfredo Boscan started for Myrtle Beach and gave up 7 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run over 7 innings with 4 strikeouts. Joe Ortiz and Zach Osborne each pitched a scoreless inning of relief. Ryan Strausborger went 3 for 4 with a homerun, 3 RBI, a walk, and 2 runs scored. Leury Garcia went 3 for 5 with 2 runs and a RBI for the Pelicans. David Paisano also added 3 hits of his own, including a double and a RBI. Jared Bolden went 2 for 3 with a triple, RBI, walk, and 2 runs scored. Chris McGuiness, Jared Prince, Zach Zaneski, and Mitch Hilligoss each had a hit of their own as well. McGuiness's was a double.

Hickory (Low-A) received a dominating pitching performance from Luke Jackson and defeated the Charleston River Dogs 5-1. Jackson started the game and gave up 3 hits, 2 walks, and 1 run over 5 innings and struck out 10 batters. Ben Rowen and Jimmy Reyes combined for 4 shutout innings of relief. Jhonny Gomez led Hickory with 2 hits in 4 at bats in the game. Andrew Clark reached base 3 times as he went 1 for 2 with a double, 2 RBI, and 2 walks. Jake Skole continued his hot hitting with a 1 for 2 day including a RBI and a walk. Josh Richmond also went 1 for 3 with a triple and a walk. Jurickson Profar went 0 for 4 for the Crawdads, but did steal a base and scored a run. Odubel Herrera went 1 for 4 with a double as well.

Minor League Performance of the Day

Often close performances in these, on Thursday Matt Moore left no doubt. The 21 year old, who turns 22 tomorrow, pitched a no-hitter against the Mobile Bay Bears in the Montgomery Biscuit's 8-0 win. Moore gave up 2 walks and struck out 11 in the start. He threw 106 pitches, 76 of which went for strikes, and induced 11 groundball outs to 5 flyouts. On the season, the southpaw is now 4-3 with a 2.43 ERA and has given up 52 hits and 23 walks over 77 2/3 innings pitched. He has struck out 103 batters, which is tied with Shelby Miller for the 2nd most in minor league baseball. behind Edwar Cabrera's 110 for the Asheville Tourists. Moore was drafted in the 8th round of the 2007 draft by the Tampa Bay Rays. He was rated by Baseball America as the Ray's 2nd best prospect entering the 2011 season and was rated as the 15th best prospect in all of baseball.

As always...

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