Garrett Cooper and Brett Phillips combined to drive in six runs, but the Round Rock Express scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with a 10-9 win in front of 9,474 at Dell Diamond Saturday night.
Garrett Cooper and Brett Phillips combined to drive in six runs, but the Round Rock Express scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to walk off with a 10-9 win in front of 9,474 at Dell Diamond Saturday night.
For the second game in a row, the Sky Sox (55-33) used some first-inning offense to jump out to a quick lead early on. Kyle Wren and Nate Orf both led off the game with singles, and Wren came in to score the first run when Cooper reached on a botched force attempt by Doug Bernier. One batter later, Phillips missed a three-run home run by mere feet, but settled for his 16th double of the season as Orf scored.
Round Rock (40-49) scored their first two runs of the series in the second inning, but Colorado Springs responded with a three-run third inning to regain the lead. After the first two batters singled for the second time in the game, Cooper grounded a single to right field, scoring Orf for his second RBI of the game and No. 81 of the season. Cooper is the first player in four seasons to record 80 or more RBIs in a season since Ryan Wheeler drove in 89 in the 2013 season.
Two batters later, Jett Bandy added to the lead, lining the first pitch from Tanner Scheppers up the middle to score Ivan De Jesus, whose single earlier in the frame extended his hitting streak to 16 games and his on-base streak to 31 games. Kirk Nieuwenhuis drove in the third run of the inning, beating out a potential double play to allow Cooper to score and extend the lead to 5-2.
Cooper drove in his third run of the game during the two-run sixth inning. With the bases loaded, the first baseman grounded an infield single to third baseman Will Middlebrooks, scoring Nick Noonan. An errant throw from Middlebrooks to second base allowed Orf to score his third run of the contest and extend the lead to five runs.
The hosts scored six runs to take an 8-7 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Sky Sox fought back with two runs in the top of the eighth inning. After a Garrett Cooper walk to lead off the frame, Phillips launched an opposite-field home run to the berm in left field off Joely Rodríguez for his 16th blast of the season.
RHP Hiram Burgos (2-4, 7.20) takes the mound in the final game before the All-Star Break, looking to lead the Sox to a series win against RHP Nick Martínez (1-0, 5.00) and the Express. First pitch of the series finale is set for 5:05 p.m. MT.
