Eldridge Makes Triple-A Debut but Cats Slowed by Express
ROUND ROCK, Tex. – The first Triple-A hit in the debut game for Bryce Eldridge was the highlight of the night for the Sacramento River Cats, as offense was otherwise slow in a 7-2 loss to the Round Rock Express in game five of their series on Saturday. After the
ROUND ROCK, Tex. – The first Triple-A hit in the debut game for Bryce Eldridge was the highlight of the night for the Sacramento River Cats, as offense was otherwise slow in a 7-2 loss to the Round Rock Express in game five of their series on Saturday.
After the first the River Cats (32-36/76-67) were in a 1-0 hole, as a pair of doubles put the first Express (32-35/69-72) run of the night on the board. Sacramento was briefly able to level in the third thanks to a solo homer from Christian Koss, his fifth homer of the season that came on a 1-1 pitch to right field.
However, the Round Rock response was swift as they plated three in the home half of the third, all scoring on the second homer in as many games from Trevor Hauver. This time, he crushed a 2-2 pitch to left field that gave the Express the lead for good.
Once more the River Cats managed a single run, this time in the fifth after a double from Koss led to him scoring on a single to the opposite side by Thairo Estrada.
Unfortunately, Round Rock insurance was added in the form of one run in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to put the game away. After the first scored on a wild pitch in the sixth, a Blaine Crim RBI double scored the run in the seventh before Frainyer Chavez notched his own in the eighth.
Charged with the loss for Sacramento was starter Trevor McDonald (2-3), his third of the year after he allowed four runs on four hits for a second consecutive outing.
Going 1-for-4 in his debut was Eldridge, who singled for his first Triple-A hit in the sixth while also striking out once. Posting multiple hits on the night was Estrada, Andrew Knapp and Koss, the latter of which had two extra-base hits thanks to his roundtripper and two-bagger. Meanwhile, Estrada’s hit extended his current hitting streak to 10 straight games, the seventh River Cat to do so this season which is Sacramento’s most since the 2014 campaign.
Sacramento will look to salvage a split of this six-game set when the two teams meet in the series finale on Sunday, with first pitch from Dell Diamond at 11:05 a.m. (PT).