Express Down Rainiers 9-7 in Wild Friday Night at Cheney Stadium

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Express started the scoring in the first inning. With the bases full, a sacrifice fly for LF Aaron Zavala scored 2B Josh Smith from third base to make it 1-0. Tacoma answered with a run in the home half of the first inning. CF Victor Labrada singled to score 2B Brock Rodden and the game was tied.

In the second, after a leadoff walk for Express CF Gilberto Celestino, C José Herrera belted his second homer of the year to give Round Rock a 3-1 advantage. Tacoma responded with two runs in the third frame to tie the game. With two outs, 1B Connor Joe singled to level the score again.

The E-Train broke out for three runs in the fourth inning. Herrera singled and Celestino went from first to third, but scored on the play as Rainiers RF Colin Davis bobbled the ball. A two-RBI single with two outs for Zavala pushed the lead to 6-3. In the fifth inning, Smith provided a sacrifice fly to bring the lead to 7-3. Rodden delivered a solo homer in the fifth inning for Tacoma to make it a 7-4 game.

Round Rock pushed the advantage to 8-4 when C Cooper Johnson singled home a run in the sixth inning before 1B Jonah Bride extended the lead to 9-4 with his solo homer in the eighth. 1B Connor Joe doubled to score two in the eighth and cut the lead to 9-6. In the ninth inning, SS Ryan Bliss doubled home a run to make it a 9-7 ballgame with the Rainiers still trailing it by two.

Tacoma had the winning run at the plate in the ninth inning when 3B Patrick Wisdom was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The hit batsman sparked both benches to clear. Following the ejections of Wisdom, CF Gilberto Celestino and Rainiers Coach Jacob Nottingham, RHP Emiliano Teodo finished off the game with a ground ball and Round Rock earned the 9-7 win.

E-TRAIN EXCERPTS:

WHERE WE STAND: Round Rock guarantees a series split and has taken 3 of 4 in Tacoma... Express have won 4 of their last 5… can earn their first 3-game winning streak since April 19-23 with a win tomorrow… are 5-5 with 2 games remaining in their season-long, 12-game road stint… the win will snap a 3-series losing streak at Cheney Stadium and with a win tomorrow or Sunday, Express can collect their first series victory in Tacoma since September 19-24, 2023 when the E-Train clinched the second half title.

RHP JOSH STEPHAN: (W, 7.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, HR, 94 pitches, 59 strikes) first time going 7.0 innings in his Triple-A career and the sixth time in his minor league tenure...last time he went 7.0 innings or more came June 19, 2025 with Double-A Frisco at San Antonio… retired the last 8 batters he faced… posted 7 ground ball outs marking the fourth start this year he has recorded 7 or more grounders… became just the second Express pitcher to toss 7.0 innings this year (Last, RHP Cal Quantrill vs OKC on 4/10).

RHP EMILIANO TEODO: (SV, 1.0 IP, 2 H, R, ER, BB, 2 SO, 24 pitches, 16 strikes) collected his 5^th save in 6 opportunities this season… all 5 saves have come over the course of his last 13 appearances since May 23… Since May 10, 2-2 with a 1.64 ERA (4 ER/22.0 IP) with 12 H, 15 BB, 24 SO… 1 of 9 PCL pitchers with 5 saves or more this year.

1B JONAH BRIDE: (2-4, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 R, BB) now 9-for-19 with 3 2B, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 8 R, 3 BB, 2 SO in his last five games… collected his 8^th homer of the season and his 6^th against a left-handed pitcher… against left-hander’s this season is slashing .390/.485/.683/1.168 with 6 2B, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 17 BB, 18 SO… his 1.168 OPS against lefty’s is fifth in the PCL (min. 50 AB).

C JOSE HERRERA: (2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB, SO) reached base three times… belted his first home run since April 4 at Dell Diamond… both home runs have come from the left side of the plate… in June, slashing .263/.300/.421/.649 with 3 2B, HR, 3 RBI, 5 R, 2 BB, 9 SO)… has as many extra-base hits this month (4) than he did in the first two months and 25 games of the season.

NOTES: The Round Rock offense has homered in a season-long 8 consecutive games… previous high was 4 games (June 10-13)… in June, they are second in the PCL in home runs (29) after entering the month last in the league in home runs for the season (42)… After entering June with the worst batting average (.168), slugging percentage (.249) and OPS (.543) among Triple-A catchers this season, Round Rock's catchers have slashed .291/.330/.453/.783 during the month of June.

NEXT GAME: Saturday, June 27 at Tacoma FIRST PITCH: 8:05 p.m. CT BALLPARK: Cheney Stadium

For more information about the Express, visit RRExpress.com or call (512) 255-2255. Subscribe to the E-Train email newsletter and keep up with the Express on Facebook, Instagram and X!