Road To Arlington: Texas Rangers Farm Report (June 22)

Let me just say this: I applaud anybody who attended all five Frisco games Friday through Sunday. A pair of doubleheaders in three days in 100 degree heat? You love baseball. And let me just say to the Frisco roster: Dudes, I feel your pain.

Triple-A: @Oklahoma City 2, Nashville 1: The RedHawks staged your typical bottom of the ninth rally. Single (by SS Joaquin Arias), passed ball, hit batter, sac bunt from the cleanup hitter (Max Ramirez) and a throwing error. Who do you mob after a walk-off win like that? The guy who threw the ball away?

Well, if not Ramirez or Arias, here’s a couple of pretty good choices, even though neither figured int he decision: RHP Neftali Feliz (5 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 Ks) or LHP A.J. Murray (1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 Ks). Murray has allowed one earned run in his last nine innings and has a 1.46 ERA at Oklahoma City. He’s pushing for a big league spot.

Double-A: @Frisco 6, Corpus Christi 0; Corpus Christi 2, @Frisco 0: After rehabbing RHP Dustin Nippert tossed three scoreless innings in his start, OF Craig Gentry had three RBIs to go with a pair of hits as he continues his assault on the month of June. Gentry was 3-for-8 in the doubleheader and is hitting .372 for the month. LHP Beau “The Other Guy In The Mark Teixeira Trade” Jones followed Nippert with five strikeouts in 2.1 innings of relief to get the win in the first game.

In the second game, the RoughRiders took a page right from the Rangers playbook and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position to make a hard-luck loser out of LHP Michael Ballard, who allowed six hits and no walks in a seven-inning complete game. After a rough time at Oklahoma City to start the year and a tough transition back to Double-A, Ballard has a lovely 3.33 ERA at Frisco, so perhaps he’s back on the right track.

Class A Advanced: @Bakersfield 3, Visalia 2: RHP Kennil Gomez (6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) helped the Blaze complete a 4-game sweep of the Rawhide despite five Bakersfield errors. 3B Jonathan Greene made three of Bakersfield’s fielding blunders, but his two-run double in the fourth gave the Blaze the lead and another double in the ninth allowed him to score on OF Joey Butler’s walk-off single. RHP Dustin Brader earned his first win of the season by fanning four and allowing just one base runner in three innings of scoreless relief. But the star of the day was Gomez, who kept his composure during a top of the sixth that included a single, a walk, three errors and a 5-4 double play, and ended with Manuel Ferrer being thrown out at the plate after a wild pitch. Yawn.

Class A: West Virginia 12, @Hickory 6: For the second straight start, LHP Martin Perez only lasted two innings for the Crawdads… and he’s given up 0 runs and struck out eight batters during that stretch. But RHP Jacob Brigham (3 IP, 8 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) struggled again in relief and the previously untouchable LHP Yoon-Hee Nam (1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 2 K) finally had a rough outing, raising his ERA to 1.62 on the year. OF Mike Bianucci and 3B Matt West both homered as part of a six-run bottom of the ninth that made an otherwise ugly game look slightly more respectable.

Short Season: Spokane 1, @Yakima 0: Having to follow a walk-off single by Bakersfield and a walk-off error by Oklahoma City meant Spokane needed something special to outshine their fellow Ranger affiliates… how about a walk-off bunt? Four Indian pitchers combined for a 10 inning, five-hit shutout, as the game devolved into a display in offensive futility with the two teams going a combined 0-18 with RISP. The bottom of the 10th finally brought some action, as C Vincent DiFazio (the Rangers 12th round pick this year) led off the inning with a double and pinch runner Denny Duron got to third on a wild pitch. After an intentional walk and a ground out, 2B Shon Landry (another ’09 draft pick) laid down a squeeze bunt that brought Duron home for the 1-0 victory.