El Paso Slugs Past Round Rock For 9-7 Win 

EL PASO, Tex. - BOX SCORE

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Express plated two in the first as 1B Jake Burger walked in his first plate appearance with Round Rock. Burger scored on a 3B Cody Freeman double and CF Sam Haggerty sent Freeman home with a single.

The Chihuahuas responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. 2B Jake Cronenworth walked and DH Yonathan Perlaza singled to right. RF Tirso Ornelas grounded out and Cronenworth scored. LF Connor Joe doubled and Perlaza scored the tying run to tie the game at 2-2. El Paso grabbed a 3-2 lead in the second as SS Eguy Rosario mashed his first home run of the season.

Round Rock SS Ezequiel Duran knotted things up at three with a solo home run in the third. In the bottom of the third, the Chihuahuas put two on before 3B Nate Mondou singled to score Ornelas and make it a 4-3 lead.

Haggerty led off the fourth with a double for Round Rock and C Cooper Johnson got aboard with his first hit at the Triple-A level. SS Jonathan Ornelas punched a single to right sending Haggerty home to tie the game at 4-4.

El Paso C Cody Roberts doubled off the wall to open the bottom of the fourth. 2B Jake Cronenworth gave the Chihuahuas a 6-4 lead with a two-run homer to center field.

In the fifth, the Express tied the game at 6-6 with a pair of solo homers from Foscue and Haggerty.

Round Rock scratched another run across in the sixth. Duran got on after grounding into a fielder’s choice and Burger dropped a single into shallow center. Foscue recorded his second RBI of the night with a base hit as Duran trotted home for a 7-6 lead.

The Chihuahuas stole another lead in the bottom of the sixth with three runs on three hits. With the bases juiced, Perlaza hit a double into the left field corner. El Paso took an 8-7 lead as Brosseau and Johnson came around on the play. With runners on second and third, RHP Peyton Gray’s wild pitch got past Johnson and Cronenworth came home to extend the lead to 9-7 as the score stood final.

E-TRAIN EXCERPTS:

WHOLE SQUAD: Eight of Round Rock’s nine batters recorded a hit in Tuesday’s series opener. CF Sam Haggerty posted a team-high three hits while finishing a triple-shy of the cycle. Haggerty belted his first homer of the season and tallied two RBI and two runs scored.

COOPER’S E-TRAIN DEBUT: C Cooper Johnson made his first appearance at the Triple-A level on Tuesday night. Johnson went 2-for-5 and caught a runner trying to steal second.

ZEKE’S STREAK: SS Ezequiel Duran has a hit in 11 out of 13 games and is riding a six-game hitting streak. He went 2-for-5 with a double, a homer, an RBI and two runs scored. The infielder is slugging .673 as nine of his 18 hits have gone for extra-bases.

NEXT GAME: Wednesday, May 7 at El Paso FIRST PITCH: 12:05 p.m. CT BALLPARK: Southwest University Park

For more information about the Express, visit RRExpress.com or call (512) 255-2255. Subscribe to the E-Train email newsletter and keep up with the Express on Facebook, Instagram and X!