PCL1 Round Rock Express

Express rally past Zephyrs

Published on August 20, 2011 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Round Rock Express News Release


ROUND ROCK, Texas - Chad Tracy's RBI single capped a four-run ninth inning as the Round Rock Express rallied past the New Orleans Zephyrs 10-9 in Saturday night's Pacific Coast League series opener at The Dell Diamond. The Express (77-51) have won five straight and eight of nine; the E-Train also trimmed its magic number to five.

Albuquerque surrendered five runs in the top of the ninth against Memphis, but Ivan De Jesus' two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth gave the Isotopes a 6-5 victory and kept Round Rock's division lead at 12 games with 16 games remaining.

New Orleans (63-65) scored twice in the top of the seventh, pushing its lead to 9-2. However, the Express answered with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Kevin Cash sparked the rally with his sixth homer of the season, a two-run shot to left-center.

The Express opened the ninth with three consecutive hits, the third of which was Esteban German's run-scoring single to right-center. After Leonys Martin scored on a wild pitch and Nick Green walked, New Orleans pitcher Victor Garate's errant throw to second on Brad Nelson's fielder's choice allowed German to scamper home with the game-tying run. Two batters later, Tracy drilled the game-winning hit to deep right-center.

That made a winner Tanner Scheppers (1-0), who allowed one run on three hits and no walks with two strikeouts over 2.2 innings of relief. Starter Ryan Tucker lasted 4.1 innings; he allowed six runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Michael Kirkman surrendered a pair of runs on two hits and a walk over 2.0 innings with one strikeout.

Sandy Rosario (0-1) took the loss for New Orleans; he entered the game to start the ninth but did not retire any of the four batters he faced. Starter Elih Villanueva was strong through six innings before the Express got to him in the seventh. Villanueva allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks over 6.1 innings with one strikeout.

Consecutive RBI singles from Cash and Jose Ruiz in the second inning gave the Express a 2-0 lead. New Orleans erased that deficit with a run in the third and a four-run fourth that was capped by Brad Davis' three-run double. The Zephyrs extended their lead with RBI doubles from Mike Cervenak in the fifth and Vinny Rottino in the sixth. Davis added a two-run dould in the top of the seventh. New Orleans clubbed nine doubles on the night.

Martin was 3-for-5 with a stolen base and two runs scored. German, Tracy, Cash and Guilder Rodriguez all had two-hit nights. Nelson and Green were the only Express batters to not hit safely, snapping hitting streaks of 12 and eight games, respectively.

Davis finished 3-for-4 with five RBI for the Zephyrs, who were out-hit 9-0 after Davis' seventh-inning double.

Round Rock and New Orleans continue their four-game series Sunday with a 6:05 p.m. CDT first pitch at The Dell Diamond. It will be dueling southpaws as Martin Perez (3-2, 5.15 ERA) takes the mound for the Express against Zephyrs lefty Darin Downs (2-1, 2.41 ERA).

Check out the Round Rock Express Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Pacific Coast League Stories from August 20, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central