Bradford strikes out ten in Friday win

FRISCO, Texas (May 13, 2022) – The Frisco RoughRiders put an end to a three-game skid Friday night with an 8-6 win over the Tulsa Drillers at ONEOK Field. Riders LHP Cody Bradford struck out ten batters in five innings, the most strikeouts in a game by any Riders pitcher this year.

Box score

Offensively, Blaine Crim slugged a home run in his third consecutive game, giving him five in the month of May and seven this year. In his last three games, Crim has tallied 17 total bases and 23 in his last five.

Tulsa (18-12) scored first on Bradford (3-2) with two runs in the bottom of the first inning and led by as many as three runs with a solo homer in the bottom of the second. After the first inning, Bradford held Tulsa to two runs on two hits and issued only one walk.

Facing a 3-0 deficit, the RoughRiders (18-13) started scoring in the top of the third on a lead-off single from Sandro Fabian. With two outs, Justin Foscue kept the inning alive with a base hit of his own to allow Crim a plate appearance with runners in scoring position. Crim laced a ball against the left-field wall to score Fabian and Foscue against Drillers starter Landon Knack (0-1), cutting Tulsa’s lead to a run.

The Riders put two aboard with a walk to Dustin Harris and a bunt single from J.P. Martinez. Trey Hair grounded a ball to the right side for the first out, but long enough for Harris to score from third and tie Friday’s game at 3-3. In the following at-bat, Fabian poked his fourth home run of the season to score Martinez and give Frisco a 5-3 lead, their first of the night.

With Bradford holding the Drillers at bay, Frisco scoring rolled into the fifth with a one-out home run from Crim. Harris singled with two outs to allow Martinez an appearance at the plate, where he flew his fifth homer of the season over the right-field wall to make it an 8-3 Riders lead.

Grant Anderson relieved Bradford in the sixth inning and stranded the bases loaded in the home half with a strikeout. Anderson finished with three strikeouts in his two scoreless innings. Tulsa answered with a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, but reliever Fer Ozuna earned his third save with a strikeout in the final inning.

The RoughRiders and Drillers continue the six-game series at ONEOK Field with a blockbuster pitching matchup on Saturday night. Frisco RHP Jack Leiter (1-2, 1.93 ERA) is slated to take the mound against Tulsa RHP Bobby Miller (0-1, 5.51 ERA) in a match-up of young first-round picks. Leiter is the Rangers’ top prospect and was taken by Texas from Vanderbilt with the second overall pick in 2021, while the Dodgers drafted Miller out of Louisville in 2020 and is the top LAD pitching prospect.

The RoughRiders return to Riders Field on Tuesday, May 17th to host the Corpus Christi Hooks for the first time this season. For tickets and more information about the Frisco RoughRiders, visit RidersBaseball.com or call 972.731.9200.

About the RoughRiders

The Frisco RoughRiders are the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. The team was founded in 2003 and has finished first among all Double-A franchises in attendance for 15 consecutive seasons (2005-2019). In August 2014, the RoughRiders were purchased by an ownership group led by Chuck Greenberg. Since then, the new ownership group, together with the City of Frisco, has spearheaded numerous major franchise enhancements, investing over $8 million in a wide array of facility upgrades and improvements, including a state-of-the-art HD video board, sound system, Bull Moose Saloon, InTouch Grille, Riders Outpost Team Store and the world's largest water feature in a sports facility, the massive Lazy River. These enhancements earned the Riders and the City of Frisco Ballpark Digest's prestigious "Best Ballpark Renovation" award for two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). More than 170 former RoughRiders players have gone on to play Major League Baseball. For more information on the Frisco RoughRiders, please visit RidersBaseball.com or contact [email protected].