It was a rough night at the ballpark for the RoughRiders last night. The Riders are currently battling for a first place finish to the first half of the season, and last night did not help their cause.
Frisco started off good, with a single by De Leon up the middle, and then an RBI double down the 3rd base line. But from there, the wheels fell off so to speak, and they were unable to score again for the remainder of the game.
The production from the bottom 1/3 of the order was not particularly good. Alvarez, Kowalcyk, and Davis combined to go 1 for 12, with 2 walks and 8 strikeouts. Those numbers are not going to cut it when trying to reach the playoffs, and come back from a .5 back hole and win the division.
Unfortunately, hitting was not the only issue present during the game, as Herrera had a tough start as well. His left the game after the 4th inning, after giving up 6 runs, 5 earned.
If there is a silver lining to the game, it is that the bullpen used 4 pitchers (Espinal, Clase, Barlow, Pelham) to finish out the game. The four relievers, combined only gave up 3 hits, and struck out 5. This is also the first time this year that Emmanuel Clase has pitched in back to back games. That has typically meant a quick promotion to Nashville.
Frisco is facing off against the NW Arkansas Naturals this weekend. They are going to need a couple of quality starts, and for the bats to wake-up if they want to secure a spot in the playoffs this weekend.
