Bride was 4-5 with a homer, 2 doubles and 3 RBIs
Friday night was game 4 of a six-game series between The Round Rock Express and The El Paso Chihuahuas. Round Rock had taken two of the first three games in the series.
El Paso sent Major League veteran left hander, JP Sears to the mound. Prior to Friday, Sears had made three starts this season for El Paso. Sears spent all of last season in the big leagues. In 27 starts, he had an ERA of 5.04 with the A’s and Padres. You may remember, he faced the Rangers three times last season with the A’s. Two of those games were separated by 5 days. In those 3 games he pitched 15.2 innings with 19Ks, 1 walk, and only gave up 4 runs.
The Express were able to score 5 runs off of Sears in in the first three innings. Two more runs came in the fourth inning after First basemen Jonah Bride hit a 2-run shot off Sears. Sears would then be replaced by right hander Misael Tamarez.
Bride had a single, double and homer against Sears. He ended the night going 4-5 with 3 RBIs after adding a second double off of Tamarez in the bottom of the 6th.
Bride is currently hitting .474, with 3 HRs off left-handed pitching in 19 at bats. For the season he is hitting .288, 3 HRs and a .403 OBP. He has a team high 15 RBIs.
Round Rock’s pitching kept El Paso in the game. Patrick Murphy made his first start of the season for the Express. Last season he pitched for The KT Wiz of the KBO. This is his second stint in the Rangers’ organization. He threw 80 pitches in 2.1 innings. He gave up 1 earned run and 3 walks.
Murphy was replaced by submarine pitcher, Josh Hejka. It was Hejka’s first appearance of the season. In the third inning Nick Schnell hit a three-run homer. It would be the first of two home runs for Schnell.
In the 5th inning, Hejka gave up three consecutive solo home runs to Clay Dungan, Mason McCoy and the second home run of the night to Schnell to make the score 7-7.
In the 6th inning, Jonah Bride’s second double of the night drove in left fielder Trevor Hauver, to give Round Rock an 8-7 lead.
Willie Maclver would add one more run in the 8th on a sac fly to make it 9-7. From behind the plate, Maclver threw out two of four base runners on the night at second base.
Peyton Gray pitched the final three innings of the game for the Express. He gave up only 1 hit, with 3 Ks and 0 walks for his second save of the season. In 12.2 innings this season, he has given up 0 earned runs and has struck out 15. Teams are hitting just .186 off him.