Strong Pitching Carries RedHawks to Second Straight Win

Sergio Perez pitched seven strong innings and Oklahoma City won 4-2.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 12:22 pm

By: News On 6

Strong Pitching Carries RedHawks to Second Straight Win

Originally Published: Apr 24, 2011 6:14 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

ROUND ROCK, Texas – The Oklahoma City RedHawks earned their second straight victory over the Round Rock Express with a 4-2 win Sunday.

The RedHawks (6-11) jumped out to an early lead thanks to a leadoff home run by Koby Clemons in the top of the second. OKC added to the lead with a two-run single by Carlos Corporan in the third for a 3-0 advantage, and those were all the runs it would need.

Sergio Perez turned in Oklahoma City’s second straight strong pitching performance, holding the Express to just one run on five hits in seven innings of work. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer by Brian Barden in the fourth inning that cut the lead to 3-1.

The RedHawks added an insurance run in the ninth, when Drew Locke led off with a homer of his own. That gave the teams a combined three long balls on the day, all in the first at-bat of an inning.

Round Rock added one more run in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI double by Brad Nelson, but that was the extent of the scoring. Perez finished with his first win of the season, while Sergio Escalona retired the final batter for his first save.

The RedHawks and Express will play a total of eight consecutive games against each other in eight days, split with four home games for each team. They are now through the first six games, and the road team has won all six.

The two teams essentially swapped rosters during the offseason when the Texas Rangers switched their affiliated team to from Oklahoma City to Round Rock. So while the road team has won every game of the series, in both cases the players have been more familiar with their opponent's field than their own.

They will continue their series at 7:05 p.m. Monday.