Holmes Solid in Return, Hounds Fall to Frisco

Frisco RoughRiders 5 RockHounds 2
Tuesday, May 22, 2019
Dr Pepper Ballpark     Frisco, TX
On the second night of the season (April 5), Preston Beck took a Trey McNutt pitch over the right field wall in the last of the eighth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie and giving Frisco a 4-1 win. He did it again Wednesday afternoon.
Beck didn't leave the yard this time but did just as much damage. Again facing McNutt in the last of the eighth, this time with the RockHounds holding a 2-1 lead, Beck sent a bases-clearing, three-run double to left field to give Frisco a 4-2 lead. Beck scored minutes later Charles Leblanc's single up the middle as the RoughRiders defeated the 'Hounds, 5-2, at Dr Pepper Ballpark.
 
Until the eighth-inning rally, Frisco's only run had come with a little "big league help" (see below) and the RockHounds had not trailed in the game. Dairon Blanco tripled in the third and scored on Mikey White's RBI single to left and Jonah Heim delivered a solo home run to right field in the fourth.
The RoughRiders bullpen was outstanding, with Jefferson Medina, James Jones (win) and Emmanuel Clase (Save) going a combined five innings and allowing only three base runners.
                                                                    
Notable
With their own late inning comeback win, and thanks to Amarillo denying a ninth-inning Corpus Christi rally, Frisco was the big winner Wednesday (both South Division games were matinees). The RoughRiders (25-21) lead Corpus Christi (23-22) by a game-and-a-half … the RockHounds (22-23) by two-and-a-half and Amarillo (20-24) by four.
Scary number: There are 24 games remaining in the first half pennant race.
Elvis DID "leave the building" on Wednesday … Elvis Andrus , that is. The Texas Rangers star, appearing in his second game of a re-hab assignment with Frisco, ripped a 400-plus foot home run to left center. He was the first batter Daulton Jefferies faced when he entered the game in the fourth (and it was Frisco's only run until the four-run rally in the eighth).   Elvis went 1-for-6 in the series.
It took Mikey White one pitch to extend his on-base streak to 20 games. With one out in the top of the first, he ripped Joe Palumbo's first offering down the left field line for a double, his 14^th of the season. Mikey, who entered the game tied for the league lead with teammate Edwin Diaz and Tulsa's Gabriel Cancel, is hitting .286 in the 20-gamer (13 runs / 12 RBI) and .340 in his last 12 games (seven doubles, HR, eight RBI).
           
Chase Calabuig extended his on-base streak to 13 games (with hits in 11 of them) and his current hit steak to five games (7-for-17, HR, four RBI). Chase, who is hitting .288 in the 13-gamer, has been on base in 26-of-28 games overall (games with at least one plate appearance)
Edwin Diaz extended his on-base streak to 13 games with a single up the middle in the top of the ninth. He is hitting .275 in the 13-gamer and has also reached base in 17-of-18 games (.230).
Luis Barrera saw his 10-game hit streak go by the boards but did reach base on a hit by pitch. In what is now an 11-game on-base streak, Luis is hitting.286 (14-for-49) and has hit in 12-of-his-last-14 games (.258)
Grant Holmes made his first appearance in just over a month (he had last pitched on April 17), tossing three scoreless innings. The right-hander did not allow a hit but did walk three batters and hit another (no strikeouts). He escaped the second and third innings on double plays. Mikey White turned Andretty Cordero's line drive into a 4-3 inning-ender in the second and Grant made a nice stretch and catch covering first base on a 3-6-1 double play to end the third (Luke Persico's good glove work at first base started the DP).
Next Game
Thursday, May 23       vs. Amarillo Sod Poodles
HODGETOWN           Amarillo, Texas
First pitch 7:05 p.m.   
- First of a four-game series and fourth of a seven-game road trip
- Radio: NewsTalk 550 with Bob Hards ... airtime 7:00 p.m.
Probable Starters
AMA:                         Emmanuel Ramirez    (RH,    3-4, 5.55)
RH: Matt Milburn    (RH,      1-3, 5.64)        
Next at Security Bank Ballpark
The RockHounds open a six-game homestand on Tuesday, May 28
May 28-30 vs. Corpus Christi Hooks
May 31-June 2            vs. Amarillo Sod Poodles