Texas' Brinson greets Frisco with six RBIs

Lewis Brinson remembers talking longingly about Frisco with Joey Gallo and Nomar Mazara as teenagers. He took a little longer to get there than those two, but in his Dr Pepper Ballpark debut Thursday, Brinson left his mark on the home crowd. 

The Rangers' No. 4 prospect hit his first Texas League home run and drove in a career-high six runs for the Double-A RoughRiders in a 9-7 win over the San Antonio Missions.

The 21-year-old's mammoth three-run shot in the seventh inning capped a dramatic comeback from a six-run first-inning deficit. He finished 2-for-3 while lifting his Double-A average to .393 in seven games.

The performance came squarely within Rangers' country -- Dr Pepper Ballpark is roughly a half hour north of the Rangers' Globe Life Park -- and in front of 6,017 patrons. While in the Rookie-level Arizona League in 2012, Brinson, Gallo and Mazara talked about the city as a target destination.

"We wanted to get to Frisco," Brinson said. "We heard how nice it was, the stadium and the field and the city and being so close to Arlington, Rangers fans coming out to see us play. 

"I've always wanted to come here. To put on a night like I had tonight … it really is almost a bit of a dream come true."

The Missions posted six runs in the first inning off Frisco starter Connor Sadzeck. San Antonio batted around in the inning, with outfielder Yeison Asencio's RBI double highlighting a hit barrage that included two walks and two wild pitches by Sadzeck.

The RoughRiders quickly began chipping away at the deficit, with Brinson taking charge. The outfielder supplied his first RBI in the second inning, plating Drew Robinson from third base with a groundout to short.

Frisco added four more runs in the third. Luis Mendez drove in the first with a single, then Robinson added another with a single to right. Brinson scored Mazara with an infield single to short before Alex Burg's double allowed Robinson to come home.

In the fifth, Brinson tied the game with a sacrifice fly that brought Robinson in from third, but the Missions' Adolfo Reina hit a solo homer in the sixth to put San Antonio back ahead.

That set up Brinson's go-ahead three-run blast in the seventh -- a no-doubter that carried over everything in left-center field.

"It was a big spot right there, and I was trying to make something happen," he said. "I was looking for a fastball in. They'd been working me in all day, so I was just sitting on the fastball in, got it and didn't miss it.

"It was great, man. We've been scuffling a little bit in the last week or so. To come here with the home crowd and get that big home run, see everyone's faces, we were really excited to take the lead there."

The RoughRiders had lost five of six since Brinson was promoted from Class A Advanced High Desert last week, but not for lack of offense from Brinson. The right-handed hitter went 9-of-25 with four multi-hit games in that stretch, managing a .906 OPS. Those numbers followed a 64-game stint with the Mavericks in which he batted .337 with 13 homers and a 1.044 OPS. Most notably, he continued to steadily cut down on strikeouts.

"I was mature coming [into pro baseball], but obviously, I didn't know how pro ball worked," said the 2012 first-round pick (29th overall). "In 2013, I had a down year in my first full season, and I just learned from that and kept it simple. I told myself, 'You're talented enough. You're good enough. You're one of the best players on the field. Believe in yourself.'

"Honestly, last year was a start, and this year I've been building on it. It feels good, really great."