MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis Redbirds clawed back from an early deficit for the second-straight game, but the Round Rock Express (Triple-A Rangers) scored a run in the 12th to earn a 6-5 win Monday night at AutoZone Park in Memphis.
Patrick Wisdom hit a two-run home run to spark a three-run fourth inning and Carlos Peguero followed with a solo blast in the fifth to give Memphis (8-9) a 5-3 lead, but the Express (10-7) scored two in the eighth and another in the 12th to take game three of the series. Joey Gallo had two home runs for the Express in the game, his sixth and seventh of the season.
Wisdom’s homer was his first at the Triple-A level after 14 in each of the last two seasons in Springfield (AA). Peguero’s was his third of the year and second in the last two games.
Charlie Tilson was 2-for-4 with a walk and a run batted in for the Redbirds, extending his hitting streak to five games. Nick Martini moved his hitting streak to six, the longest of the season by a Redbird, with a fourth-inning single.
Jeremy Hefner pitched 5.2 innings and gave up five hits and three earned runs in a no-decision.
Round Rock jumped on Hefner for three runs in the first inning on home runs by Jurickson Profar and Gallo, the latter of which was a two-run shot to right-center field at an estimated 454 feet.
In his final 4.2 innings, however, Hefner allowed only six baserunners and nobody past second base.
That gave the Redbird offense time to mount a comeback, plating its first run in the third when Matt Williams legged out a double and scored when Greg Garcia singled after Tilson was hit by a pitch.
The Redbirds followed that up with a three-run fourth featuring a two-run home run by Wisdom and an RBI single by Tilson that drove in Mike Ohlman, who reached on a double.
The Express scored two in the eighth off Justin Wright, and the game went to extra innings as neither team scored again. Gallo hit his second home run of the night in the top of the 12th, and Carlos Fisher closed it out for the Express.
Memphis and Round Rock finish their four-game series Tuesday night at 6:35 (CT) on King Cotton $1 Hot Dog Day. Memphis goes on the road to New Orleans Thursday–Sunday before returning to AutoZone Park to host Omaha May 2-6.
For tickets or for more information on the 2016 Redbirds season, contact the Redbirds front office at (901) 721-6000 or visit www.memphisredbirds.com.
