PCL1 Round Rock Express

Round Rock Express Edge Oklahoma City 2-1

Published on August 20, 2012 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Round Rock Express News Release


ROUND ROCK, Texas - Martin Perez tossed his second complete game of the season, leading the Round Rock Express to a 2-1 victory over the Oklahoma City RedHawks in Monday night's Pacific Coast League action at The Dell Diamond. The Express (60-70) halted a three-game skid with the win. The RedHawks (68-61) maintain a 7-4 lead in the season series.

Perez (7-6) continued his dominance against Oklahoma City this season, moving to 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA in three starts against the RedHawks. He won his second straight start and won four of his last five decisions with the Express. Perez allowed one unearned run on six hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Consecutive one-out doubles from Luis Hernandez and Matt Kata in the bottom of the first gave the Express a 1-0 lead. Brandon Snyder doubled with two outs in the fifth and later scored on Julio Borbon's double.

Oklahoma City's lone run came in the sixth. Perez issued three straight balls to Carlos Corporan, who took a strike before squibbing a single down the third-base line. Express Snyder scooped the ball just in front of the bag; his attempt to get Corporan at first skipped away, allowing Corporan to reach second. After Perez struck out Brian Bixler looking, Jimmy Paredes lined a 2-2 pitch off Perez's leg. The ball ricocheted into shallow right-center, allowing Corporan to score.

Perez bucked down from there. He struck out the next batter - J.D. Martinez - on three straight pitches and induced an inning-ending pop-out from cleanup batter Matt Downs. Mike Hessman greeted Perez with a double off the left-field wall on the first pitch of the seventh and moved to third on a Matt Dominguez sacrifice bunt. But Perez got out of the inning with a shallow fly ball to right and a groundout to short.

The RedHawks hardly made Perez work after he was hit by the comebacker. He used only 23 pitches (20 strikes) the rest of the way, retiring 11 of the game's final 13 batters. The only Oklahoma City hit in that span other than Hessman's seventh-inning double was a Downs one-out bunt single in the ninth. Perez then got consecutive pop-outs from Hessman and Dominguez to end the game.

RedHawks starter Brett Oberholtzer (5-6) shouldered the tough-luck loss. He limited the Express to two runs on seven hits and one walk over seven and two-thirds innings with seven strikeouts.

Perez used 97 pitches, 71 of which were strikes. He has allowed two runs (one earned) in 17.0 innings over his last two starts and held the opponent to two or fewer runs for the sixth time in his last seven outings with the Express. Perez also had a complete-game victory June 21 against Iowa - his last win at The Dell Diamond.

Hernandez (1-for-4) pushed his hitting streak to 16 games, tying for the fifth-longest hitting streak in Express history. Borbon (eight games), and Joey Butler (nine games) also extended hitting streaks, both going 1-for-4. Matt Kata and Koyie Hill both enjoyed two-hit nights. It was Kata's 112th career multiple-hit game in an Express uniform, two shy of Mark Saccomanno's franchise record.

Hessman and Paredes combined for four of Oklahoma City's six hits, both going 2-for-4.

Round Rock and Oklahoma City conclude their four-game series Tuesday with a 7:05 p.m. CDT first pitch at The Dell Diamond. It will be dueling southpaws for the second straight night as Zach Jackson (6-12, 4.69 ERA) takes the mound for the Express against RedHawks lefty Rudy Owens (0-2, 5.53 ERA).

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 20, 2012


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