Game 107: Frisco RoughRiders (Ben Snyder) @ San Antonio Missions (Casey Kelly

Time: 7:05 PM CT
Location: Nelson Wolff Municipal Stadium (San Antonio, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (20-16 1 game back in the Texas League South; 60-46 overall)... San Antonio Missions (21-15 1st place in the Texas League South; 70-36 overall)
Magic Number: 19
Streak: Won 1 in a row
Last 10: 6-4
Road Trip: 2-1
Series Record: 15-11-3
2011 Record against San Antonio: 9-14
All-Time Record against San Antonio: 119-121
Record on August 1st Since 2004: 5-1
Starting Pitchers: Ben Snyder (8-3 4.68 ERA) vs. Casey Kelly (10-4 4.29 ERA)

                                   Ben Snyder's Spray Chart As a Starting Pitcher

White On Field= Outs; Blue On Field= Hits; White Beyond Fence= HR; Red= Error

Frisco Comes From Behind, Guaranteed Split: In what has been extremely rare this season, the Frisco RoughRiders came back against the San Antonio Missions and won guaranteeing themselves a series split with the Misssions. Frisco got down 3-0 after the 1st inning, but scored 4 unanswered runs to defeat the Missions 4-3 in what was a bullpen game for Frisco after Robbie Erlin was traded to the Padres and ultimately their opponent, the Missions. This will be Frisco's second split or better against San Antonio and the first time they haven't lost a series to the Missions since May 3rd-6th. They had lost 3 consecutive series to the first place team. It is also only San Antonio's 11th split or worse this season. Frisco has 14 splits or worse this year.

Frisco Closes Out Third Straight Winning Month: Since getting off to an 8-14 start in April, Frisco has just kept on winning throughout the rest of the season. Frisco is 52-32 since May 1st (.619 winning%), which is good for the second best record in the Texas League during that time behind San Antonio, which is 55-29 (.655 winning%) since May 1st.

Tufts Gets the Start: Southpaw Robbie Erlin was scheduled to start for Frisco on Sunday, but with the trade to San Diego, it was Tyler Tufts that got the call instead. Tufts gave up 5 hits, 1 walk, and 3 runs over 2 innings without a strikeout in his first start of the season. In 28 appearances as a reliever, Tufts has posted a 2.08 ERA and has given up 41 hits, 4 walks, and struck out 34 batters over 39 innings.


Inning By Inning Count

1: 23 Pitches- 16 Strikes- 4 Called- 1 Swinging- 4 Fouls- 7 Balls- 7 BPIP- 1 BB- 4 Hits
2: 18 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 7 Balls- 4 BPIP- 0 BB- 1 Hit

Ruiz Drives In 2: Jose Ruiz had a good game for the Riders going 2 for 4 with 2 RBI. He's been struggling at the plate lately, so the game was a much needed productive effort from the first baseman. Over his last 10 games, Ruiz is batting .225 with a .687 OPS. In the month of July Ruiz batted .246 with a season low .746 OPS. He did drive in a season best 17 runs though.

Beltre Finishes Up Best Month: It wasn't pretty and numbers wise it still wasn't that pretty, but Engel Beltre went 1 for 3 with a double and a walk in the last game of July. He finished the month batting .252/.310/.364/.674 with 8 extra base hits in 29 games. It is progress though as Beltre posted a season best in OBP, SLG, and OPS for a month. He also finished with almost as many walks in the month of July (7) as the rest of the season combined (8).

Joe Wieland Dominates July: Even though he is now a San Antonio Mission, everything that Joe Wieland did for Frisco does not just automatically go away. The right hander finished up the month of July 4-0 with a 1.15 ERA in 6 starts for Frisco. He concluded the month and his time in Frisco by no-hitting the team that he will now make his next start for.

Pitching Rules July For Frisco: The Riders ended up going 17-12 in the month of July, which was the best record in the Texas League South for the month and second best in the league behind Northwest Arkansas's 18-11 record. Frisco finished 5 games over .500 for the month due to their stifling pitching, carried by the man above. After posting ERA's of 4.68, 4.46, and 4.64, the Riders pitching staff had a 3.81 ERA in the month of July.

Here are some of the highlighted pitchers

Joe Wieland- See Above

Robbie Erlin- Also now with San Antonio, the southpaw went 1-2 with a 3.77 ERA in 5 starts in the month of July. He struck out 23 batters and gave up just 1 walk over 31 innings.

Justin Miller- Appeared in 10 games out of the bullpen and posted just a 1.20 ERA. He went 1-0 and gave up 10 hits and 7 walks in 15 innings with 14 strikeouts.

Corey Young- The left hander from Shrewsbury, New Jersey gave up 7 hits and 4 walks in 9 2/3 innings with 4 strikeouts. In his 10 appearances, Young had a 0.93 ERA.

Jake Brigham- The right hander started the 2011 season in the rotation and after a little bit of struggle in his transition to the bullpen, Brigham has taken the bull by the horns and been extremely successful and important for Frisco. Brigham appeared in 8 games in July and in 16 innings he has given up 12 hits, 4 walks, struck out 22 batters, and posted a 1.69 ERA. Opponents hit .197 against Brigham in July.

Johan Yan- The quirky delivery of Yan hasn't been up in AA that long but the right hander has already made an impact on Frisco. In 6 appearances, Yan has pitched 9 2/3 innings struck out 6 batters, walked 5, and opponents are hitting .176 against him. He hasn't given up an earned run yet and is 2-0 record wise.

Tanner Scheppers- The hard throwing right hander who is recovering from top prospect status just a year or two ago, made 10 appearances in July and in 12 2/3 innings, he struck out 10 batters, walked 2, and gave up 13 hits with a 2.84 ERA.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 817 in 842 games (0.970 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Stat Rat- A player who pays too much attention to his individual performance.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco got shutout by San Antonio at home 5-0. Martin Perez started for Frisco and gave up 8 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs (3 earned) over 6 innings with 5 strikeouts. Chris Mobley gave up 1 run over 1 inning and Beau Jones pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief. Emerson Frostad provided the only power for Frisco as he went 1 for 4 with a double. James Tomlin went 1 for 4 and Jose Felix went 1 for 3 for the Riders.

Around the Ranger's System

Yesterday's Record: 4-0

Round Rock (AAA) scored a run in 6 of their 9 innings at the plate and defeated the Nashville Sounds 8-4 on the road. Martin Perez started for Round Rock and gave up 8 hits, 2 walks, and 4 runs over 5 innings with 3 strikeouts. Mark Hamburger pitched 2 innings of shutout relief, while Darren O'Day and Merkin Valdez each pitched a scoreless inning. Esteban German led Round Rock with a 5 for 5 day including 2 doubles, 2 RBI, 2 runs scored, and a stolen base. Kevin Cash went 3 for 4 with a double, homerun, 2 RBI, 2 runs scored, and a walk. Matt Kata added a 2 for 4 game including a homerun, 2 RBI, walk, and 2 runs scored for the Express. Chad Tracy went 2 for 5 as well with a RBI. Nick Green and Val Majewski each added a hit as well. Former Rider Joey Butler went 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts at the plate.

Myrtle Beach (High-A) had their game postponed.

Hickory (Low-A) scored 4 runs in the 5th inning and shutout the Augusta Greenjackets 7-0 on the road. Roman Mendez started for Hickory and gave up 3 hits, 3 walks, and struck out 7 over 6 shutout innings. Jorge Marban pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief, while Matt Thompson pitched a scoreless inning of his own. Christian Villanueva led Hickory with a 3 for 4 game including a RBI, walk, 2 stolen bases, and 2 runs scored. Alejandro Selen added a 3 for 5 game with 2 doubles, 3 RBI, and a run scored for the Crawdads. Josh Richmond went 2 for 5 with 2 doubles, a RBI, and a run scored. Braxton Lane went 3 for 4 with a RBI, walk, stolen base, and run scored. Jurickson Profar went 0 for 3 with 2 walks. Andrew Clark and Odubel Herrera each added a hit as well.

Spokane (Short Season A-Ball) scored 4 runs in the 2nd inning and defeated the Eugene Emeraldes 8-6 at home. Will Lamb started for Spokane and got the win after giving up 4 hits, 5 walks, and 3 runs over 5 innings with 6 strikeouts. Richard Alvarez gave up 3 runs over 2 2/3 innings of relief, while Jerad Eickhoff earned the save with a scoreless 1 1/3 innings. Hirotoshi Onaka went 3 for 5 with a homerun, 3 RBI, and a run scored at the plate for Spokane. Jorge Alfaro went 2 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored as well. Hanser Alberto finished 2 for 4 with a double, RBI, and 2 runs scored, while Yefry Castillo went 2 for 4 with a triple and a RBI for the Indians. Edwin Garica, Trever Adams, Ruben Sierra Jr., and Drew Robinson each added a hit as well.

Minor League Performance of the Day

Ryan Langerhans was acquired by the Arizona Diamondbacks just a couple days ago, but he's already made an impact on their AAA team, the Reno Aces. In the Ace's 5-4 loss to Fresno, Langerhans went 4 for 5 with 2 homeruns, 4 RBI, drew a walk, and scored 2 runs as well. In his first 3 games for the Reno Aces, Langerhans is 6 for 11 with 3 homeruns, 7 RBI, has a double, a walk, and has scored 3 runs. His OPS over the 3 games is 2.083. On the season overall, Langerhans is batting .324 with 19 homeruns and 44 RBI in 60 games in AAA. His AAA OPS is 1.050 for the season. In his major league career, Langerhans holds a career batting average of .226 with 33 homeruns in 1,459 plate appearances over 9 seasons. Langerhans turned 31 in January of 2011. He was drafted in the 3rd round by the Atlanta Braves in the 1998 draft.

As always...

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- By Michael Damman