Hood, Juengel provide fireworks on the 4th

Back-to-back home runs from Destin Hood and Matt Juengel in the bottom of the seventh inning propelled the New Orleans Zephyrs to a 4th of July victory over the Round Rock Express, 3-2.

After the Express capitalized on a pair of throwing errors to score twice in the top of the seventh, Xavier Scruggs drew a leadoff walk in the bottom half and Destin Hood slugged his 13th home run of the season over the center field fence to draw the Zephyrs even.

Hood, named to the Triple-A All-Star Game last week, has equaled his career high in home runs, set in 2011 with Single-A Potomac.

Matt Juengel followed with a home run to nearly the same spot to vault the Z's into the lead. It marked the fourth time this season the Zephyrs have hit consecutive home runs.

Cody Ege retired the side in order in the eighth, but ran into trouble in the ninth. A leadoff single by Delino DeShields and a two-out walk to Kyle Kubitza put the tying run in scoring position, but Ege caught DeShields wandering too far from the bag at second, starting a rundown which resulted in the game's final out and Ege's team-leading fifth save.

Chris Narveson, activated from the disabled list for tonight's start, pitched a brilliant six-inning performance in his return to the mound. He faced the minimum through five innings before allowing his only hit of the night to Doug Bernier to lead off the sixth.

Narveson quickly erased Bernier after inducing Patrick Cantwell to pop out in foul territory and James Jones to ground into an inning-ending double play. He lowered his ERA over the last seven starts to a Pacific Coast League-leading 1.21.

Kyle Lohse (3-5) was equally as impressive through six innings, allowing just three hits and no runs until the home runs by Hood and Juengel in the seventh.

Chris Reed (2-4) was credited with the victory despite allowing two runs - one earned - in the top of the seventh. Reed allowed a leadoff free pass to DeShields, followed by a single to Hanser Alberto, before DeShields stole third and came around to score on an errant throw by Carlos Corporan.

The Express added another run on a throwing error by Scruggs to take a short-lived 2-0 lead.

The Zephyrs and Express continue the abbreviated three-game series on Tuesday at 6 p.m.