RedHawk Bats Red-Hot In Win Against Express

Gregorio Petit and Matt Duffy each drove in four runs for the Oklahoma City RedHawks in a 12-8 win against the Round Rock Express Wednesday in front of a crowd of 3,834 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Oklahoma City’s scoring came in four-run bursts in the back-and-forth game, as the RedHawks (53-53) scored four runs in each of the third, fifth and eighth innings to improve to .500 on the season.

The 12 runs were the most scored by the RedHawks since a 13-9 win June 15 against Las Vegas.

The Express (51-51) built a 3-0 lead by the top of the third inning.

Carlos Peña led off the second inning with a high-flying solo homer into the upper deck of the right-field bleachers for a 1-0 Round Rock lead. Michael Choice then connected on a two-run single to left field to put the Express in front, 3-0, in the top of the third.

The RedHawks responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning.

Lisalverto Bonilla struck out the first two RedHawks batters he faced in the frame, then walked the next three batters to load the bases with two outs. After a pitching change and with Petit batting, a passed ball on Express catcher Brett Nicholas allowed Jonathan Villar to score Oklahoma City’s first run of the night.

Petit then smashed a three-run homer into the left field bleachers to put the RedHawks in front, 4-3. The home run was his 10th of the season.

Jared Hoying led off the fourth inning with a double, then scored on a one-out RBI double by Josh Wilson to tie the game, 4-4. Luis Sardinas singled home a run later in the inning and a bloop RBI single to left field by Tomas Telis put Round Rock ahead, 6-4.

Petit recorded his season-high fourth RBI of the game on a groundout in the bottom of the fifth inning. Preston Tucker followed with a RBI single to knot the game, 6-6, before Matt Duffy hit his 10th home run of the season. Duffy’s two-run homer into the bleachers in left field put the RedHawks back in front, 8-6.

A two-out RBI single by Tomas Telis cut the RedHawks lead to 8-7.

Tucker drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the eighth inning to put Oklahoma City ahead, 9-7. Duffy hit a two-run single and Carlos Perez added a RBI single to put the RedHawks in front, 12-7.

Round Rock added a run in the top of the ninth inning on a RBI single by Ryan Rua.

Duffy and Perez each paced the RedHawks with three hits, as Perez extended his career-best hitting streak to 11 games. Duffy matched his season-high of four RBI from April 20 while he was with Double-A Corpus Christi.

Sardinas and Telis both recorded a game-high four hits for the Express, as the two teams combined for 27 hits.

Villar stole three bases for the RedHawks, who posted a season-high six total swipes in the game. Ronny Torreyes had two steals and Wates extended his league-leading total to 28 steals with one swipe Wednesday.

The six steals were the most for Oklahoma City since they also stole six bases April 29, 2013 against Nashville, including two by Villar.

Wednesday’s game lasted 3 hours, 40 minutes, marking the longest nine-inning game of the season for the RedHawks.

RedHawks reliever Jorge De Leon (3-2) got the win and Jason Stoffel notched his ninth save of the season.

The RedHawks will try for a split in the series, which concludes at 7:05 p.m. Thursday at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.