Sam Huff Stays on Hot Streak for Round Rock Express

Triple-A, Pacific Coast League East  Round Rock (11-4, 55-34, T1st, -- GB) finished off a sweep of Tacoma on Sunday, winning 5-1, and tied a season-high with its 7th straight win. The Express jumped ahead in the 4th frame with a 2-R shot from C Sam Huff (1-for-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI) who is now 16-for-40 (.400) with 5 2B (T3rd), 4 HR (T3rd), and 16 RBI (T1st) in July. LF Sandro Fabian (2-for-4, HR, RBI) extended the lead to 3-0 with a solo home run, giving him multi-hit efforts in 4 of his last 7 G. 3B Justin Foscue (1-for-5, 2 RBI) roped a 2-R single to put the finishing touches on the victory while SS Jonathan Ornelas (3-for-4) extended his hit streak to 11 G: 16-for-42 (.381), 1 HR, 7 RBI. RHP Owen White (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R-ER, 4 BB, 2 SO) threw 4 scoreless innings in his 4th AAA start, and hasn’t allowed a run across his last 2 outings: 9.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R-ER, 5 BB, 5 SO. In relief, RHP Spencer Howard (W, 2.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R-ER, 3 SO) earned the win despite allowing a solo homer in the 8th inning.

Double-A, Texas League South (7-8, 38-45, 3rd, 3.0 GB) Frisco (7-8, 38-45, 3rd, 3.0 GB) was shut out, 8-0, and limited to 3 hits by Amarillo. The Sod Poodles rallied for 6 runs across the first two innings off RHP Noah Bremer (L, 1.2 IP, 3 H, 5 R-ER, 2 BB) who has given up 8 R-ER in his last 3 starts (6.2 IP). CF Evan Carter (1-for-4), 1B Trevor Hauver (1-for-4), and RF Kellen Strahm (1-for-3) combined for the ‘Riders trio of hits in the contest. Despite an 8-R deficit at the time, LHP Antoine Kelly (1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 SO) and RHP Nick Starr (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R-ER, 3 SO) struck out 5 of 10 BF (50%) in the 7th and 8th frames.

High-A, South Atlantic League South  DH Tucker Mitchell’s (1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI) 2-R blast in the 1st inning gave Hickory (14-3, 41-37, 1st, +2.5 GA) a series victory over Greenville, as the Crawdads won, 2-0. 3B Frainyer Chavez (0-for-2, BB) walked to set up the home run, as Mitchell is now 18-for-55 (.327) with a 2B, 3 HR, and 10 RBI in his last 14 G. RHP Emiliano Teodo (4.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R-ER, 2 BB, 8 SO) punched out a career-high 8 of 16 BF (50%) and allowed just 3 runners to reach base. RHP Yohanse Morel (W, 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R-ER, 1 BB) earned the win while RHP Jackson Kelly (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R-ER, 3 SO) struck out the side in the 8th inning. LF Geisel Cepeda (1-for-2) recorded the Crawdads only other hit in the game with a 1st -inning single.

Down East (9-9, 46-33, 2nd, 1.5 GB) was swept by Charleston after losing, 5-1, on Sunday. DH Cam Cauley (2-for-4, RBI) plated LF Erick Alvarez (1-for-3, R) on an RBI groundout to even the score at 1. 1B Yenci Pena (0-for-1, 3 BB) reached 3 times all via the walk, while 3B Gleider Figuereo (1-for-4) recorded the Woodies only other hit. RHP Damian Mendoza (L, 2.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R-ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) allowed a quartet of runs in his 2.0 innings of work to suffer the loss. RHP Jacob Maton (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R-ER, 3 SO) hurled a scoreless 9th frame, striking out 3 of 4 BF (75%). Maton across his last 10 scoreless relief app: 16.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R-ER, 3 BB, 25 SO, limiting opponents to a .093 BA (5-for-54).

The ACL Rangers (12-16, 5th, 6.5 GB) Tare coming off three straight losses. SS Sebastain Walcott is in the midst of an 11- G hit streak, including 6 multi-hit efforts over that span. The 17-year-old is 21-for-56 (.375) with 10 XBH and 11 RBI through 13 games this season 2B Echedry Vargas (.277) leads the squad with 28 hits and 5 home runs this season LF Marcos Torres (.272) has driven in a team-best 20 runs across 27 G for the Rangers RHP Bryan Chi paces the staff with a 2.35 ERA (4 ER/15.1 IP) while RHP Willian Bormie (1-0, 4.08) leads the Rangers with 27 strikeouts across 17.2 innings of work.