The Frisco bullpen gave up the lead late, but the 'Riders rallied to defeat the Naturals 6-4 on Sunday at Dr Pepper Ballpark. Northwest Arkansas plated two runs in the top of the eighth, but Frisco scored three in the bottom of eighth to earn the victory. Midland won on Sunday as well so the RoughRiders remain four games behind the RockHounds for first place in the South Division. The Naturals took an early 1-0 lead in the third frame, but Frisco answered with a pair of runs in the fourth inning when Renny Osuna singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dustin Majewski and Chad Tracy scored on a Johnny Whittleman RBI single. After Northwest Arkansas tied the game at two, Frisco retook the lead in the fifth inning when Marcus Lemon scored on a Tracy RBI double to make the score 3-2. The Naturals scored two runs in the eighth inning to take the 4-3 lead, but Frisco again answered with three runs in the bottom of the eighth when Majewski scored on an RBI double by Steve Murphy followed by a squeeze bunt by Elio Sarmiento to score Lemon. Murphy also scored on a bases-loaded walk to Renny Osuna to give Frisco the 6-4 advantage. Frisco starter Omar Poveda allowed just two runs on six hits over seven innings, striking out two and walking two, but didn't factor into the decision. 'Riders reliever Thomas Diamond (1-3) blew the save, but also earned his first win of the season despite allowing the go-ahead run in the eighth inning. Beau Jones also notched his first save of the season for Frisco. Naturals' reliever Gilbert De La Vara (6-2) took the loss, allowing two runs in the eighth inning. Renny Osuna led the RoughRiders in hits for the second consecutive night, going 3-for-4, including a run and RBI. Six different RoughRiders provided an RBI and six different RoughRiders scored a run. Tracy and Whittleman also had a pair of hits as Tracy collected his 99th RBI on the season, one shy of becoming only the second RoughRiders player to record at least 100 RBI in one season. Frisco will try for the sweep on Monday against the Naturals with first pitch at 7 p.m. from Dr Pepper Ballpark. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs. |
