RedHawks Fall To Round Rock

The Round Rock Express used some clutch hitting and a stretch of seven unanswered runs to defeat the Oklahoma City RedHawks, 7-4, Saturday night at Dell Diamond.

For the first time in three games during the season, the RedHawks (1-2) scored first. In his first at-bat of the season, Carlos Perez connected on a solo home run to give Oklahoma City a 1-0 lead in the third inning.

However, the lead was short-lived. On the first pitch of the bottom of the inning, Kensuke Tanaka connected on a home run to tie things up.

Both players were an unlikely source of power. Last season Perez hit just two home runs in 75 games with the RedHawks, and Tanaka went deep only once in 107 games with Fresno.

Round Rock (2-1) took the lead in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Bryan Petersen hit a bases-clearing triple to make it 4-1.

With the bases loaded again in the sixth, Andy Parrino knocked a two-run double. Kevin Kouzmanoff followed with a sac fly to extend the lead to 7-1.

The RedHawks had a good opportunity to score the seventh, loading the bases with one out, but Perez bounced into a double play to end the inning.

Oklahoma City would cut into Round Rock's lead in the eighth. Jon Singleton blasted a two-run homer past the grass seating in right field to make it a 7-3 game.

Ronny Torreyes added an RBI double in the ninth, but that's as close as the RedHawks would get.

Round Rock starting pitcher Scott Baker had a strong night in his first outing of the season. He limited the RedHawks to just one run and two hits over six innings. Baker (1-0) finished with seven strikeouts and one walk.

RedHawks pitcher Nick Tropeano had a tough Triple-A debut and picked up the loss. Tropeano (0-1) allowed four runs and five hits over 3.1 innings. He walked and struck out four each.