Round Rock earns series split with 9-2 win

Omaha, Neb. – The Round Rock Express took the finale of a four-game set with the Omaha Storm Chasers, 9-2, earning the series split and winning their 60th game of the year Monday afternoon at Werner Park. The Express collected at least one hit from each batter in their lineup as part of a 17-hit attack.

Round Rock out-hit Omaha 57-41 over the four games, matching a season-high for hits allowed by Chasers pitching in a series. The Express also held the Omaha offense in check for the second-straight day, stranding 13 baserunners and holding the Chasers to 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Lorenzo Cain’s RBI single in the fifth and Irving Falu’s bases-loaded walk in the seventh accounted for the entirety of the Chasers scoring output.

Vin Mazzaro got the start for Omaha, working the first five innings and getting tagged for five runs – three earned – on 11 hits. He struck out three and intentionally walked one batter. Mazzaro (5-1) was handed his first Triple-A defeat as a starting pitcher since May 6, 2009, when he was a member of the Sacramento River Cats, snapping a 22-start non-losing streak.
Express hurler Ryan Tucker (2-2) put together the best of his three starts this year, holding the Chasers to a run on six hits over five innings of work. He labored through 98 pitches, striking out five and walking one, but had enough in the tank to earn the victory.

Offensively, the Chasers got multi-hit games from Cain, Kila Ka’aihue and Johnny Giavotella in the losing effort. Giavotella went 2-for-4 with a walk, increasing his batting average to .343 while extending his hitting streak to 13 games. Ka’aihue’s hits were both doubles, his first two-double game of the season and his second game with multiple extra-base hits this year.

Omaha will look for Round Rock to keep the wins coming against the Memphis Redbirds, who trail the Chasers by 3.5 games in the American Conference Northern Division. Memphis has one more game against Oklahoma City Monday night before traveling to the heart of Texas to face the Express for four at The Dell Diamond Tuesday through Friday.

Meanwhile, the Storm Chasers will host the Albuquerque Isotopes for a four-game series Tuesday through Thursday, with all four games set for 7:05 p.m. The ‘Topes come in losers of two-straight, which has helped Round Rock extend its lead back to six games in the PCL American South.