Riders Rally, Spoil Driller Comeback
Frisco accounted for the lone tally in the first seven frames when they scored in the bottom of the second off of Drillers starter Josh Outman. Jared Prince was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and start the Riders rally. Tommy Mendonca singled to right field in the next at-bat to advance Prince to third base. Outman was able to entice a ground ball double play off the bat of Ryan Strausborger but it was enough to score Prince from third and give Frisco the 1-0 lead.
The Driller bats were held in check most of the night by Frisco starter Wilfredo Boscan. The right-hander from Venezuela was lights out in his six innings on the hill, allowing only 3 scattered hits while striking out 9 Drillers and not allowing a base runner past first base.
Tulsa was able to mount a comeback in the top of the eighth off of reliever Wilmer Font. Back-to-back singles by Warren Schaeffer and Corey Dickerson led off the inning. A sacrifice bunt by Angelys Nina advanced the tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position with only 1 out. After Nolan Arenado went down on strikes, Frisco elected to intentionally walk Ben Paulsen due to the fact that the first baseman had already accounted for 2 Tulsa hits on the night. With the bases loaded, Kiel Roling drew a walk to tie the game at 1 run apiece. Lars Davis reached on a fielder's choice in the next at-bat that scored the go- ahead run for Tulsa. The Drillers catcher grounded a ball to the Frisco first baseman, who elected to try and force out Roling at second but was unsuccessful.
The Riders responded in the bottom half of the eighth. Outman allowed back-to-back base hits to Zach Zaneski (double) and Engel Beltre to give up the lead and subsequently end his outing. Reliever Joe Torres came in and was not able to record a single out in the 3 batters he faced. Torres walked Leury Garcia and then, after a wild pitch allowed the runners to advance, intentionally walked Jurickson Profar. With the sacks packed, Chris McGuiness delivered his 21st double of the season to score 2 runs and put the RoughRiders on top.
Ross Wolf closed out the game for Frisco with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. The reliever earned his 6th save of the season.
Outman finished the game with a pitching line of 7.1 innings, 4 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and 7 strikeouts.
The two teams will meet again on Thursday night in Frisco with a start time scheduled for 7:05PM. Tulsa will send Joe Gardner (5-7, 4.55 ERA) to the hill to square off against Frisco's ace Barret Loux (13-1, 3.51 ERA).
Notes: Tulsa reliever Mike Solbach struck out the 2 batters he faced in the eighth inning, running his scoreless innings pitched streak to 11.1 innings (7.2 with Modesto, 3.2 with Tulsa) since signing with the Rockies.