ROUND ROCK, Texas - Round Rock Express (44-47) LF Willie Calhoun finished Friday night's 8-5 loss to the Oklahoma City Dodgers (47-40) at Dell Diamond with a pair of base hits, extending his career-long hitting streak to 17 consecutive games. Over the course of his impressive run that began on
ROUND ROCK, Texas - Round Rock Express (44-47) LF Willie Calhoun finished Friday night's 8-5 loss to the Oklahoma City Dodgers (47-40) at Dell Diamond with a pair of base hits, extending his career-long hitting streak to 17 consecutive games. Over the course of his impressive run that began on June 24th, Calhoun is batting .405 with six doubles and 9 RBI.
Express starter LHP Michael Roth (4-3, 3.92) suffered the loss after he allowed six earned runs on eight hits over 5.0 innings. Earning the win for the Dodgers was starter RHP Tyler Pill (3-3, 5.40) who surrendered four runs, three of them earned, over 5.0 frames on the hill.
Oklahoma City leapt ahead 3-0 through their first three offensive frames as DH Travis Taijeron grounded into a run-scoring double play in the second before 3B Kyle Farmer smacked a two-run double off Roth in the following inning.
Round Rock manufactured a response off Pill in the bottom of the third, pulling within a run of tying the score at 3-2. CF Drew Robinson led off the side with a sharply-hit single to first base, moved to second on an error, and eventual crossed home plate when Calhoun dumped a soft liner into center field.
The next batter, rehabbing Texas Rangers C Carlos Pèrez , collected his first hit at Dell Diamond on a hard-hit single to left field, bringing home the second E-Train run in the frame. Since joining the club from Double-A Frisco back on July 5th, Perez has driven in six runs on seven hits, including two home runs.
Calhoun would continue producing for Round Rock as the game went on, knocking an RBI double in the fifth and an RBI groundout in the sixth, with Perez plating another on a sacrifice fly in the same inning.
However, the Dodgers kept their foot on the gas pedal to keep Round Rock from stealing a late lead as Taijeron connected on a solo shot in fourth, 1B Edwin Ríos struck for two more runs on a double in the fifth, and SS Angelo Mora put a stamp on the Oklahoma City scoring run by crushing a longball of his own in the sixth.
In the ninth, Rios returned to finalize the Dodgers win at 8-5 when he drove in RF Alex Verdugo on a single for his third RBI of the night.
After splitting the first two rounds of the four-game set, Round Rock will look to secure a series lead on Saturday night at Dell Diamond. Express Adrian Sampson (4-3, 5.00) is slated to start on the mound against Dodgers LHP Manny Bañuelos (8-4, 3.39). First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. CDT.
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