Chatter from the Press Box: Game 93: Frisco RoughRiders (Carlos Pimentel) @ San Antonio Missions (Rob Musgrave)

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium (San Antonio, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (13-9 1 game back in the Texas League South; 53-39 overall)... San Antonio Missions (14-8 1st place in the Texas League South; 63-29 overall)
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 7-3
Homestand: 2-2
Series Record: 14-9-3
2011 Record against San Antonio: 6-10
All-Time Record against San Antonio: 116-117
Record on July 18th since 2004: 2-4
Starting Pitchers: Carlos Pimentel (3-6 4.78 ERA) is 0-0 with a 1.90 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 4 career starts against the San Antonio Missions... Rob Musgrave (5-2 3.09 ERA) is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 4 career appearances, including 1 start against the Frisco RoughRiders

What to Watch for on the Mound: Frisco sends Carlos Pimentel to the mound for the 19th time, including his 17th start, while San Antonio sends Rob Musgrave to the mound for the 21st time, including his 10th start in the first of a 4 game set...Carlos Pimentel looks to continue his recent success against the San Antonio Missions as Frisco begins a series with the first place team. In his last start against the Arkansas Travelers, Pimentel gave up 5 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs over 6 innings with 4 strikeouts. Over his last 4 starts, Pimentel has given up 26 hits, 11 walks, and 14 earned runs over 20 2/3 innings with 14 strikeouts. On the season, Pimentel has given up 92 hits and 44 walks with 64 strikeouts over 90 1/3 innings pitched. Over his last 2 starts against the Missions, Pimentel has given up 11 hits, 4 walks, and 1 run in 13 innings pitched. On the road, he is 2-3 with a 3.96 ERA in 10 games, 8 starts... Rob Musgrave hopes to continue his dominant pitching of late. Musgrave has not given up a run in his last 7 appearances spanning 17 2/3 innings pitched. In his last start, Musgrave gave up 4 hits and 2 walks with 6 strikeouts over 5 shutout innings against the Tulsa Drillers. In his last 2 starts, Musgrave has not given up a run over 10 innings pitched. On the season, he has given up 58 hits, 20 walks, and struck out 56 batters over 64 innings pitched. As a starting pitcher, Rob Musgrave is 1-2 with a 4.19 ERA in 9 starts. He has given up 42 hits and 12 walks with 36 strikeouts over 43 innings pitched as a starter. At home, Musgrave is 2-0 with a 3.45 ERA.

Frisco Salvages Split with Corpus Christi: Frisco took a 5-3 lead after 5 innings and defeated the Hooks 8-3 to split the 4 game set at home. Frisco hit a season high 4 homeruns in the game and improved to 13-6-3 in series against teams not named the San Antonio Missions, who they play now.

Snyder's Start: Ben Snyder fell an out short of picking up his 8th win of the season, but kept Frisco in the game long enough for the offense to pick his pitching up. Snyder gave up 6 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs (2 earned) over 4 2/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. As a starting pitcher, the 25 year old southpaw is now 2-1 with a 4.62 ERA.

Rider's Offense: Frisco's offense scored 8 runs in the win and pounded out 13 hits. Every player in Frisco's lineup finished with at least one hit and the Riders had 8 extra base hits in the game.

Bottom Of the Order's Production: The bottom 4 hitters in Frisco's lineup finished 6 for 13 in the game with a triple, 2 homeruns, 2 RBI, 3 runs scored, 2 walks, and a hit by pitch. Mitch Hilligoss went 2 for 3 with a triple, homerun (his first in Frisco this season), and a walk. Engel Beltre went 1 for 2 with a walk and a hit by pitch. He has 3 walks in his last 4 games after walking 8 times in his first 67 games.

Jose Ruiz's Big Game: For the second time in three games, Jose Ruiz drove in 3 runs in a game. Ruiz went 2 for 4 with a double, homerun, and drove in 3 runs. It was Ruiz's 6th 3 RBI game of the season, including his 3rd game in a row where he had at least a RBI and had 3 RBI. On the season, Ruiz has 13 multi RBI games.

Osuna Hits #8: We've written on here before that Renny Osuna had never hit more than 4 homeruns in a season before this season. On Sunday, he hit his 8th homerun of the season, more than doubling his previous high. It also puts him two short of double digits for the season. Osuna is now up 293 career hits for Frisco.

The Unfortunate 100 Club: With 3 strikeouts on Sunday, Tommy Mendonca reached his 100th strikeout of the season in his 79th game of the season. He joined Jonathan Greene as the two Frisco RoughRiders with 100 strikeouts. This is the 5th season that Frisco has had multiple players with 100 strikeouts in a season. The other four years were 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2009. With Mike Bianucci at 91 strikeouts, it is likely that this will be the first Frisco RoughRider's team to have 3 players with 100 or more strikeouts.

Meet Jedd Gyorko: When the San Antonio Missions ran away with the Texas League South in the first half one of the main contributors to the Mission's run was their third baseman James Darnell, who started in the Texas League All-Star game as well as the MLB Futures Game. It stood to reason that when he went up to AAA San Antonio's lineup would suffer. Darnell afterall batted .333 with a 1.038 OPS and 25 doubles, 17 homeruns, and 62 RBI in 76 games. But that's where 22 year old Jedd Gyorko comes in, as he has picked up where Darnell left off, or at least done a pretty good impression. Gyorko batted .365 with a 1.068 OPS and 35 doubles, 2 triples, 18 homeruns, and 74 RBI in 81 games for the Lake Elsinore Storm of the California League. So far for the Missions, Gyorko is batting .311 with a .911 OPS and 3 doubles, 2 homeruns, and 12 RBI in 12 games.

An interesting note is that Gyorko was drafted out of West Virginia University in 2010. His teammate second baseman Vincent Belnome, who has killed Frisco pitching (1.085 OPS against Frisco), also came from West Virginia and was drafted a year earlier.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 698 homeruns in 730 games (0.956 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Neighborhood Call- A called strike because the pitch was "merely" in the neighborhood of the plate.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco gave up a run in the 7th and 8th and lost 2-1 at home to the Corpus Christi Hooks. Michael Schlact started for Frisco and gave up 1 hit, 1 walk, and struck out 4 batters over 6 shutout innings. Ben Snyder took the loss after he gave up 2 runs over 1 2/3 innings of relief. Brennan Garr pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. James Tomlin led Frisco's offense with a 1 for 2 game including a double, a walk, and a stolen base. Andy Jenkins went 1 for 3 with a double for the Riders. Engel Beltre added a 1 for 4 game with a RBI as well.

Around the Ranger's System

Yesterday's Record: 3-1

Round Rock (AAA) took a 4-0 lead after 3 innings and defeated the Memphis Redbirds 8-5 on the road. Zach Jackson started for Round Rock and gave up 6 hits, 3 walks, and 5 runs (4 earned) over 5 2/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. Cody Eppley pitched 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief and Pedro Strop pitched a scoreless 9th inning for his 8th save. Chris Davis went 2 for 5 with a double for Round Rock. Joey Butler also went 2 for 5 with a RBI and a run scored at the plate. Chad Tracy also added a 1 for 4 game with 2 RBI, a walk, and a run scored for the Express. Matt Kata went 2 for 3 with a homerun, 3 RBI, a run scored, a sac fly, and a hit by pitch. Robbie Diaz and Kevin Cash each added 2 hits of their own including a homerun by Kevin Cash. Guilder Rodriguez added a hit as well.

Myrtle Beach (High-A) had the day off.

Hickory (Low-A) scored 5 runs in the 2nd inning and defeated the Delmarva Shorebirds 9-6 on the road. Matt Thompson started for the Hickory and gave up 3 hits, 7 walks, and 5 runs over 3 2/3 innings with 3 strikeouts. Ben Rowen picked up the win and gave up 1 unearned run over 2 1/3 innings of relief. Colby Killian gave up 1 scoreless innings, while Jimmy Reyes picked up his 1st save in 2 scoreless innings. Jurickson Profar led off with a 2 for 6 game including a double, homerun, 4 RBI, and 2 runs scored. Andrew Clark went 2 for 4 with a homerun, RBI, walk, and run scored. Yefry Castillo went 2 for 5 with a double at the plate for the Crawdads. Christian Villanueva had a 1 for 5 day with a homerun, while Jake Skole went 2 for 5 and Josh Richmond went 2 for 4 with a RBI, a walk, and a run scored. Teodoro Martinez and Kellin Deglan each added a hit.

Spokane (Short Season A-Ball) scored 5 runs in the top of the 8th inning, but lost 6-5 to the Everett AquaSox. Nicholas McBride gave up 9 hits, 3 walks, and 5 runs over 5 1/3 innings with 4 strikeouts. Juan Grullon pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, while Santo Perez had an inning of relief as well. Andres Perez-Lobo took the loss after giving up a walkoff solo homerun to lead off the bottom of the 9th to Marcus Littlewood. Hirotoshi Onaka went 3 for 5 at the plate with a run scored in the leadoff spot for Spokane. Rougned Odor went 2 for 5 with a homerun, 4 RBI, and run scored in his first game back since the brawl. Giullermo Pimentel went 2 for 4 for the Indians. Trever Adams added a hit in 4 at bats, while Jorge Alfaro and Edwin Garcia each went 1 for 4 as well.

Minor League Performance of the Day

Johnny Giavotella ripped through the Texas League last year for the Northwest Arkansas Naturals batting .322 with an .855 OPS as a second baseman. And so far in the 2011 season, he hasn't stopped hitting for the Omaha Storm Chasers. On Sunday, Giavotella had the best game of his 2011 season in Omaha's 7-4 win over the New Orleans Zephyrs. He went 4 for 4 with a double, 2 homeruns, 2 RBI, and 3 runs scored. His 2 homeruns gave him 9 for the season, which ties a career best with his 2010 season. On the season, Giavotella is batting .334 with 28 doubles, 1 triple, 9 homeruns, 64 RBI, 56 runs, 35 BB-48 K, and an .876 OPS (.391 OBP). Giavotella was selected in the 2nd round of the 2008 daft by the Kansas City Royals out of the University of New Orleans. Johnny was rated by Baseball America as the 18th best prospect in the Kansas City Royal's system.

As always...

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