PCL1 Round Rock Express

Round Rock Express Game Notes

Published on June 1, 2010 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Round Rock Express News Release


TONIGHT'S GAMES

Round Rock begins its fourth home stand of the season Tuesday, opening a four-game series against the Iowa Cubs (Chicago-NL). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CDT at The Dell Diamond. This is the second of four series between the two teams this season. Iowa took two-of-three games in a rain-shortened series at Des Moines in late April. Round Rock won the opener 5-1, but Iowa rallied in its final at bat in both games of a doubleheader to conclude the series. The fourth game of that series will be made up when the Express revisit Des Moines in two weeks. Round Rock enters the series 5-5 in its last 10 games after dropping three of four at Omaha over the extended weekend. Iowa is 4-6 in its last 10 games; the Cubs have lost five of six after dropping three of four at Nashville over the Memorial Day weekend. The Express are 13-11 at The Dell Diamond this season, winning 10 of their last 16 home games. The I-Cubs are 14-11 on the road in 2010; that .560 winning percentage ranks fifth in the Pacific Coast League. Round Rock is fourth in the PCL American Southern Division, 5.5 games behind division leader Oklahoma City. Iowa is fourth in the PCL American Northern Division, 3.0 games behind division leader Nashville.

EXPRESS ON THE AIR

Tonight's game will be broadcast live on "The Horn" 104.9 FM ESPN Austin. Pregame starts at 15 minutes prior to first pitch with veteran Express play-by-play man Mike Capps on the call. Live streaming audio of the broadcast also is available online at www.ESPNAustin.com. ... Home games also are simulcast on 92.5 FM and 1260 AM. Games at The Dell Diamond also are broadcast on 88.9 FM throughout the stadium.

EXPRESS STARTING PITCHER

RHP SERGIO PEREZ

Fifth season in professional baseball, all with Houston Astros organization ... Astros 2006 second-round draft pick out of the University of Tampa, the same program that produced Tino Martinez and Lou Piniella ... Spent all of 2008 and 2009 seasons at Corpus Christi (AA) ... Started this season at Corpus Christi, going 2-3 with a 3.09 ERA in 43.2 innings ... 0-3 over last four starts despite a 3.04 ERA in that time ... Promoted to Round Rock in mid-May ... Earned first career Triple-A victory against Las Vegas in last start (5/27); allowed three runs on 11 hits, including one home run, and no walks with three strikeouts over 7.0 innings ... Worked 7.0 innings in each of two starts with Express.

TEAM QUICK NOTES

Round Rock is 3-1-3 in its last seven series after starting the season 0-5-1. ... The Express are 8-5 in series openers, winning four of the last five and five of the last seven. ... Monday's 4-2 victory at Omaha gave the Express three consecutive victories in series finales after starting the season 0-10. ... The 4-2 win at Omaha also marked the first time the Express won a game when scoring fewer than five runs since a 2-1 victory May 5 over Nashville. Coincidentally, Polin Trinidad started and earned the victory in both games. Round Rock is 3-21 this season when scoring fewer than five runs; the only other such victory was a 10-inning, 1-0 shutout of Omaha in mid-April. ... The Express are 11-4 this season when scoring at least four runs in an inning. Conversely, Round Rock is 1-8 when allowing an inning of four-plus runs. ... Round Rock is 17-7 when out-hitting its opponent, 4-21 when getting out-hit. ... The Express tallied 31 home runs in May after hitting only 10 home runs in April. Las Vegas (34), Tacoma (32), Round Rock and Omaha (30) were the only teams in the PCL to reach 30 homers in the month of May. ... Despite being five games below .500, Round Rock has out-scored its opponents 262-252 on the season. ... The Express are 20-7 when scoring at least five runs and 3-21 when scoring fewer than five runs. Conversely, Round Rock is 19-8 when holding its opponent below five runs and 4-20 when allowing at least five runs. ... Round Rock is 21-2 when leading after eight innings, including a 10-1 mark at home. Meanwhile, the Express are 0-22 when trailing after seven innings and 0-20 when trailing after eight innings. ... The Express hit .327 (107-for-327) with runners in scoring position during a 28-game stretch ending Friday. However, Round Rock is 2-for-24 (.083) with runners in scoring position over the last three games. ... Of Round Rock's 28 losses, 21 have been by three runs or fewer, including a PCL-high 14 one-run losses. ... Express in the PCL statistical rankings: fourth in batting (.280), 10th in pitching (4.39) and 12th in fielding (.976).

PLAYER QUICK NOTES

Josh Banks suffered his first loss of May in Sunday's game. Prior to that, he owned a PCL-best 4-0 mark for the month. Banks is 5-1 at home and 0-3 on the road. He has allowed three or fewer earned runs in nine of 11 starts. ... Brian Bogusevic snapped a six-game hitting streak (.400, 10-for-25) going 0-for-6 Friday; it was his longest streak of the season with multiple hits in each of the streak's final three games. He is fourth in the PCL with 37 runs scored. ... Jason Bourgeois has hit safely in 19 of the last 20 games, hitting .446 (41-for-92) in that time with 12 multiple-hit games and seven games of three-plus hits. Bourgeois currently is riding a nine-game hitting streak, during which time is hitting .409 (18-for-44). His current 15-game hitting streak in road games is the longest in the PCL this season; he is hitting .386 (27-for-70) during the streak. Bourgeois ranks third in the PCL in batting average (.366), second in hits (68), fifth in total bases (98) and fourth in stolen bases (15). He hit .387 in May, third in the PCL and fourth in Triple-A. Bourgeois led Triple-A with 46 hits in May, third in all of Minor League Baseball. ... Jason Castro has hit safely in 19 of 21 games, going 26-for-81 (.321) in that time. He has reached safely in 39 of 42 games, including 22 straight. His current 22-game streak is the fifth-longest on-base streak in the PCL this season and second in the league among active streaks. Castro is riding a 10-game hitting streak in home games, going 13-for-40 (.325) in that time; the streak is tied for the 10th-longest in the PCL this season and tied for fifth in the league among active streaks. ... Casey Daigle is tied for fourth in the PCL with seven saves; all seven saves came in May, tied for the most in the PCL that month. Seven of the eight earned runs he has allowed this season came in three of 20 outings, all blown saves. Both home runs Daigle has allowed this season were ninth-inning, game-tying, two-run shots. ... Michael Garciaparra has hit safely in nine of 10 games, going 10-for-24 (.417) in that time. He also is 3-for-3 in pinch-hit at bats during the last 10 games. ... Chris Johnson has hit safely in 17 of 20 games with the Express, producing a sacrifice fly in each of the three hitless games. He is 9-for-35 (.257) since being named PCL Player of the Week (eight-game span). ... Matt Kata snapped a five-game, 0-for-24 skid with a third-inning single in Monday's series finale at Omaha. Both slumps were his longest of the season and came on the heels of a 13-game hitting streak that was the longest by an Express player this season. Interestingly, Kata was 0-for-9 immediately before starting the 13-game streak; that was his longest dry spell of the season prior to this most recent skew. Still, he is hitting .354 (57-for-161) in 39 games since breaking out of a 4-for-38 slump to start the season. Kata has committed only two errors in 105 total chances (22 games) at second base this season, posting a .981 fielding percentage. He had converted 84 consecutive chances at second base without an error (18 games) prior to committing an error Sunday at Omaha; his only other error at second base was April 11 in the season's fourth game. ... Drew Locke has hit safely in 13 consecutive starts (.404, 21-for-52) and in 19 of 20 starts (.389, 28-for-71). He is hitting .358 (29-for-81) since May 5, tied for the 10th-best mark in the PCL during that period. Locke has multiple hits in six of the last seven games. His current nine-game hitting streak is his longest of the season and his third streak of five-plus games this season. All six of his home runs this season have come in the last 15 games (since May 16), tied for the second-most in the PCL in that span. ... Yordany Ramirez suffered an 8-for-58 skew (.138) over a 21-game stretch from April 20 through May 22, collecting only one multiple-hit game in that time. He hit safely in each of the next four games with three multiple hits in that time before going 0-for-6 in Friday's series opener at Omaha. Ramirez snapped an 0-for-11 skid with a third-inning double in Monday's series finale at Omaha. He is hitless in his last seven pinch-hit appearances after starting the year 2-for-2 as a pinch hitter. ... Chris Shelton returned to the lineup Saturday after missing three games with soreness in his left hand; it was his only missed action this season. Shelton leads the Express with eight home runs, four of which have been solo shots. Shelton leads the team with hits in 33 games. ... Sergio Perez earned his first career Triple-A victory against Las Vegas in Thursday's series finale. He has worked 7.0 innings in each of his first two starts with the Express. ... Polin Trinidad has allowed three home runs over his last two outings after not allowing a round-tripper in his first seven appearances. ... Andy Van Hekken has a 14-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio over his last two outings. His nine strikeouts Friday at Omaha were a season high; he has 17 strikeouts over 14.0 innings in two starts against Omaha this season.

NEXT SERIES

Round Rock continues its fourth home stand with a four-game series against Nashville, beginning Saturday and running through June 8. First pitch for each game in the series is 7:05 p.m. CDT. This is the second of four series between the teams this season. The Express took three of four against the Sounds at The Dell Diamond in early May, winning each of the first three games before Nashville salvaged the finale.

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