Frisco falls in rain-delayed pitching duel with Amarillo
The game was delayed 1 hour and 53 minutes due to rain and a missing crew of umpires.
FRISCO — Perhaps it was foreshadowing that, on Thursday, Texas Rangers first base coach Corey Ragsdale spoke with the Frisco RoughRiders about staying engaged at all times.
“[He] talked about how locked in they were and how it gets harder to do as baseball gets harder and harder the higher you go,” manager Carlos Cardoza said.
The Riders had to stay locked in a little longer than usual Friday night. An almost two hour rain delay could rattle just about any team. Missing umpires for an extra 15 minutes only adds to that fire.
Frisco (16-20) and the visiting Amarillo Sod Poodles (16-21) finally got the fourth game of their series started just before 9 p.m. and put on a pitching clinic. Although the Riders lost their three-game winning streak off a 2-1 loss, pitching continues to impress in the strangest of situations.
“For them to be locked in and play this clean of a game after a… rain delay, the umpires weren't there, bit of a debacle,” Cardoza told JR Sports TX “We’ll continue to build off that.”
Friday’s game at Riders Field was scheduled to start at 7:05, but as rain picked up a half hour before first pitch, the wait began. Rain and hail followed, scattering the outfield with pools of water and plenty of hail pellets.
The field — and the teams — were finally ready to go at 8:45. But no umpires.
Eventually they arrived while the Riders warmed up on the field and the duel could begin.
Owen White (1-1) took the mound for Frisco, following up three stellar starts from the Riders’ rotation. Between Tekoah Roby, Jack Leiter and Ryan Garcia, Frisco’s starters combined for 22 strikeouts, a 3.16 ERA and 0.64 WHIP in 17 ⅓ innings of work.
The streak of strong starts continued with White throwing five innings and allowing just two runs with two strikeouts. On a normal night, White would’ve gone longer. He typically goes 80-plus pitches, but due to the delay the Riders only had him go to 62.
“Just a long night,” said Cardoza. “There were some good things today, got [White] out of there and he'll be ready to go for his next start.”
Those two runs came off of unusual plays. In the second inning, Adrian Del Castillo singled out to center, but over extended his run and got caught in a rundown. While the infield tried to track down Del Castillo, Amarillo’s AJ Vukovich was able to take home plate from the distraction.
The second run wasn’t all that different with Del Castillo getting a single and driving in Vukovich in the fourth inning. Timing was the key as Kellen Strahm picked up the hit in right field and hurled it to Jax Biggers at third base in time to tag out Deyvison De Los Santos.
The Riders got their lone run in the third inning with Evan Carter driving in Cooper Johnson from second base. Carter was thrown out trying to extend the hit to a double.
Hitting had been catching momentum as of late, with Frisco scoring 20 runs in the first three games of the series, but it stalled out Friday. The third was the Riders’ best chance but they would leave the bases loaded.
Arguably, the biggest positive of the night was the continued surging bullpen. After allowing 34 runs while being swept by Wichita last week, relief pitching has been just about dominant.
Through four games this week, the Riders’ bullpen has allowed one run and over the last two games just one hit. The entire group seems to have taken a leap forward, but on Friday it was Marc Church, Hever Bueno, Alex Speas and Edurys Manon.
Over their four innings of combined work, the relievers struck out seven batters, giving up a single hit and two walks. On the nights where Frisco can’t put together the runs, it’ll be a welcome sight to have the bullpen operating in a dominant fashion.
“They feed off each other and that gets contagious,” Cardoza said. “That's good to see, but these guys are just showing what they can do.”
Frisco continues its series with Amarillo Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. at Riders Field.