Roby takes no-no into 7th, Harris hits game-winner in Frisco's 3-2 win
The RoughRiders ended a seven-game skid, beating Amarillo in their series-opener.
FRISCO — It was a rough start to Tekoah Roby’s outing and it had nothing to do with his pitching. Just six throws into the Frisco RoughRiders’ series-opener against the Amarillo Sod Poodles, Roby’s catcher — Scott Kapers — had to exit due to injury.
It was a massive confidence shaker in the moment. Roby and the oncoming Liam Hicks didn’t even have the chance to talk before the game had to start up.
Roby would hit the batter with a pitch and then walk the following hitter. However, once he escaped that brutal first inning, he was locked in. The 21-year-old would take a no-hitter into the seventh inning for one of his best starts to date.
Aided by Roby’s strong outing, the Riders (14-19) edged out a 3-2 win on Tuesday to end a seven-game losing streak.
“He knows how strong it was,” manager Carlos Cardoza said of Roby’s start. “The whole team knows we needed that. Nothing but positive things for him to build off of.”
On the second at-bat of the game, Amarillo’s (15-19) Jordan Lawlar fouled off a pitch that hit Kapers’ right hand. Kapers’ hand went limp and training staff was quick to come check on the 26-year-old.
Kapers began using his hand and playing catch with Roby to warm back up, but then was asked to throw to third base and he threw it well into left field. Kapers was pulled from the game to make way for Hicks.
“That was definitely just unfortunate,” Roby said. “Honestly, I felt that we had a really good gameplan, we were on the same page and then he went out.”
Cardoza said that Kapers would be undergoing some imaging in the afternoon on his hand to get a better idea of the situation.
For Roby and Hicks, it was just their second time as batterymates. Hicks caught Roby for his final start of 2022 on September 8 for the High-A Hickory Crawdads.
“It was just kind of going off of our relationship from the past, what we’ve done in the past,” said Roby. “[After the first inning] we got on the same page, I talked to him about what I talked to Scott about before the game. It just ended up working for us.”
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Roby began moving quickly through the Sod Poodles’ lineup, posting 1-2-3 innings from the second through the sixth inning, while racking up a season-high eight strikeouts.
His ability to get soft contact early on in at-bats set him up well to put on the longest outing of any Riders starter so far this season. Roby got four players out on the first pitch of their at-bat and eight within three pitches.
“He executed his pitches,” Cardoza said. “He mixed well with his fastball and his breaking stuff. More than anything, it was the confidence and the conviction…that’s the Roby we know.”
Roby lost the no-hitter in the seventh inning after recording one out. AJ Vukovich sailed a ball to left-center that neither Dustin Harris or Evan Carter could track down. Deyvison de los Santos ended Roby’s day hitting a two-run shot to almost the same spot as Vukovich.
Although Roby’s season ERA of 6.11 still leaves plenty to be desired, he is putting together some of the best starts among the pitching staff.
“Every time you do good it’s just a stepping stone to who you’ll be one day,” Roby said. “This start is just another stepping stone as to who I’ll hopefully be as a big-leaguer.”
Nick Tanielu was the provider of offense for the Riders in the first seven innings. The 30-year-old veteran first baseman hit his third home run of the season, opening up scoring in the game in the second inning.
He’d get the chance to record his second RBI of the day with a knock into shallow right field that scored Kellen Strahm. Tanielu finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk to go with his RBI hits.
When the Sod Poodles tied the game in the seventh, the Riders needed someone to come up with a big-time hit. During its seven-game skid, clutch hitting was hard to come by for Frisco.
But Harris was there to provide the game-winner. Leading off the eighth inning, Harris took Jackson Goddard deep and delivered the game for Frisco.
“You get to see why he's so good and why we think so highly of him, because he impacts the game in multiple ways,” Cardoza said. “But he also has that clutch gene.”
Nick Starr put on the finishing touches, needing just 12 pitches to retire the Amarillo batters in order in the ninth. Marc Church was credited with the win, striking out four in 1⅔ innings of relief work.
“We won a close game, but we won a well-played game which is most important with these guys,” Cardoza said.