Round Rock Express Homer Barrage Downs Omaha 8-3
Published on June 20, 2010 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Round Rock Express News Release
ROUND ROCK, Texas - Drew Locke hit two of Round Rock's season-high five home runs as the Express defeated the Omaha Royals 8-3 in Pacific Coast League action Sunday night at The Dell Diamond. The Express (31-40) scored all eight runs on homers. The Royals (37-31) still lead the series two games to one and hold a 7-4 advantage in the season series.
Drew Meyer started the homerun barrage with a two-run shot to right that snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. Meyer's homer, which was his first of the season, came one batter after Wladimir Sutil provided the game's first hit with a single to open the inning. After Oswaldo Navarro reached on a two-out error, Locke capped the four-run fourth with a two-run homer to center.
That proved to be all the run support Express starter Josh Banks (8-5) would need; he allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits and no walks with three strikeouts over 8.0 innings. It marked the third time in his last four starts that Banks worked at least 8.0 innings. He improved to 7-1 at The Dell Diamond this season, and he has won each of his last six home starts. Chris Sampson pitched a perfect ninth with one strikeout.
Omaha starter Bryan Bullington (3-1) took the loss; he allowed four runs, two earned, on three hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 6.0 innings.
Jai Miller put Omaha on the board in the top of the fifth, blasting a 478-foot homer to straight-away center field. It was the Royal's first hit of the night as Banks retired the first 14 batters he faced. Miller joined Matt Ginter and Nelson Cruz as the only players to completely clear the maintenance shed beyond the centerfield wall at The Dell Diamond.
David Cook, who joined the Express earlier in the day after a promotion from Double-A Corpus Christi, pushed Round Rock's lead back to four runs with a solo homer in the seventh. Omaha scored two runs on two hits and an Express error in the top of the eighth, but Round Rock responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Brian Bogusevic blasted a one-out solo shot, and Locked capped the scoring with a two-out, two-run homer.
Locke became the first Express player this season to hit two homers in a game twice; he also accomplished the feat at Colorado Springs in late May. He had Round Rock's lone multiple-hit game as the Express scored eight runs on just six hits. The lone non-homer hit was Sutil's single ahead of Meyer's homer in the fourth.
Casey Clark was 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Royals.
Round Rock and Omaha conclude the four-game series Monday with a 7:05 p.m. CDT first pitch at The Dell Diamond. Southpaw Polin Trinidad (3-5, 4.34 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Express, while right-hander Luis Mendoza (4-5, 4.14 ERA) gets the nod for the Royals.
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