HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Express and the Isotopes each plated a run in the first frame. Albuquerque 3B Vimael Machín drove DH Sterlin Thompson in with his base hit to center. In the bottom of the first, Round Rock DH Cam Cauley doubled off the center field wall and CF Alejandro Osuna scored from first, tying the game at one apiece.
Round Rock jumped ahead with two runs in the second. 3B Diego Castillo led off the inning with a single before scoring on 2B Theo Hardy’s two-out triple. After a pitching change, Cauley singled and Hardy came home for a 3-1 edge.
Albuquerque regained the lead in the top of the third. A double from RF Tyler Freeman, a Castillo fielding error and a SS Nic Kent single put the Isotopes in front, 4-3.
In the bottom of the third, SS John Taylor scored on a RF Trevor Hauver sacrifice fly, knotting it up, 4-4.
Freeman led off the fifth with a solo home run, putting Albuquerque ahead by a run.
Hauver drove in three runs on a bases-loaded double in the fifth. The Express then added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth on a passed ball and a 1B Jonah Bride sacrifice fly.
The Round Rock bullpen of RHP Luis Curvelo, RHP Ben Peoples, RHP Ryan Lobus and RHP Michel Otañez compiled 5.0 scoreless innings in the 9-5 win on Saturday night.
E-TRAIN EXCERPTS:
WHERE WE STAND: Round Rock snapped their 3-game losing streak on Saturday night…must win Sunday’s series finale to split the 6-game set with the Isotopes…own a 9-8 record against Albuquerque this season, can claim the season series with a win or tie with a loss on Sunday…have won 6 of their last 10, 8 of their last 15, 10 of their last 20 and 14 of their last 25 games…are tied with Oklahoma City for 2nd place in the Pacific Coast League standings.
LHP ANTHONY VENEZIANO: (ND, 4.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 5 SO, 2 BB, 1 HR, 89 pitches, 61 strikes) tallied his 3rd start in his 7th appearance with Round Rock this season… allowed a season-high 7 H and 5 R in his outing tonight… 5 SO matches a season-high he also hit on 7/30… has tallied at least 1 SO in his 7 appearances this year…89 pitches is also the most he’s tossed in a game this season with the Express… 4th time this season he has pitched exactly 4.0 innings… also the 4th time this month a Round Rock starter has recorded 80+ pitches in an outing… of the 4 pitchers, Veneziano’s outing was the shortest despite tallying the highest number of pitches… Round Rock is 2-2 in those contests.
INF THEO HARDY: reached safely in 3 of his 4 plate appearances on Saturday night… tripled in the 1st, singled in the 4th and walked in the 6th…snapped a 5-G hitless streak with Round Rock… was added to the Round Rock roster on 8/25 for his 3rd stint with the club this season (Also 7/25-8/2 and 8/14-15)… tonight’s game marks his 10th G at the Triple-A level, all of which have been with the Express… collected his first RBI this season with his triple in the 2nd… 5 of his 8 G this season have come against ABQ.
INF DIEGO CASTILLO: extended his hitting streak to 9 games with a single in the 2nd…is 2 games shy of tying his season-best 11-game hit streak from 5/23-6/5…is batting .412 (14-34) during the 9-game streak and .346 (28-81) in 21 games this month…since joining the Express on 5/1, ranks 3rd in base hits (106), T-5th in doubles (23) and 8th in batting average (.313) among Pacific Coast League hitters.
OF TREVOR HAUVER: delivered a bases-clearing double in the 5th to give the Express a 7-5 lead…marks his 3rd game with 4 RBI and 2nd against the Isotopes (7/25 at ABQ)…has recorded 12 RBIs this season against ABQ, which raises his career tally to 38 against ABQ…is the most against any PCL team he has faced in his Triple-A time (Since 2024)… has slashed .320/.383/.460 against ABQ this season.
FULL COUNT HITTING: Round Rock worked 10 of their 39 at-bats tonight to a full count and reached base 7 of those times… the Express own a .226 batting average, which leads the PCL when faced with a full count… they also have collected a league-high 112 hits in that scenario.
NEXT GAME: Sunday, August 30 vs Albuquerque FIRST PITCH: 1:05 p.m. CT BALLPARK: Dell Diamond
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!