Express Fall Short in Series Finale with Sounds, 4-2
August 23, 2018 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Round Rock Express News Release
ROUND ROCK, Texas - The Round Rock Express (59-70) saw their four-game winning streak come to an end as they dropped Thursday night's series finale with the Nashville Sounds (68-61) by a 4-2 score at Dell Diamond. Both squads combined for five solo home runs in the final meeting between the division rivals this season.
Express starter LHP Yohander Mendez (0-7, 5.43) flashed his ability to miss bats by striking out eight hitters over 5.0 innings but surrendered three home runs as he struggled to keep the ball from leaving the yard. The southpaw ended up with the loss after allowing four runs on five hits in his first start with Round Rock since June 7.
Although he couldn't match Mendez's strikeout proficiency, Sounds starter LHP Eric Jokisch (5-10, 4.25) produced three punchouts while tossing 6.0 innings of one-run ball to earn the win.
Nashville's bats got to Mendez early, connecting on three solo home runs in the first two innings of play. With two outs in the first, CF Dustin Fowler banged a long flyball off the foul pole in right. In the following frame, 2B Franklin Barreto and C Bruce Maxwell added solo shots of their own to pad the Sounds lead to 3-0.
The visitors added to their total in the top of the fourth, this time by way of the sacrifice fly. After Mendez punched out his sixth batter of the evening, Barreto and 3B Sheldon Neuse put runners on the corners with back-to-back one-out singles. The next batter, 1B Steve Lombardozzi Jr., lifted a sac-fly to right that pushed the gap to 4-0.
Round Rock tallied their only runs of the night on a pair of solo blasts in the sixth and seventh. RF Christian Lopes led off the sixth with a bomb that landed in the Express bullpen in left-center for his 12th round-tripper of the year. An inning later, C Carlos Perez recorded his fourth longball of 2018 on a 365-foot shot that crashed onto the berm in left.
Looking forward, the Express welcome the New Orleans Baby Cakes (64-63) to Dell Diamond on Friday night for the first round of a four-game set. Round Rock RHP Austin Bibens-Dirkx (3-4, 5.00) is penciled in to start on the mound against New Orleans LHP Dillon Peters (4-7, 6.31). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CDT.
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