Five-Run Inning the Difference Between Cats and Express

ROUND ROCK, Tex. – Locked in a close battle on Friday, the Sacramento River Cats trailed by just one until the bottom of the seventh when the Round Rock Express exploded for five runs highlighted by a grand slam, leading Round Rock to leave game three victorious by a final of 8-3.

Neither team scored more than once in any inning until the difference-making seventh, and the scoring was started by the River Cats (33-39) in the third on an RBI groundout from Tyler Fitzgerald. Crossing the plate was Jacob Nottingham, who reached to lead off the inning when he was hit by a pitch.

Countering during their swings in the third was the Express (43-29), doing so with one swing as Sandro Fabian hit a solo shot down the left-field line off Sacramento starter Miguel Yajure. Round Rock took the lead in the following inning when Elier Hernandez reached to start the bottom of the frame, which extended his franchise-record hitting streak to 24 games with a single. After moving over to third on a pair of outs, he scored on a two-out RBI single to left by Dustin Harris.

However, the River Cats were able to knot the game with their swings in the away half of the fifth when Brett Wisely sent his third of the year deep over the wall in right center on the seventh pitch of his at-bat.

It was the Express that untied the contest by stringing together three singles in the sixth, the last of which drove in a run thanks to Fabian. Following that, Round Rock put together the only multi-run inning of the contest in the seventh.

Sacramento had issued a pair of free passes that sandwiched a single to load the bases, then induced a ground ball to Wisely at shortstop. After initially trying to tag the runner, his throw to third pulled Armando Alvarez off the bag with all runners safe and a run scoring. Stepping up to the plate next was Blaine Crim, who capitalized on the mistake and hit a grand slam to straightaway center field.

The River Cats put together some offense in the ninth by loading the bases on a pair of hits and a walk, scoring once on an RBI groundout from Michael Gigliotti, but that was as close as they could come with the final ending at 8-3.

In his Sacramento debut, Yajure yielded a pair of runs on four hits in 4.0 innings of work, but it was Tanner Andrews (3-3) that took the loss despite allowing a single run on four hits in a pair of innings. Receiving credit for the win was Fer Ozuna (4-2), who was the first to appear in relief and gave up a single hit in just one frame worked.

Leading the way for Sacramento was Ford Proctor, who was 2-for-4 and scored a run, while Wisely finished 1-for-4 with his homer.

Game four gets underway tomorrow at 5:05 p.m. (PT) from Dell Diamond.