Round Rock Express Game Notes
Published on June 2, 2010 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Round Rock Express News Release
ROUND ROCK, Texas - Micah Hoffpauir's leadoff home run in the top of the ninth gave the Iowa Cubs a 3-2 victory over the Round Rock Express in Tuesday night's series opener at The Dell Diamond. It was the 15th one-run loss this season for the Express (23-29), who have lost 12 games in the opponent's final at bat. The Cubs (27-24) improved to 15-11 on the road this season.
Hoffpauir's home run, his sixth of the season, came on a 1-0 pitch and was the third solo homer of the game. Jeff Schlitter retired the Express in order in the bottom of the ninth for his sixth save in eight opportunities this season. Jeff Samardzija (4-0) tossed 2.0 perfect innings of relief to pick up the win.
Jonah Bayliss (1-2) retired six of the seven batters he faced with three strikeouts over the final two innings of the game. However, the lone batter that reached off Bayliss was Hoffpauir with the game-winning homer.
Express starter Sergio Perez allowed two runs on six hits and a walk with four strikeouts over 7.0 innings. It was his third start with Round Rock, and he has worked exactly 7.0 innings in each start.
Iowa starter Jay Jackson worked 6.0 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
The Cubs took the game's first lead, piecing together three consecutive two-out singles in the top of the first. Brad Snyder had the third single in that string and scored Chad Tracy, who started the stretch. Iowa pushed its lead to 2-0 in the third on Jim Adduci's leadoff homer; it was his first round-tripper of the season.
Round Rock tied the game with a run in the third and another in the sixth. Brian Bogusevic was responsible for both runs. He legged out a bases-loaded RBI fielder's choice in the third and blasted a one-out solo homer in the sixth. It was Bogusevic's fifth homer of the season.
Chris Johnson followed Bogusevic's homer with a single. Two batters later, Jason Castro delivered a two-out single, pushing Johnson to second. However, that was the last base-runner the Express managed on the night as the Cubs retired 10 straight to end the game.
Oswaldo Navarro was 2-for-4, turning in Round Rock's lone multiple-hit game of the night. Jason Bourgeois (1-for-4) extended his hitting streak to 10 games, his second streak of such length in 21 games. Jason Castro (1-for-4) has reached safely in 23 consecutive games, the fifth-longest on-base streak in the Pacific Coast League this season and second in the league among active streaks.
Hoffpauir led the Cubs offensive attack, going 3-for-4 and finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
Round Rock and Iowa continue their four-game series Wednesday with a 7:05 p.m. CDT first pitch at The Dell Diamond. It will be dueling southpaws as Andy Van Hekken (2-3, 3.97 ERA) gets the nod for the Express, and J.R. Mathes (4-4, 5.40 ERA) toes the rubber for the Cubs.
ROUND ROCK - Only one Cub made it past first base in the final six innings Tuesday night. But Micah Hoffpauir made it count, crushing a home run in the ninth inning of Iowa's 3-2 win over the Express.
"Our pitching pitched plenty good enough to win; their pitching just shut us down," Round Rock manager Marc Bombard said.
After the Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the third , Round Rock starter Sergio Perez and reliever Jonah Bayliss combined to one-hit Iowa over five innings, with the lone blemish thrown out at second base while attempting to steal. But leading off the ninth, Hoffpauir drove Bayliss' pitch out of the park to push Round Rock (23-29) to its 15th one-run loss of the season, and 12th loss in an opponent's final at-bat.
The Express were shut down most of the game by Cubs starter Jay Jackson and relievers Jeff Samardzija and Brian Schlitter. With only two runs and seven hits, Round Rock got off to a slow June start , after hitting at an all-time team best for much of May.
"We played a pretty good game, we're facing a pretty good pitcher who's getting his breaking ball over, and we managed to tie him," Bombard said. "We hit a couple of balls hard in the ninth inning and they made nice plays on them ."
The teams combined for one of the cleanest games of the year at Dell Diamond: no errors; only one walk, issued by Perez; and five runs allowed.
After giving up two runs in the first three innings, Perez retired 12 of the last 13 hitters he faced. He left with the score tied 2-2, after Brian Bogusevic's sixth-inning home run evened the score .
It was a third consecutive gem for Perez since his call-up from Corpus Christi in May. He has pitched seven innings and allowed three runs or fewer in each start, but has twice come away without the win.
"When you feel like you're in a groove you just try to keep focus and not do any more than that ," Perez said. "We'll get them next time I guess."
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