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Haeger handles Express in 5-1 win
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Right-hander Charlie Haeger turned in a stellar outing, tossing a complete game to lead the Albuquerque Isotopes (52-46) to a 5-1 win over theRound Rock Express (43-56) Thursday night at Dell Diamond.
Haeger becomes the first pitcher in Isotopes history to fire three nine-inning complete games in a season, as the knuckleballer recorded his team-high ninth victory of the season. Haeger was in control throughout the night, allowing just one run on six hits while walking two and striking out a season-high 12.
The victory also puts Haeger (9-6) back on track, as the knuckleballer has recorded his first win since June 17.
Round Rock’s only run off the Isotopes right-hander came in the third when Brian Bogusevic roped a two-out single and immediately scored on a triple by Tommy Manzella to put the Express up 1-0. The Isotopes knotted the game in the fifth on a two-out rally of their own. After Luis Maza hammered a two-out double, Dee Brown immediately brought him home with a single, tying the contest at 1-1.
Albuquerque would shatter the stalemate in the seventh in yet another two-out uprising. With Chin-Lung Hu perched on second base and two down, Maza smashed a single to left, plating Hu with the go-ahead run, 2-1.
Brown then followed with a double, scoring Maza and boosting the advantage to 3-1 Isotopes. That set up Mitch Jones, who blasted a two-run homer over the fence in left to cap the four-run seventh and increase the Albuquerque advantage to 5-2. Jones’s 24th home run of the season puts him alone atop the Pacific Coast League homer leaderboard, one ahead of Salt Lake’s Sean Rodriguez.
The heart of the Isotopes lineup proved to be the team’s offensive engine, as Maza, Brown, and Jones, the second, third, and fourth hitters, respectively, each finished the night with two hits, while Brown and Jones each finished the game with a pair of RBI.
With a comfortable lead, Haeger sprinted for the finish line, ending the contest with five strikeouts in his last three innings of work to seal the complete-game 5-1 win, the Isotopes’ third victory in a row.
Albuquerque will return to the The Lab on Friday to begin a four-game series with the Iowa Cubs. Left-hander Scott Elbert (1-1, 5.74) takes the mound for the Isotopes against I-Cubs righty Mitch Atkins (6-9, 6.69) in a 7:05 PM start from Isotope Park.
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