Keith Jones II had already helped Frisco build what looked like a comfortable lead. When that lead disappeared, he supplied the swing that saved the night.
Jones drove a fly ball to center field in the eighth inning Tuesday at Riders Field, sending Cameron Leary back to the warning track before the ball carried out for a go-ahead homer in the RoughRiders’ 7-6 win over Midland. It was Jones’ eighth homer of the season, and it came an inning after the RockHounds had erased a four-run deficit.
That made Jones the hinge of a game that nearly got away. He finished 2-for-3 with a walk, a strikeout and the two biggest Frisco swings: a two-run single in the sixth and the solo shot in the eighth.
The RoughRiders’ best inning began with Dylan Dreiling striking out, then turned fast. Malcolm Moore singled, Arturo Disla doubled and Ian Moller brought Moore home with a short fly-ball single to make it 2-2. Marcus Lee Sang followed with a ground-ball single to right, loading the bases for Jones.
Jones lined a ball into right field off Kenya Huggins, scoring Disla and Moller and pushing Frisco in front. After Max Wagner struck out, Frainyer Chavez added another sharp single to right, bringing home Lee Sang, with Jones moving to third and Chavez taking second on a missed catch error by catcher Cole Conn. Rafe Perich’s groundout against Jake Garland brought in the fifth run of the inning, giving the RoughRiders a 6-2 lead.
It was the kind of rally that was hard to see coming against Huggins, who struck out 11 in 5.2 innings. Frisco still got to him for six earned runs, with the middle and lower half of the order doing most of the damage.
Chavez had started the scoring in the third, lifting his 12th homer of the season to left field. The ball sent Cameron Leary back toward the wall and gave Frisco a 1-0 lead, continuing a run for Chavez that later included his run-scoring single in the sixth. He finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Aidan Curry gave Frisco the first strong shape of the game from the mound. He struck out 11 over 5.2 innings and allowed two earned runs, both in the fourth. Devin Taylor tied the game with a homer to center, and Clark Elliott later singled home Davis Diaz to put Midland ahead 2-1.
Curry responded with a sharp fifth, retiring Cameron Leary, Brennan Milone and Taylor, the last two by strikeout. He added two more strikeouts to begin the sixth before Diaz singled and Josh Trentadue entered to finish the inning.
Frisco’s five-run sixth appeared to put Curry in position to watch the bullpen carry it home. Instead, Cole Stasio could not hold the cushion in the seventh. Luke Mann singled, Leary walked and Milone walked, loading the bases with nobody out. Taylor singled to right to bring in one run, and Leo De Vries followed by driving a first-pitch ball to right that carried over Lee Sang’s glove and off the base of the wall. Leary and Milone scored, Taylor stopped at third, and the lead was down to one.
Cole Conn’s sacrifice fly to left finished the four-run inning and tied the game at 6-6. Stasio was charged with a blown save after allowing four earned runs in the inning.
From there, the game reset around Frisco’s late relief. Jonathan Brand took the eighth and gave the RoughRiders exactly what they needed, striking out Clark Elliott and Mann before getting Leary on a grounder to short. Brand earned the win, improving to 3-2, with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts.
That quiet eighth gave Jones a chance to make the comeback count. Facing JJ Goss with two outs and nobody on, Jones put Frisco back in front with the center-field homer that stood as the final run of the game.
Zach Bryant handled the ninth for his second save, though not without a little tension. He struck out Milone and Taylor to open the inning, allowed a two-out single to De Vries, then struck out Conn to end it.
Frisco finished with 11 hits and no errors. Midland had nine hits and two errors. Moore reached four times, going 2-for-3 with a walk and a run, while Lee Sang went 2-for-4 and scored in the sixth.
The RoughRiders did not win it cleanly. They won it because Curry gave them strikeouts, because the sixth inning finally broke through against Huggins, because Brand and Bryant steadied the final two innings, and because Jones had one more swing after the lead had vanished.