Missions fall to Frisco 8-1

SAN ANTONIO — Sunday night’s series finale between San Antonio and Frisco was a simple case of win-and-you’re-in for the Missions. A third straight victory over the RoughRiders would clinch the Texas League South’s first-half championship for the Missions. Despite momentum seemingly leaning in their favor, the Missions fell Sunday by the final of 8-1 and in doing so, failed to lock up a playoff spot.

“It was a dog fight just to get here,” said Missions manager Luke Montz, “The guys knew where we stood. Every game of this series going into tonight was a one-run ballgame, and was won or lost in the eighth or ninth inning. The guys grinded and competed. You look at our group in this locker room, and there is no stop in them. It just wasn’t our best today.”

Luis Patiño had been getting good results in San Antonio until Sunday. (Photo: San Antonio Missions)

Starter Luis Patiño, who’d been exceptional in his first four starts with the Missions, struggled for most of his brief outing. The right-hander worked 2.2 innings, allowing five runs on five hits, walked three, and struck out three.

“Today wasn’t Luis’s best,” said Montz, “He threw the ball over the plate, just left some pitches up in the zone and got hit. He was on a short leash no matter what today. Geraldo comes in behind him and gives up a single that lets two more score, and it’s just playing catch-up from there.”

After Patiño left with the bases loaded, José Geraldo gave up a two-run single to the first batter he faced, then settled in and ended the frame before delivering a clean fourth inning. In the bottom of the fourth, the Missions scratched across their lone run of the night thanks to an RBI sac-fly off the bat of Moisés Gómez that scored Francisco Acuña to make it a 5-1 game.  

Ryan Och’s unique delivery and arm angle can create issues for opposing hitters. (Photo: Ray Holguin)

Left-handed Ryan Och then came on and kept the Missions alive in the middle innings, throwing 2.1 perfect innings while striking out two. Och’s sinker sat 89-92 mph for most of the evening while getting anywhere from 12-14 inches of horizontal break. For Och, Sunday continued a recent stretch of dominance. Over his last nine appearances, he owns a 0.89 ERA. 

“To me it looks like Ryan has gotten back to being himself,” said Montz, “There were some things going on early in the season, doing some things he learned at big league camp, working in more cross fire. But we had some good sit-down conversations with Och. There was a day or two when he went on the development list. But he put together a program and just really cleared his mind. He asked great questions and talked about his career and things he knows he needs to do to get to the big leagues. Here recently, he’s been the Och we say last year.”

The stabilization provided by Och soon faded. Andrew Moore escaped without damage in the seventh after he issued back-to-back walks, thanks to a pickoff of Sebastian Walcott at second base and a strikeout of Abimelec Ortiz with a 97.2 mph fastball that featured 17 inches of iVB.

However in the eighth, Frisco got to right-hander Tyson Neighbors for two runs on two hits and one walk. In the inning, Luis Mieses tagged Neighbors for a solo shot to right. While Neighbors stuff has continued to generate plenty of swings and misses in Double-A, the hard-throwing righty has allowed three solo home runs in his first six appearances.

In the ninth, Manuel Castro also yielded a run on three hits.

“Even with today, I would say, and I think even everyone on the staff would say this, this series right here set the tone going forward,” Montz said, “That’s a good baseball team over there that came in with a 1.5 game lead. To come in and take four of six and give themselves an opportunity at that playoff spot, shows you everything you need to know about these guys. It shows you our makeup. Message to our guys is great job, but we’re just halfway.”