PCL1 Round Rock Express

Express Snap Streak, Edge Iowa 6-5

April 14, 2012 - Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Round Rock Express News Release


ROUND ROCK, Texas - Matt Kata's RBI double keyed a three-run seventh inning as the Round Rock Express rallied past the Iowa Cubs 6-5 in Saturday night's Pacific Coast League action at The Dell Diamond. The Express (3-7) halted a six-game losing streak with the win and evened the season series with the Cubs (6-4) at three games apiece.

Kata's double plated Joey Butler and tied the game 5-5. Luis Martinez followed with a single to plate Kata with the eventual game-winning run. Leonys Martin opened the inning with his second homer of the season.

From there, Sean Green and Tanner Scheppers preserved the win, which also stopped Round Rock's five-game losing streak in one-run games. Green retired the side in the eighth with two strikeouts. Scheppers worked around a leadoff infield popup single in the ninth inning, retiring the next three batters with one strikeout for his second save of the season.

Tyler Tufts (2-0) picked up the win for the Express. He worked two innings in relief of starter Zach Jackson, allowing one run on three hits. Jackson surrendered four runs on 10 hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts over five innings.

Reliever Nate Robertson (0-1) was tagged with the loss for Iowa; he yielded all three runs in the seventh after escaping unscathed despite three Express hits in the sixth. Starter Travis Wood allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks over five innings with seven strikeouts.

Kata was 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs and two RBI, while Julio Borbon was 4-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Martin had two hits and a pair of RBI. All nine Express starters hit safely as Round Rock tallied 15 hits - a season high for a non-extra-inning game. Michael Bianucci singled in the fifth and has hit safely in all 10 games this season, while Brad Nelson singled in the fourth to run his hitting streak to eight games.

Adrian Cardenas grounded into a double play in the top of the second on which Luis Valbuena scored the game's first run. Kata led off the third with his first homer of the season, a towering shot into the upper deck of the homerun porch beyond the left-field wall. Borbon later reached on a two-out bunt single and scored on Martin's single two batters later.

Iowa recaptured the lead in the fourth thanks to Josh Vitters' two-run double, but the Express quickly answered when Nelson singled and scored on a Borbon two-out single in the bottom of the inning. Brett Jackson's leadoff homer in the fifth put Iowa back in the lead, and Wellington Castillo pushed the lead to 5-3 with an RBI single in the seventh.

Castillo was 3-for-4, while Jackson, Valbuena and Tony Campana all had two-hit games. Valbuena scored twice.

Round Rock and Iowa continue their four-game series Sunday with a 1:05 p.m. CDT first pitch at The Dell Diamond. It will be a rematch of opening day starters as right-hander Mark Hamburger (0-0, 11.25 ERA) toes the slab for the Express opposite Cubs right-hander Randy Wells (1-0, 5.25 ERA).

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 14, 2012


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