Fighting with an hour-long rain delay and a two-run deficit, the Round Rock Express needed some late-game magic to propel the team to its first series victory since the middle of April.
Express infielder Blaine Crim was at the plate to pinch hit when the Tacoma Rainiers decided against throwing to the .298 batting average hitter this season, intentionally walking him to put runners in first and second. The Rainiers instead thought they could get a better matchup with the game’s only home run hitter.
They were wrong.
Express outfielder Dustin Harris rocketed his second home run of the game deep into center field, driving in three runs to walk off the Tacoma Rainiers 7-4 Sunday evening.
“There was a scary hitter behind me,” Harris said about the at-bat. “(The pitcher) was not wanting to walk me to put the winning run on third, so I knew he was gonna come in with something for me to hit. And I was able to put a good swing on it, and it carried out.”
This game was not the first time Harris has taken Round Rock out of trouble. After four scoreless frames and falling behind by two in the fifth inning, nothing was working for the Express until it was back on top of the order. Harris got his first home run of the night toward right field to shave the Express’ deficit down by one.
But after the home run, there was more silence from the Round Rock batting order. It wasn’t until the eighth inning that the Express scored again, with outfielder Trevor Hauver’s RBI double to tie the game up 4-4.
Round Rock’s bullpen was formidable down the stretch, using four arms to allow just one hit and record three strikeouts over five scoreless innings after the fourth.
“We’ve got a real talented group, and guys, we fight hard,” Harris reflected. “There’s not really an easy out in this lineup. Pitching staff comes, competes every day, gives it their all.”
The Express exploded in its first series of the second half of the season, with the offense firing 10 or more hits in five of the six games against Tacoma this week.
“That’s something we talked about before yesterday’s game,” hitting coach Matt Lawson said regarding the team’s first series win since mid-April. “The first four games, we were really cruising, but I was just really hopeful that the last third of the series, we could kind of not be satisfied.”
Round Rock will face the Sugar Land Space Cowboys at Constellation Field in Sugar Land, Texas, for the first half of the Fourth of July holiday series.
