STWF Sports | FRISCO, Texas | July 1, 2026 — The Frisco RoughRiders return to Riders Field tonight with momentum, power and a postseason spot already secured as they face the Midland RockHounds in the second game of a six-game Texas League series.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Frisco is slated to send right-hander Chris Martin to the mound for a rehab start, while Midland counters with left-hander Jaime Arnold, who enters at 3-5 with a 4.24 ERA.
The RoughRiders opened the series Tuesday night with a dramatic 7-6 win over the RockHounds, using late-game heroics from Keith Jones II to take the opener. Jones delivered the decisive swing in the eighth inning, driving a go-ahead home run over the center-field wall off JJ Goss to put Frisco in front for good.
It was another example of the RoughRiders’ ability to answer late. After Midland erased a four-run deficit in the seventh inning, Jonathan Brand worked a clean eighth, and Jones followed with the game-winning blast. Zach Bryant closed the door in the ninth for his second save of the season.
Frisco’s offense was sparked earlier by Frainyer Chavez, who opened the scoring in the third inning with a leadoff home run against Midland starter Kenya Huggins. The RockHounds responded with two runs against Aidan Curry, getting a home run from Devin Taylor and an RBI single from Clark Elliott to take a 2-1 lead.
Curry did not factor into the decision, but he delivered one of the strongest starts of the season for Frisco. The right-hander struck out a season-high 11 batters across 5.2 innings, allowing just two runs on five hits. His 11 strikeouts tied the highest total by a Texas League starter this season and marked the most by a RoughRiders starter since Emiliano Teodo struck out 11 Amarillo hitters on June 16, 2024.
As a staff, Frisco struck out 18 RockHounds in the win, the club’s highest team strikeout total since April 23, 2025, against Corpus Christi.
The RoughRiders also continued their trend of using one big inning to swing a game. Trailing 2-1 in the sixth, Frisco strung together five consecutive hits and scored five runs. Ian Moller, Jones and Chavez each drove in runs during the rally, helping turn a one-run deficit into a 6-2 lead.
Midland answered in the seventh behind run-scoring production from Taylor and Leo De Vries, but Frisco’s late-inning strength showed up again. The RoughRiders have been one of Double-A’s best teams after the sixth inning, leading the level with 162 runs scored in the seventh inning or later. Frisco also owns a 3.86 ERA from the seventh inning on, the top mark in the Texas League.
Tonight’s matchup continues a season series that has been tightly contested. Frisco and Midland split their first two series, with the RockHounds taking four of six at Riders Field in April before the RoughRiders won four of six in Midland in May. After Tuesday’s win, Frisco is 7-6 against Midland this season and is hitting .276 with a .364 on-base percentage, a .452 slugging percentage, 15 home runs and 6.2 runs per game in the matchup.
Chavez has been central to that success. Against the RockHounds, he has collected 15 hits and three home runs, while Dylan Dreiling has added 14 hits. Julian Brock has also homered three times against Midland.
Chavez remains one of the hottest hitters in the Texas League. After earning Texas League Player of the Week honors last week in Amarillo, he extended his hitting streak to 11 games Tuesday with another multi-hit, multi-RBI performance. Over his last 35 games, Chavez is batting .385 with 52 hits, 14 doubles, seven home runs, 24 RBIs and a 1.125 OPS.
During that stretch, dating back to May 20, he ranks among the top active minor leaguers in batting average, hits, OPS and doubles. For the season, Chavez is batting .309 with a .412 on-base percentage, a .917 OPS, 88 hits, 20 doubles, 12 home runs, 47 walks and 63 runs scored.
Frisco’s overall offensive profile remains among the best in Double-A. Through 75 games, the RoughRiders lead Double-A with 693 hits and pace the Texas League with a .272 batting average. They rank second in the league with 473 runs, averaging 6.5 per game, and lead Double-A with an .817 OPS. The club also sits near the top of the Texas League with 102 home runs and 137 doubles.
The power surge has been especially noticeable over the last week. Frisco tied a franchise record with 17 home runs during its six-game series in Amarillo, then added two more Tuesday. Over the last seven games, the RoughRiders lead all of Minor League Baseball with 19 home runs and rank second in the minors with a .593 slugging percentage.
Already postseason-bound after clinching the Texas League South Division first-half title on June 18, Frisco continues to sharpen its form for the long stretch ahead. The RoughRiders are 43-32 overall and 4-3 in the second half, carrying a 1-0 series lead into Wednesday’s matchup.
With a proven offense, late-inning confidence and a big-league rehab arm scheduled to take the mound, Frisco will look to keep the pressure on Midland and secure another win at Riders Field.
