Game 109: Frisco RoughRiders (Richard Bleier) @ Midland Rockhounds (Ethan Hollingsworth)

Time: 6:30 PM CT
Location: Citibank Ballpark (Midland, TX)
Team Records: Frisco RoughRiders (20-18 3 games back in the Texas League South; 60-48 overall)... Midland Rockhounds (19-19 4 games back in the Texas League South; 46-62 overall)
Magic Number: 19
Streak: Lost 2 in a row
Last 10: 4-6
Road Trip: 2-3
Series Record: 15-11-4
2011 Record against Midland: 13-7
All-Time Record against Midland: 116-104
Record on August 3rd Since 2004: 3-4
Starting Pitchers: Richard Bleier (3-6 6.48 ERA) vs. Ethan Hollingsworth (4-3 3.78 ERA)

Frisco Gets Down Early, Loses to Midland In Slugfest: Frisco's pitching didn't come to pitch on Monday and the team lost their third straight game to the Midland Rockhounds after winning 13 of their first 16 games against the Oakland Athletic's AA team. Frisco found themselves down 12-3 after 5 innings and even a 2 run 6th and 3 run 8th inning effort felt futile in the blowout loss.

Pimentel Struggles to Worst Start: Carlos Pimentel had the worst start of his career on Monday when he gave up 10 hits, 6 walks, and a career worst 10 runs over 3 2/3 innings. His -4 game score was the first negative game score by a Frisco RoughRider's starter this season and the first by a Texas Ranger's minor league pitcher. Amazingly he threw 101 pitches in 3 2/3 innings, although his 49 strikes was a season best for roughly 4 innings!

Inning By Inning Count

1: 16 Pitches- 8 Strikes- 2 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 8 Balls- 3 BPIP- 1 BB- 1 ROE
2: 29 Pitches- 16 Strikes- 7 Called- 2 Swinging- 1 Foul- 13 Balls- 6 BPIP- 1 Called K- 1 BB- 5 Hits-
3: 28 Pitches- 11 Strikes- 1 Called- 2 Swinging- 2 Fouls- 17 Balls- 6 BPIP- 2 BB- 3 Hits
4: 28 Pitches- 14 Strikes- 7 Called- 0 Swinging- 3 Fouls- 14 Balls- 4 BPIP- 2 BB- 2 Hits

Total: 101 Pitches- 49 Strikes- 17 Called- 6 Swinging- 7 Fouls- 52 Balls- 19 BPIP- 1 Called K- 6 BB- 10 Hits- 1 ROE

Offense Does Show Up: Even in the loss there are always positives and it would seem that an offense that had gone surprisingly silent recently woke up in the loss. Over their previous 9 games, the offense had scored 30 runs and instead they broke out for 8 runs in the loss.


Doubles Galore: Frisco set a season high with 7 doubles in the game, including 2 by Davis Stoneburner, Mike Bianucci, and Jose Ruiz. Renny Osuna added a double as well for the 7th double. Bianucci and Ruiz both have 26 doubles on the season now as they are tied for the team best. For Stoneburner it gives him 22 now for the season and Osuna now has 19 doubles this season. One more double by Renny Osuna would give the 2011 RoughRiders 6 players with 20+ doubles which would be a first in the franchise's 9 year existence.

Greene Continues Power Surge: Two games into the month of August and Greene leads the team in homeruns for the month with his first. Greene swatted 7 homeruns in the month of July after hitting 8 in the first 3 months of the season. Greene has 20 within his grasp now with just 4 more to go. He has hit 20 or more homeruns 2 times in his minor league career coming into this season. Greene finished 3 for 4 with the homerun, 2 RBI, and scored 2 runs in the game.

Stoneburner's Day: Davis Stoneburner went 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, a RBI, and a run scored against Midland. He has moved into a regular role in the #2 spot in the lineup and is hitting .275/.338/.465/.802 when batting second.

Ruiz Knocks In Two: Jose Ruiz is the player with the best shot at setting a high for Frisco RoughRiders with 60+ RBI and he just chipped 2 more away as the first baseman went 2 for 4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. Now batting .277 with 26 doubles, 12 homeruns, and 52 RBI for the season. With 8 more, Frisco will have 4 players at 60+ RBI for the second time in team history, as the 2008 team achieved 4 as well. Last season the team did not have a single player with 60+ RBI as Joey Butler's 59 RBI led the team.

Tracking Texas League Homeruns: 823 homeruns in 858 games (0.959 HR/G)

Term of the Day: Timing- The ability of a batter to judge the speed and path of a pitched ball in correlation with his swing.

Last Year on This Date: Frisco defeated the Midland Rockhounds 9-3 at home. Erasmo Ramirez started for Frisco and gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs (1 earned) over 4 1/3 innings with 2 strikeouts. Chris Mobley pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief and earned the win, while Adalberto Flores gave up 1 run over 3 innings for the save. Joey Butler led Frisco with a 2 for 3 game including a homerun, 4 RBI, 2 runs, and a sacrifice fly. Emerson Frostad went 2 for 3 with a double, 3 RBI, a walk, and 2 runs scored. Marcus Lemon added a 2 for 4 game with 3 runs scored. James Tomlin went 3 for 4 with a double and 2 run scored for the Riders. Johnny Whittleman added 2 hits in 4 at bats with a double and 2 RBI. Jonathan Greene added a hit in 4 at bats.

Around the Ranger's System

Yesterday's Record: 1-4

Round Rock (AAA) gave up a run in 6 of their 8 innings on defense and got shutout by the Nashville Sounds 7-0 on the road. Brett Tomko started for Round Rock and gave up 8 hits, 4 walks, and 4 runs (2 earned) over 6 innings with 4 strikeouts. Pedro Strop gave up a run in 1 inning of relief, while Darren O'Day gave up 2 runs in 1 inning of relief. Former Rider Guilder Rodriguez went 2 for 3 in the loss. Nick Green added 2 hits in 4 at bats with a double for the Express. Joey Butler and Matt Kata each went 1 for 4 as well.

Myrtle Beach (High-A) scored 3 runs in the 2nd inning and defeated the Kinston Indians 5-3 on the road. Wilfredo Boscan started for Myrtle Beach and gave up 2 hits, 1 walk, and 2 unearned runs over 5 1/3 innings with 6 strikeouts. Kennil Gomez gave up a run over 1 2/3 innings of relief, while Joe Ortiz got the save with 2 scoreless innings. Vincent DiFazio powered Myrtle Beach with a 3 for 4 game including 2 homeruns and 4 RBI. Santiago Chirino went 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored for the Pelicans. Jared Prince added a 2 for 3 day, while Leury Garcia and Travis Adair each added a hit as well.

Hickory (Low-A) gave up 2 runs in the 4th inning and fell 3-2 to the Hagerstown Suns at home. Luke Jackson started and took the loss after giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, and 3 runs (2 earned) over 5 innings with 2 strikeouts. Ben Henry, Jorge Marban, and Francisco Mendoza combined for 3 shutout innings of relief. Tomas Telis led Hickory with a 2 for 4 game at the plate. Odubel Herrera went 1 for 3 with a RBI, while Kellin Deglan went 1 for 3 with a run scored for the Crawdads. Jurickson Profar drove in a run and went 1 for 4 while Andrew Clark went 1 for 4 as well.

Spokane (Short Season A-Ball) got their best start of the season from Nicholas McBride, but lost 3-1 to the Vancouver Canadians. McBride got a no-decision after giving up 3 hits and 1 run over 7 innings with 4 strikeouts and 0 walks. Andres Perez-Lobo took the loss after giving up 2 runs in 1 inning of relief. Rougned Odor led Spokane with a 2 for 4 game at the plate. Jorge Alfaro added a 1 for 3 day for the Indians. Drew Robinson and Hanser Alberto also added 1 for 3 games.

Minor League Performance of the Day

C.J. Cron wasn't in professional baseball before this summer and the first round pick hasn't taken much time in adjusting to professional pitching. The Angel's top pick had a big day for the Orem Owlz in Orem's 8-3 win over the Ogden Raptors. In the game Cron went 4 for 5 with a double, 3 homeruns, 4 RBI, and 3 runs scored. The first baseman is hitting .298 with 11 homeruns and 32 RBI in 29 games for Orem so far. His OPS for the season is .971. C.J. Cron was selected with the 17th overall pick by the Los Angeles Angels in the 2011 draft. He went to college at the University of Utah.

As always...

A special thanks to any blog followers from Hardscrabble, DE!

Station to Listen to the Game on: 1630 AM (KKGM)
Follow the Game Online at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/scoreboard/league.jsp?sid=milb&lid=109
Follow Us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/pressboxchatter 
Follow the Extra Bases Live Blog throughout the Game at: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/page.jsp?ymd=20100305&content_id=8685092&vkey=multimedia_t540&fext=.jsp&sid=t540
And Check Out the Riders Insider Blog for more Frisco RoughRiders info: http://ridersinsider.mlblogs.com/

- By Michael Damman