Jonathan Brand inherited a tied playoff game with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, then returned for the 10th with the tying run moving to third on a sacrifice bunt. The RoughRiders had already watched a four-run lead disappear. One more mistake would finish the collapse.
Brand never made it. He struck out Alberto Barriga to escape the ninth, then stranded the automatic runner at third in the 10th as Frisco survived Amarillo 8-7 on Tuesday at Hodgetown.
The final out carried all the way to right field, where Dylan Dreiling settled under Avery Owusu-Asiedu’s drive near the wall. It was a fitting finish to a night when Frisco’s margin kept shrinking but never quite vanished for good.
Manager Chad Comer had warned before the game that no lead at Hodgetown should feel especially comfortable.
“Yeah, I think, you know, I always look at it like, to me, at this park, it’s like three runs plays like one run in here, so kind of using that as a rule of thumb for stuff whenever we’re making decisions, whether it be a pitcher, whether it be, hey, what are we going to do in this offensive situation, different things like that, and kind of where you’re at in the lineup and what’s going on in those situations.”
— Chad Comer, Frisco RoughRiders Manager
Frisco learned the lesson after carrying a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth. Amarillo scored three times in that inning despite producing only one hit, using three walks, an error and Jean Walters’ sacrifice fly to pull within a run. Druw Jones completed the comeback in the ninth with a ground-ball single into left off Josh Trentadue, scoring Owusu-Asiedu.
Trentadue walked Ben McLaughlin to load the bases, struck out Gavin Logan and handed the situation to Brand. Barriga went down swinging, leaving the winning run at third and sending the game to the 10th.
The RoughRiders reclaimed the lead without a run-scoring hit. Luke Hanson dropped a bunt single that moved automatic runner Max Wagner to third. During Rafe Perich’s plate appearance, a fastball escaped to the backstop and Wagner broke immediately, racing home and sliding in with the deciding run.
Amarillo answered by bunting its automatic runner, Barriga, to third. Brand intentionally walked Danny Serretti, then induced flyouts from Cristofer Torin and Owusu-Asiedu to complete 1 1/3 scoreless innings and earn the win.
The escape preserved an offense that had supplied power early and apparent insurance late. Gleider Figuereo, starting at designated hitter in his first postseason plate appearance, drove a line drive out toward right-center to open the scoring in the second. After Malcolm Moore walked, Paxton Kling lifted another ball to right-center for a two-run homer — his first at Double-A — that stirred the Frisco bullpen and made it 3-0.
Comer’s matchup choice on Figuereo paid off immediately.
“Yeah, you know, I think just looking at the matchup, who we were facing, how he matches up against them, obviously had a couple other options, but, you know, he swung the bat well since he’s been up here from high A and turned in good at bats.”
— Chad Comer, Frisco RoughRiders Manager
Max Wagner’s fourth-inning single restored a three-run cushion after Moore reached on an error and Kling doubled. Amarillo chipped the lead back to one before Frisco appeared to break the game open in the eighth.
With the bases loaded and one out, Marcus Lee Sang hammered a liner over left fielder Angel Ortiz’s leap. Moore and Kling scored on the double, and Perich later singled home Wagner for a 7-3 lead. Lee Sang drove in two, while Perich finished 2-for-4 with two walks and an RBI.
Kling went 3-for-4 with a homer, a double and a hit by pitch. Moore reached five times and scored three runs without recording a hit.
Frisco needed all of it. The RoughRiders used seven pitchers after Aidan Curry allowed two earned runs, struck out four and walked none over four innings. The bullpen lost the advantage, but Brand recovered it with no room left.
Comer had described playoff baseball as a test of an entire roster. Game 1 delivered precisely that.
“So, you know, it’s kind of all hands on deck in the playoffs,”
— Chad Comer, Frisco RoughRiders Manager