Frisco RoughRiders Game Notes
Published on July 6, 2014 under Texas League (TL1)
Frisco RoughRiders News Release
ROUGHRIDERS RUNDOWN Orlando Magic: A sprited comeback win for the second straight night was not in the cards for the RoughRiders on Saturday as Northwest Arkansas homered its way to a 7-3 victory in the series opener. The Naturals plowed ahead 3-0 in the first inning after loading the bases with no outs against Alec Asher. Cheslor Cuthbert (sacrifice fly), Hunter Dozier (single) and Juan Graterol (groundout) brought home all three runners to give the hosts an early advantage. Frisco could not muster a hit over the first five innings against newly promoted Christian Binford, but the club broke up the no-hit bid with a Jake Skole leadoff single in the sixth. Skole later scored on a groundout and the 'Riders scored two more in the seventh inning to tie the game at 3-3 on a Chris Grayson sac fly and a Skole RBI double. But in the bottom of the frame, Northwest Arkansas put two men aboard with two outs for Orlando Calixte, who hammered the first pitch he saw over the fence in left-centerfield to make it 6-3. The Naturals added an insurance run on a Dozier solo blast in the eighth and later held off a Frisco rally to end the game. The loss snapped the RoughRiders' four-game winning streak.
Today's Pitching Matchup: Frisco can win the season series with the Naturals with a victory in either of the next two games and has Jerad Eickhoff on the mound against Jason Adam. The pitching matchup is a replay of Monday's series finale at Dr Pep- per Ballpark, won by the RoughRiders 9-2. Eickhoff was not his sharpest, but yielded just two runs over six innings for the victory while Adam surrendered seven runs in four innings to take his eighth loss. Adam made two starts last season against Frisco; in the first, he allowed nine runs on ten hits in 2.2 innings, but followed that up later in the season with a seven inning performance in which he allowed only one run on two hits. Adam has been prone to some tough outings this season, allowing seven runs or more in five starts, and he owns the highest ERA among qualified pitchers in the Texas League. Prior to his tough outing in Frisco on Monday, in his previous four starts the righty was 2-1 with a 2.81 ERA (8 ER/25.2 IP), 29 strikeouts, five walks and a .213 batting average against (20 for 94). Adam entered the season ranked ninth among Royals prospects by Baseball America a year after coming in eighth on the 2013 list. He struggled initially in his first Double-A campaign last year, going 8-11 with a 5.19 ERA (144 IP), 126 strikeouts and 54 walks; he posted a 12.94 ERA in April, but went 8-9 with a 3.93 ERA over the rest of the season. Adam pitched for Peoria in the Arizona Fall League follwoing the season, going 2-2 with a 4.03 ERA in 29 innings. He spent all of 2012 with Advanced-A Wilmington, starting 27 games and going 7-12 with a 3.53 ERA, 123 strikeouts and 36 walks in 158 innings. After he was drafted out of Overland Park High School in the fifth round in 2010, he spent 2011 with Kane County, going 6-9 with a 4.23 ERA. Considered a higher round talent, Adam dropped to the fifth because of a commitment to the University of Missouri and a reportedly inconsistent senior year of high school ball (though he did go 4-3 with a 1.51 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 41.2 innings). He was first-team All-State in Missouri and grew up 20 minutes from Kauffman Stadium. He throws a 92-94 mph fastball (occasionally reaching 97), an improvement on where he was in his earlier pro days and closer to what it consistently hit in high school. He also features a slider which he started incorporating into his repertoire last year, a curveball and changeup. Pig sooie, phooey: The state of Arkansas had been so welcoming to the RoughRiders, but the hospitality could not last forever as Frisco lost on Saturday night for the first time this season in the state. The 'Riders had been 9-0 at Arkansas and Northwest Arkansas before dropping Saturday's 7-3 decision. The loss was the team's first in the state in 370 days since losing 8-5 on June 30, 2013; the team had won ten straight in Arkansas. This season Frisco has outscored its opponents 57-28 in ten games at Dickey-Stephens Park and Arvest Ballpark (an average score of 5.7 to 2.8).
If you ain't first, you're last: For the first time since before the All-Star break, Frisco's opponent was the first team to score in a game. The RoughRiders had scored first in nine straight games - going 6-3 during the streak - and in all but one of the oc- caisions it happened in the first three innings. The 'Riders have drawn first blood more times (49) than any other Texas League team and have won a TL-best 36 games when scoring first. They have the second-highest winning percentage (.735) in the league when scoring first.
A new era for Herrera: Odubel Herrera was finally denied at the plate last night as the lefty batter went 0 for 4, spelling the end of his season-best ten-game hitting streak (.421 average during streak). Over the last 20 games, the All-Star second baseman has had multiple hits 11 times and is batting .413 (33 for 80) with five doubles, a triple, 11 RBI, nine runs scored, four walks, five steals a .447 on-base percentage and a .947 OPS. Since June 11, he leads the Texas League in batting average and is third in on-base percentage.
30 for 20: A year after becoming the first teenager in more than 50 years to hit 40 home runs in a minor league season, 20-year-old Joey Gallo became the first player in professional baseball to hit 30 home runs this season with a solo homer in the eighth inning on Thursday night in a scoreless game. He extended his personal hit streak to seven games on Saturday with a bunt single hits; during the streak, he is batting .407 (11 for 27) with four doubles, two home runs and six RBI. Since joining the RoughRiders, Gallo is first in the TL in homers (9), first in slugging percentage (.685), second OPS (1.086), tied for first in extra-base hits (15) and second in total bases (59). In a statistical oddity, Gallo has hit 92 career home runs and 94 career singles. Minor League Baseball's reigning home run king, the Las Vegas native once again leads all of professional baseball with 30 round-trippers this season. Gallo is first in slugging percentage (.720), second in OPS (1.165), fourth in on-base percentage (.445), second in total bases (198), tied for fourth in RBI (72) and second in extra-base hits (48).
Edwar and Peace: Frisco got a dominant performance from starter Edwar Cabrera on Thursday night, as the right-hander fired eight scoreless innings and allowed just three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts to pick up the win at Arkansas. The last time the Dominican lasted eight innings in an outing was on June 16, 2012 with the Tulsa Drillers. That outing was also at Dickey-Stephens Park against the Travelers, and he gave up just one unearned run on three hits in the contest. Thursday's start was one of the best by a RoughRiders pitcher this season and it was Cabrera's first win since June 12, ending a string of three straight defeats. The lefty has been excellent in his last three starts. Despite posting a 1-2 record, he has a 1.29 ERA (3 ER/21 IP), 13 strikeouts and just one walk.
Playing not to lose: Frisco went 70-70 in 2013 and its all-time record is 867-744 (.538). It was the eighth straight season that the RoughRiders finished with a non-losing record. The last time Frisco finished below .500 was the only time in team history, back in 2005 when it finished 58-82. The streak of non-losing seasons is by far the longest in the Texas League; every other team in the circuit has had at least one losing season in the last three years. The streak is the longest in Double-A and the third-longest among all 120 full-season minor league clubs, exceeded only by the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats (11 straight non-losing seasons) and the Advanced-A San Jose Giants (ten). Including teams that play in short-season leagues, Frisco's streak is the sixth longest; the Elizabethton Twins (25), Brooklyn Cyclones (13) and AZL Giants (13) have the longest such streaks in stateside Minor League Baseball.
Texas League Stories from July 6, 2014
- Nash Mash, Sosa & Kemp Dismantle Drillers - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Losing Streak Reaches Five with 4-1 Loss - Arkansas Travelers
- Drillers Lose Third Straight, Fourth on Road Trip - Tulsa Drillers
- Missions Slip by Cardinals with 2-1 Walk-Off Win - Springfield Cardinals
- Frisco Once Again the Apple of (Lane) Adams' Eye - Frisco RoughRiders
- San Antonio Walks-Off Springfield on Bixler's Ninth-Inning Single - San Antonio Missions
- Dozier, Adams, Power Naturals Past Frisco, 3-0 - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- San Antonio Missions Game Notes: July 6 vs. Springfield (6:05 PM CST) - San Antonio Missions
- Frisco RoughRiders Game Notes - Frisco RoughRiders
- Missions Fall to Cardinals in Opener - San Antonio Missions
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