Round Rock jumps on Las Vegas early, closes first half with win
Round Rock closed a rough first half with a 9-5 win at Las Vegas, as Nolan Kingham earned his first win and Diego Castillo kept raking.
Round Rock closed the first half with a 9-5 road win over Las Vegas, and Nolan Kingham and Diego Castillo made the strongest individual cases in the process. The Express jumped the Pacific Coast League leaders early, scored three times in the first inning and added two home runs in the second to seize control before the Aviators could settle in.
That early cushion came from a mix of patience and power, with Jonah Bride, Blaine Crim, Keyber Rodriguez and Gilberto Celestino all involved in building the lead. Round Rock then stretched the margin with a sixth-inning double and added insurance in the ninth. Every time the Aviators trimmed the gap, the Express answered with another hit or another run.
Kingham delivered the kind of outing that mattered on a day Round Rock needed something cleaner than its record suggested. The right-hander worked six innings, allowed seven hits and two runs, struck out six and walked none on 75 pitches, 58 of them strikes. It was his first win and first quality start of the 2026 season.
Castillo also kept his bat loud through the entire series. In the six-game set in Las Vegas, he hit .500/.560/.682/1.242 with four doubles, three RBI, six runs, three walks, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
The Express ended the half 31-44 and in last place in the Pacific Coast League, and their .413 winning percentage through the first 75 games matched the club’s lowest mark in the Triple-A era, also set by a 31-44 start in 2007. They also finished the first half 4-8-1 in series play after losing back-to-back series.
Las Vegas entered the game as the Pacific Coast League first-half leader and had already clinched the first-half title and a playoff berth by the end of the weekend.
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