July 9 - RoughRiders Game Notes
July 9, 2022 - Texas League (TL)
Frisco RoughRiders News Release
WHITE RECORDS QUALITY START, RIDERS FALL 2-1: In their longest game of the season, the Frisco RoughRiders defeated the San Antonio Missions 10-7 in 12 innings Friday night at Nelson Wolff Stadium.
Friday's win marked the first 12-inning contest the franchise has appeared in since May 31, 2019. Riders reliever Josh Smith (2-0) carried Frisco through the final two innings on the mound, while San Antonio righty Mason Fox (3-3) gave up four runs in his lone inning. Frisco scored four runs in the first two innings against Missions starter Ryan Lillie. Shortstop Jonathan Ornelas singled to score Kellen Strahm, and Dustin Harris also came around on an error from right fielder Jorge Ona to quickly give Frisco a 2-0 lead. After a lead off walk from Jax Biggers, Frisco got back-to-back doubles from Josh Stowers and third baseman Trey Hair, doubling the lead to 4-0 after two innings. Friday's 4-0 score held until San Antonio plated their first run of the night in the bottom of the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly from second baseman Kelvin Melean to inch the Missions closer, 4-1. Beginning with a home run from short- stop Domingo Leyba, San Antonio erased a three-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth with four consecutive hits to begin the frame on Frisco reliever Fer Ozuna. With one in scoring position and one outs, the Riders entered Grant Anderson to preserve the 4-4 tie. Anderson recorded the final two outs with runners in scoring position to send Friday's game to the tenth inning. Stowers singled catcher David Garcia in from third to put Frisco in front in the top of the tenth. Stowers stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Hair walked to put runners at the corners and only one out, but Frisco didn't push any more runs across and held the 5-4 lead. San Antonio tied the game in the bottom of the tenth on an RBI single from Leyba but left the winning run in scoring position. Frisco again reclaimed the lead, this time on an RBI double from first baseman Blaine Crim to score the inherited runner Harris from second and give the Riders the 6-5 lead. Again, Frisco put runners at the corners after Crim advanced on a wild pitch and a J.P. Martinez walk but couldn't garner any further scoring. The Missions evened the score in the bottom of the eleventh on an RBI groundout to force the 12th frame. Friday's 12 innings marked the most innings Frisco played in since May 31st, 2019. Frisco blew the top off with four runs across in the top of the 12th, beginning with the third run-scoring hit of the night for Stowers to score Biggers from second. The Riders loaded the bases and extended their lead on a sacrifice fly from Harris to expand the lead to 8-6. San Antonio intentionally walked Ornelas to again load the bases, only for Crim to score Hair from third on the second sacrifice fly of the inning. Advancing from second to third on the fly-out, Strahm came in to score on a throwing error from center fielder Thomas Milone as the fourth run of the frame to give the Riders the 10-6 lead.
OWEN IS WHITE HOT: RoughRiders starter Owen White had an incredible start last week, throwing 5.1 innings without allowing a hit while ceding just one base runner on a walk. He struck out seven before leaving with a minor left ankle injury. For his start, he won Texas League Pitcher of the Week, becoming the first RoughRid- ers pitcher to take home the award. After his first quality start at the Double-A level on Thursday in San Antonio, White is now 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA in his three starts with Frisco.
MISSION POSSIBLE: The Riders have dominated the Missions over their last two seasons. This season, they are 12-4 against San Antonio and 9-1 at Nelson Wolff Stadium, but including last season, Frisco is 25-9 against the Padres affiliate. Dating back to mid-June of 2018, the Riders are 37-17 against San Antonio in their last 54 games.
JUST KEEP PITCHING, JUST KEEP PITCHING: After a shutout win on Monday, the Riders threw back-to-back shutouts and three in their last six games. It was the first time since April of 2019 that the RoughRiders had thrown back-to-back shutouts. Until allowing the first run of the series in the eighth inning on Tuesday, the Riders set a new franchise record with 30-consecutive scoreless innings streak (24 innings in April of 2019 was the previous franchise record). Over the last seven games, the Riders have allowed just 10 earned runs (1.38 ERA, best in MiLB) and in the second half of play - in the last 10 games - Frisco has a 1.75 ERA, which is the best in all of Minor League Baseball (second is Low-A Fredericksburg, 2.08).
J.P. STANDS FOR JUST PERFORM: Riders outfielder J.P. Martinez has been lethal at the plate this season for the Riders. After cracking his ninth home run on Friday, Martinez now has an active-team-high .897 OPS while leading the team in OBP (.412), runs (52), triples (5) walks (43) and stolen bases (25). His OBP is also seventh in the league while he is second in triples and third in stolen bases.
JONNY ON THE SPOT: Riders infielder Jonathan Ornelas has been on fire at the plate all season long, but recently, he has been even better. Over his last 21 games, Ornelas is hitting .323 (31-for-96)/.365/.448 with four doubles, a triple, two home runs, 14 RBIs and nine runs. This season, he leads the Riders with 32 multi-hit games and 14 games with three or more hits. Ornelas is the leading active hitter in the Texas League with a .326 batting average while he is first in hits (97). He is tied for third in hits in MiLB.
IT'S ABOUT STRAHM TIME: Riders outfielder Kellen Strahm started off slowly, but he has started to turn his offensive game around. Since May 27th, over his last 32 games, Strahm is hitting .355 (39-for-110)/.462/.473 with four doubles, three home runs, 22 walks, 27 runs and nine RBIs. In that stretch, Strahm has raised his average from .148 to .267 and his OPS from .528 to .758. The Eugene, Oregon native is riding an 25-game on-base streak (the longest streak on the Riders this season), in which he is hitting .333/.436/.473 with 17 walks. The streak is the longest active in Double-A. The on-base streak is also tied for the 8th-longest streak in franchise history (with Scott Heineman, who did it twice in 2017). Up next on the list, both Ryan Rua (2014) and Leonys Martin (2011) had 27-game on-base streaks, tying them for sixth. In 2012, Jurickson Profar had the longest streak in franchise history at 50 games.
THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER: Frisco has played a lot of close games this season and when scoring or allowing three runs, the Riders have seen a pretty predictable result. This season, the Riders are 4-23 when scoring three runs or fewer and 23-4 when allowing three runs or fewer.
Texas League Stories from July 9, 2022
- Leal Lassos Hooks - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Frisco Takes Series with Another Shutout Win - Frisco RoughRiders
- Four-Run 10th Leads Amarillo to Victory - Amarillo Sod Poodles
- Drillers Drop Game Five to Naturals - Tulsa Drillers
- Travs Take Series Lead with 5-2 Win on Saturday - Springfield Cardinals
- Surge Fall Short in Extras - Wichita Wind Surge
- July 9 - RoughRiders Game Notes - Frisco RoughRiders
- Big Eighth Boosts Hounds - Corpus Christi Hooks
- Riders Outlast Missions in 12-Inning Rouser - Frisco RoughRiders
- Drillers Foil Late Rally in 3-2 Win - Tulsa Drillers
- Cardinals Slide Past Travelers - Arkansas Travelers
- Missions Complete Four-Run Deficit, Fall to Frisco in 12 Innings - San Antonio Missions
- Naturals Rally in 9th But Fall One Run Short to Drillers - Northwest Arkansas Naturals
- Bechtold Walks off the Surge in Extras - Wichita Wind Surge
- Sod Poodles Fall on 11th-Inning Walkoff - Amarillo Sod Poodles
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