Walkoff Grand Slam Gives Express Wild 9-6 Win Over Dodgers

ROUND ROCK, Texas - The Round Rock Express (4-10) rallied past the Oklahoma City Dodgers (10-2) to record a thrilling 9-6 victory thanks to C Cameron Rupp 's walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning on Wednesday afternoon. The game-winning blast was the second walkoff grand slam in Express history. The first came back on September 3, 2017 as Willie Calhoun achieved the feat, coincidentally also against Oklahoma City at Dell Diamond.
Rupp's heroics gave E-Train RHP Deolis Guerra (1-0, 5.68) his first win of the season. The righty allowed an unearned run on one hit while recording two strikeouts in the top of the 10th inning. On the losing side, OKC LHP Leo Crawford (0-1, 81.00) surrendered the game-winning grand slam on just one hit in the bottom of the frame.
Oklahoma City opened the scoring in the third inning as LF Tim Locastro doubled home 1B Alex Burg and C Cael Brockmeyer before ultimately scoring himself on a throwing error by Express SS Nick Noonan . The Dodgers extended their lead to 4-0 in the fifth thanks to an RBI single off the bat of CF Alex Verdugo .
Round Rock jumped on the board in the sixth. CF Jose Cardona recorded a one-out single prior to moving to second on a Noonan groundout. RF Scott Heineman doubled in the next at-bat, cutting the deficit to 4-1. After stealing third, Heineman raced home on an Emmanuel De Leon wild pitch.
Both teams traded solo runs in the seventh. In the top half of the frame, Locastro tallied a one-out single and moved to second on a Christian Lopes throwing error. A two-out Verdugo RBI double increased the gap to 5-2. However, the E-Train answered as LF Destin Hood singled prior to a Hanser Alberto RBI double in the home half of the inning.
Round Rock's dramatic comeback began with a one-out Hood walk in the bottom of the ninth inning. Two hitters later, 2B Andy Ibáñez doubled home Hood to cut the deficit to 5-4. Staring down an 0-2 count with two outs and a runner on second base, Lopes lined a single into right field, scoring Ibanez to level the contest at 5-5.
As part of Minor League Baseball's new extra inning rules for 2018, the 10th inning began with a runner on second base. In this case, OKC DH Henry Ramos opened the frame in scoring position by virtue of recording the final out of the Dodgers half of the ninth inning. After two quick outs, 3B Angelo Mora singled off Guerra to give the visitors a 6-5 edge.
However, Round Rock stormed back with an improbable sequence of events in the bottom of the frame. Cardona began the inning on second base per the new extra inning rules. With Crawford on the mound, Noonan worked a leadoff walk after attempting to bunt five straight times. Heineman then popped out to Berg on a bunt attempt of his own.
With Calhoun batting, Crawford skipped a wild pitch past Brockmeyer, allowing Cardona and Noonan to each advance 90 feet closer to home. Crawford then elected to intentionally walk Calhoun, the man who infamously recorded Round Rock's first-ever walkoff grand slam last September against the Dodgers, to face Rupp, who was 0-4 with a strikeout on the afternoon.
At the same time, Verdugo moved from center field to the area between first and second base to form a five-man infield. The unconventional shift proved to be for naught as Rupp blasted the first pitch of his at-bat just over the wall in deep left-center field to give Round Rock the wild 9-6 walkoff victory.
The Express and Dodgers will try to top today's theatrics in game three on Thursday night. Neither team has posted a starting pitcher as of yet. First pitch at Dell Diamond is set for 7:05 p.m.
For more information on the Express, visit RoundRockExpress.com or call (512) 255-2255. Keep up with the Express on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter!