TL1 Frisco RoughRiders

Frisco RoughRiders Game Notes

Published on August 10, 2014 under Texas League (TL1)
Frisco RoughRiders News Release


Saturday night's all right for winning: The RoughRiders methodically imposed their will on Tulsa and emerged with a decisive 8-1 victory on Saturday night to snap their three-game losing streak. Rehabbing Ranger Derek Holland pitched three scoreless innings and looked sharp with four strikeouts, no walks and three hits allowed to set the table for a dominant evening for the pitching staff. Frisco got on the scoreboard in the second inning with a two-out, two-run single by Jorge Alfaro, the first knock of a big night for the Colombian.

The 'Riders struck for another run against Richard Castillo in the third on a Nomar Mazara RBI single and then Alfaro went deep for a solo homer in the fourth to make it 4-0. Alfaro chipped in with an RBI infield hit in the sixth inning and scored after singling in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk that was followed bt a Mazara two-run base hit. After Holland completed his start, Ryan Rodebaugh tossed a scoreless inning and Jake Thompson worked four frames to much success, striking out eight Tulsa batters. Keone Kela pitched a shutout ninth and struck out three Drillers to up the team's total to 17 strikeouts on the night. Frisco is now 13-6 on Saturdays in 2014, the best record on any day of the week for the squad this season.

Today's Pitching Matchup: Frisco looks to win the series and finish 3-3 on the home stand in the finale today as Chi Chi Gonzalez gets the start opposite Eddie Butler. Gonzalez has won his last two outings and four straight decisions overall. Since the start of July, he owns a 1.31 ERA and a .161 batting average against. This will be the 2013 first rounder's first start against Tulsa, which plays in the same city where Gonzalez went to college (Oral Roberts). Butler is making his first start against Frisco in a season that has seen him play for four different teams, including the Rockies. He made his Major League debut on June 6 against the Dodgers and took the loss, allowing six runs on ten hits in 5.1 innings. After the start, he went on the 15-day disabled list for right shoulder inflammation and made a pair of rehab starts for Modesto and Colorado Springs before being optioned back to Tulsa, where he has spent most of the season and was a mid-season Texas League All-Star. After giving up ten runs in his first two starts back with the Drillers, he tossed five innings of shutout ball at Midland on Tuesday. Butler entered the season ranked by Baseball America and MLB.com as the Rockies' second-best prospect. He was ranked among the top 100 prospects in the minors by Baseball America (24), Baseball Prospectus (26) and MLB.com (41). In 2013, Butler made 28 starts between Asheville, Modesto and Tulsa, going 9-5 with a 1.80 ERA, 143 strikeouts and 52 walks in 149.2 in- nings. In six starts with the Drillers, he was 1-0 with a 0.65 ERA; in two starts against Frisco he allowed one run on four hits in ten innings. Last year pitched a scoreless inning for the USA in the Future's Game, striking out Xander Bogaerts, hitting Miguel Sano and getting a double-play against Henry Urrutia. Butler was drafted in the supplemental first round in 2012 (46th overall, compensation for Colorado's loss of Mark Ellis to the Dodgers in free agency) out of Radford (Virginia) University and signed for $1 million. In 13 games (12 starts) for short-season Grand Junction in 2012, he went 7-1 with a 2.13 ERA, 55 strikeouts, 13 walks and 59 hits allowed in 68 innings. He led the Pioneer League in ERA, WHIP (1.06) and opponents' average (.230). The Chesapeake, Va. native was originally drafted by the Rangers out of Greenbrier Christian Academy in the 35th round in 2009 but did not sign. He went on to have a terrific career at Radford in the Big South Conference (he was the third-ever Highlander to be drafted in high school), culminating with a junior year that saw him go 7-4 with a 2.20 ERA (a Radford single-season record), a 95/23 K/BB ratio in 98 innings, earning him co-conference pitcher of the year honors. He was the first-ever Big South player to be drafted in the first round. Butler throws a mid-90s fastball that can reach 99 mph and has great sink. He also throws a mid-to-high-80s slider, a hard sinking changeup that can get good horizontal run and an average curveball. Get a whiff of that: 'Riders pitchers had the K-ball going to great effect last night, striking out a season-high 17 batters as a pitching staff with only two walks. Derek Holland struck out four batters in three innings, Ryan Rodebaugh had two strikeouts in his lone frame, Jake Thompson impressed with eight K's in four innings and Keone Kela worked the ninth with three whiffs. In an interesting note, of the 17 strikeouts, 14 came on sliders by the four pitchers. The 17 strikeouts were the most by any one Texas League team in a nine-inning game this season and marked the second-most in any game this season. Frisco itself struck out 18 times in a June 12 game at Corpus Christi that last 11 frames. Good first impressions: Frisco's two newest players finished their first week in the Texas League with a flurry as both Jorge Alfaro and Nomar Mazara impressed on Saturday night at Dr Pepper Ballpark. Alfaro went 4 for 5 with a home run, four runs batted in and two runs scored. The home run was an opposite field shot to right and was his second since joining the RoughRiders; the backstop has 15 dingers between two levels this season. His four RBI tied a season-best, previously set as a Myrtle Beach Pelican. Mazara tied a season-high in hits, going 3 for 5 with three runs batted in and a run scored. The big night for the 19-year-old snapped an 0 for 12 spell at the plate which followed an impressible Double-A debut on Tuesday in which he doubled and tripled. Take me to your leader: It took a while, but RoughRiders second baseman Odubel Herrera finally became a qualified Texas League batter on Tuesday, accruing enough plate appearances to become eligible for the league-wide rate statistics. As a result, he is now the runaway leader in batting average at .340, some 40 points higher than Springfield's Cody Stanley. The average is also tops among all Double-A players by eight points over Matt Duffy of Richmond. He is also first the TL in on-base percentage (.387). Herrera's seven-game hitting streak ended on Thursday, over which he is batting .367. Over the last 52 games, the All-Star second baseman has had multiple hits 25 times and is sporting a .366 clip during this stretch with ten doubles, three triples, one home run, 25 RBI, 29 runs scored, 17 walks, seven steals, a .415 on-base percentage and a .874 OPS. Since June 11, he is first in the Texas League in batting average, on-base percentage and is third in OPS.

The Trevolution will not be televised: Trever Adams accomplished a baseball rarity on July 30 with an inside-the-park home run off Sean Murphy. The home run was the first of its kind for Adams as a professional and it broke his previous career-high for homers in a single season; he hit 11 in 2013 with Myrtle Beach and now has 12 this year. He is now second in the Texas League with 32 doubles, which exceeds the career-high he set last year; he has 12 doubles in his last 20 games. Adams is batting .292, good for fourth in the TL. His season-best 13-game hitting streak, over which he is batted .442, ended on Thursday. He is also tied for fourth in RBI (53), third in hits (117), second in slugging (.466), tied for second in extra-base hits (45), fourth in runs scored (58) and second in total bases (187). The Nebraskan has a hit in 23 of his last 26 games and is hitting .366 over this stretch. In the second half of the season, Adams has not been held hitless in back-to-back games and the last time he went more than two games without a hit was April 28 throught May 4 when he went three straight contests without a knock.

All about the Benjamins: After going seven quiet games without a home run, Joey Gallo got back on track on Friday night with a two-run shot off Rockies top prospect Jon Gray. The home run was Gallo's 100th as a minor leaguer, a feat accomplished in just 279 professional games. Since joining the RoughRiders on June 9, Joey Gallo leads the Texas League in homers (17), runs batted in (45), slugging percent- age (.568), OPS (.915) and total bases (109). A year after becoming the first teenager in more than 50 years to hit 40 home runs in a minor league season, Gallo could become the first minor league to have back-to-back 40-homer seasons since Ron Kittle did it in 1981 (40 for Glens Falls White Sox) and 1982 (50 for Edmonton Trappers). He leads all of professional baseball with 38 home runs, tied with his friend Kris Bryant of the Iowa Cubs. Minor League Baseball's reigning home run king is second in the minors in slugging percentage (.651), second in OPS (1.060), third in RBI (95), and third in total bases (248).

Playing not to lose: Frisco went 70-70 in 2013 and its all-time record is 886-758 (.539). 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.

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Texas League Stories from August 10, 2014


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