Frisco sent top prospect Kasey Kiker to the mound and looked both like a world beater and like a guy still in need to seasoning. Kiker started the game in grand fashion, striking out the first five hitters he faced, keeping them off balance with a nice change-up and a fastball that he was able to spot. He was working quickly off the mound, taking very little time in between pitches and keeping the RockHound hitters off balance.
But from out of nowhere, Kiker began to struggle, first by walking RockHounds catcher Josh Donaldson (who went 2 for 2 with 2 walks in the loss) then hitting the next hitter, designated hitter, Corey Brown.
From there Kiker would show moments of greatness but was, for the most part, a mixed bag. Despite striking out seven of the eighteen betters he faced, Kiker also walked three, surrendering three runs (two earned) in 3 2/3 innings (Kiker is on a strict pitch count).
When pitching from the wind-up, Kiker looked like a Major League Pitcher. He worked quickly, had good command of all his pitches, and gave off and air of confidence. But with runners on base and pitching out of the stretch, he didn't retain the same pitch command, began working very slowly and seemed to be overthinking things on the mound.
Texas' top hitting prospect, Justin Smoak was also a bit Jekyll and Hyde, going 1 for 3 with a walk and two run scored but also commited a throwing error which led to a run for the RockHounds.
Second baseman Guilder Rodriguez supplied some fireworks, going 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI sacrifice fly. He also had the two most exciting plays of the night: one, a triple that he legged out in the 4th and the other, a single that the RockHounds centerfielder misplayed, allowing Rodriguez to hustle to third in the 6th. He scored both times.
Relievers Andrew Laughter, Pedro Strop and Jose Diaz pitched a combined 5 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on three hits while striking out five. Strop and Diaz both hit the upper 90's with their fastballs with Diaz topping out at 98 more than once.
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