HOW IT HAPPENED:
El Paso wasted no time and struck for two runs in the bottom half of the first, courtesy of back-to-back home runs from their first two batters. LF Bryce Johnson went after the first pitch he saw for his home run and DH Samad Taylor followed with a solo shot.
Round Rock responded with three runs in the third, taking the lead. SS Keyber Rodriguez singled to start the inning and 3B Cam Cauley followed with a two-run home run, evening the score at two. The Express put runners in scoring position following a walk to C Logan O’Hoppe and a double from DH Jonah Bride. O’Hoppe scored on an RBI single from RF Aaron Zavala, giving the E-Train a 3-2 edge.
O’Hoppe drilled a 420-foot three-run home run in the top of the fifth to extend Round Rock’s lead to four entering the sixth.
In the sixth, 1B Diego Castillo singled and CF Orlando Martinez followed with a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Rodriguez scored on a sacrifice fly from LF Alejandro Osuna. One batter later, Cauley hit his second two-run blast of the game, extending the lead to seven.
Round Rock put the game away with three runs in the top of the eighth. Cauley, 2B John Taylor and O’Hoppe tallied back-to-back-to-back RBI singles, and the Express led 12-2 after eight.
The E-Train loaded the bases and scored two more runs in the ninth inning, courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Cauley and an RBI single by Taylor. Round Rock cruised to a 12-2 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
E-TRAIN EXCERPTS:
WHERE WE STAND: The Express have won 3 consecutive games, their 6th streak of 3+ wins this season…are 2-0-1 in series play when opening a series 2-0…have won 4 of their last 10, 8 of their last 15 and 12 of their last 20 games…since the second half began on 6/23, Round Rock leads the PCL with 15 road wins and 6 day-game victories.
LHP DALTON PENCE: (W, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R-ER, 6 SO, 2 HR, 76 pitches, 53 strikes) registered a quality start in his 5th Triple-A outing (4th start)…surrendered 2 home runs and a double in the bottom of the 1st…allowed just 2 hits and a hit batsmen across the next 5 frames…has struck out 6 batters in each of his last 2 starts…amassed 6.0+ innings for the first time at the Triple-A level…marks the 13th 6.0-inning performance from an E-Train pitcher and their 7th quality start this season…now owns a 2.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio (15 SO/6 BB) across 15.2 IP with the Express.
INF CAM CAULEY: launched his 9th and 10th homers with Round Rock this season… 4 of his 10 Triple-A home runs have been against the Chihuahuas… has hit 3 round-trippers at Southwest University Park… also hit a grand slam in the 2nd inning on 5/20 off of LHP Fernando Sanchez… recorded a season-high 6 RBI on the day, passing his previous high of 4 which he recorded on 5/20…is the 3rd Express batter with a 5-RBI game this season (also INF John Taylor and INF Blaine Crim) and only one with 6…Cauley’s multi-home run game was his 1st since he hit 2 HR on 9/14/25 with Double-A Frisco… 7th multi-homer game in the Rangers organization… the utility man is slashing .310/.425/.577 with 15 RBI, 14 BB, 4 HR, and 8 SB against ELP this season.
C LOGAN O’HOPPE: extended his team-leading on-base streak to 12 G with a walk in the 3rd inning… marks the longest on-base streak by a Round Rock catcher this season (J. Herrera 10-G streak)… smashed a 112.4 mph three-run blast in the 5th… marks the hardest-hit ball by an Express batter this season… O’Hoppe owns 3 of the 5 hardest-hit balls by a Round Rock hitter… his round-tripper is the 2nd-hardest E-Train home run since the start of the 2025 campaign, trailing only INF Abimelec Ortiz’s 112.7-mph blast on 8/7/25 at ABQ… drove in a season-high 4 runs with Round Rock.
OF AARON ZAVALA: finished Wednesday afternoon 3-for-5 with an RBI and a strikeout…all of his hits came with 2 outs… Zavala now leads the Express with 43 H with 2 outs… is now T-1st among all Rangers farmhands in the same category… owns 26 H with 1 out and 25 H with no outs… Zavala continues to hit well with two outs, slashing .323/.396/.504 with 22 RBI and 4 HR.
NOTES: Round Rock hit multiple home runs on Wednesday for the 32nd time this season…the E-Train are 21-11 when recording multiple homers in a game this year… the Express finished with 20 H on Wednesday, marking the 47th time this season they have recorded 10+ hits in a game… hold a 35-12 record in those games… INF John Taylor extended his hitting streak to 5-G with a single in the 8th inning… marks the longest active streak among Express hitters.
NEXT GAME: Thursday, August 20 at El Paso FIRST PITCH: 7:35 p.m. CT BALLPARK: Southwest University Park
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!