Frainyer Chavez sliced a line drive into left field, Trevor Hauver raced home and a throw that had no chance to catch him allowed Chavez to take second. In a matter of moments Friday night at Dell Diamond, an offense that had spent most of the evening searching for traction had tied the game and put the go-ahead run 90 feet away.
Cam Cauley brought it home.
Cauley fought Troy Watson to a full count before ripping the fourth consecutive Round Rock single into left, scoring Keyber Rodriguez and sending the Express toward a four-run eighth inning and a 5-2 comeback victory over the Tacoma Rainiers.
It was an emphatic late answer from a club that entered the inning trailing 2-1 with only three hits. Hauver began the surge with a sharp single before Rodriguez, Chavez and Cauley followed. Chavez’s tying hit skipped past Nolan Jones’ best chance to keep Keyber Rodriguez at second, and Cauley’s go-ahead liner left no doubt about where the inning was headed.
Manager Kyle Moore had spent part of his pregame interview describing Cauley as the kind of player who can alter a game in several ways. On Friday, Cauley delivered the deciding hit, scored an insurance run and added a stolen base.
“But, I mean, he’s been one of the most electric players in this league, not just on our team, but as you look at how the games unfold and you look across the field and you go, who’s the best prospect out here? Who’s the most electric player on the field? Most of the times it is Cam.”
— Kyle Moore, Round Rock Manager
The rally kept expanding after Cauley’s single. Michael Helman and Kyle Higashioka each successfully challenged a called third strike, turning both into walks. Higashioka’s came with the bases loaded and forced home Chavez for a 4-2 lead. Logan O’Hoppe followed with a sacrifice fly to right, bringing in Cauley with the inning’s fourth run.
Watson was charged with three earned runs in two-thirds of an inning, taking the loss and a blown save.
Until the eighth, John Taylor had supplied nearly all of Round Rock’s offense. Tacoma starter Gabe Mosser carried a no-hit bid into the fifth before Taylor drove a ball deep over the center-field wall. His eighth homer of the season cut Tacoma’s lead to 2-1 and gave the Express their first hit.
Mosser otherwise controlled the game, holding Round Rock to one earned run over 6⅔ innings with six strikeouts and one walk. Chavez singled in the sixth, and Higashioka opened the seventh with a hit before being thrown out trying for second, but neither chance grew into a rally.
Tacoma built its lead without doing much damage against the Round Rock staff. David Davalillo struck out five in 2⅔ innings, but four walks caught up with him in the third. Patrick Wisdom drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Ryan Bliss and end Davalillo’s outing.
Nolan Jones opened the fourth with a triple against Ryan Lobus and scored on Stuart Fairchild’s sacrifice fly, doubling the lead. Those were Tacoma’s final runs.
Round Rock’s bullpen allowed one earned run across 6⅓ innings. Luis Curvelo worked around a double and a walk in the sixth, Ben Peoples retired Tacoma in order in the seventh, and Janser Lara struck out two during a scoreless eighth to earn the win. Wilian Bormie allowed a two-out walk in the ninth but finished the game for his fourth save.
Chavez finished 2-for-3 with an RBI, a run and a stolen base as the Express outhit Tacoma 7-3. His second hit transformed the night, and the comeback fit Moore’s view of a club whose second half gave him plenty to value even after its postseason hopes had faded.
“So I just, I’m really proud of how the second half went. We’ve had an amazing second half. We’re right there in the thick of it until the last week or so. So I’m really proud of that.”
— Kyle Moore, Round Rock Manager