HOW IT HAPPENED:
DH Zac Veen put Albuquerque on the board with a leadoff homer in the top of the first, giving the Isotopes a 1-0 lead right away.
Round Rock DH Aaron Zavala evened the score at one with a solo home run in the bottom of the frame.
The Express took their first lead in the fourth inning. 2B Diego Castillo led off with a single and 3B John Taylor followed with a two-run homer. Taylor’s fifth round-tripper gave Round Rock a 3-1 edge.
Albuquerque CF Drew Avans opened the sixth with a base hit. Veen then belted his second home run of the game, tying the game at 3-3. Later in the inning, SS Ryan Ritter hit an RBI single and 1B Jose Cordova drew a bases-loaded walk, sending the Isotopes ahead, 5-3.
In the eighth, the Isotopes extended their lead to four with an RBI single from C Kyle McCann and a sacrifice fly from Cordova.
Round Rock was held to one hit in the final five frames as they dropped the series finale, 7-3.
E-TRAIN EXCERPTS:
WHERE WE STAND: Round Rock split the 6-game set with Albuquerque… 2-5 in series finales at Dell Diamond…are now 5-8-2 in series play this season and 1-0-1 in the second half…are 6-4 in their last 10, 8-7 in their last 15 and 10-10 in their last 20 G…in the 2nd half Pacific Coast League standings, are tied for 3rd with Reno…trail 1st-place Las Vegas by 1.5 G.
RHP AUSTIN VOTH: (L, 5.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R-ER, 0 BB, 5 SO, 2 HR, 74 pitches, 53 strikes) made his Express debut on Sunday night following an agreement to a minor league deal with TEX on 7/2… allowed a home run to the first batter he saw… came back to retire the next three batters on 10 pitches, including two strikeouts… retired the side the next 3.0 innings… 2nd G this season allowing multiple homers… started the season with TOR and BUF (Triple-A affiliate) before being designated for assignment on 5/30… penned a minor league contract with MIN on 6/4… designated for assignment on 6/24 before being signed by the Rangers… owned a 0-1 record with a 9.90 ERA in the majors…came into tonight with a 1-3 record with a 3.65 ERA in 11 G this season at the Triple-A level…. Is 1 appearance shy of 100 G at the Triple-A level for his career.
INF JOHN TAYLOR: launched his fifth homer of the campaign in the 4th inning… first round-tripper this season he hasn’t hit 100.0+ mph…the Express are 2-3 when Taylor homers… third game he has launched a home run in the series…drove in 8 of the E-Train’s 30 runs this series… hitting .238 (10-for-42) with 3 HR and 10 RBI at Dell Diamond… batting just .156 (7-for-45) on the road.
C JOSE HERRERA: extended his on-base streak to eight games with his walk in the 7th inning… catcher is slashing .414/.469/.621/1.090 with 3 doubles, a homer, 5 RBI and 3 walks since the streak began on 6/12.
RHP JOE ROSS (ND, 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO, 7 pitches, 3 strikes) made his 2nd appearance since rejoining the Express on 7/3… 6th scoreless outing of the campaign with the E-Train… needed just seven pitches to get through the inning… 2nd three-up, three-down inning of the season (5/31 vs SL)… evenly mixed his four pitches (2- splitter, 2- slider, 2- 4-seam fastball, 1-curveball)… fastball topped out at 97.5 mph.
NOTES: With home runs from DH Aaron Zavala and 3B John Taylor, the Express have now homered 17 times on Sundays, their most on any day of the week.
NEXT GAME: Tuesday, July 7 at Reno FIRST PITCH: 8:35 p.m. CT BALLPARK: Greater Nevada Field
For more information about the Express, visit RRExpress.com or call (512) 255-2255. Subscribe to the E-Train email newsletter and keep up with the Express on Facebook, Instagram and X!