A Dismal Home Stand

Ju1 2nd,

     The Corpus Christi Hooks started a three game home stand  against the Tulsa Drillers.  Sergio Perez took to the mound for the Hooks and Chaz Roe did so for the Drillers.  The game ended up being a pitching duel.  Unfortunately for the Hooks it was a duel that they lost as the Drillers got all the runs they needed for the victory against Perez.  The relief pitchers for both the Drillers and Hooks did an effective job as they pitched scoreless relief.  Perez threw a total of 94 pitches, 58 of them for strikes in his outing of six innings.  Perez struck out five and walked one.  What killed Perez was that he got behind in the count to many of the batters which he faced.  Roe threw a total of 76 pitches, 50 of them for strikes in his five innings of work.  Roe struck out six and walked two. 

 

     The Drillers scored first in the top of the 2^nd when Cole Garner hit a home run to left field.  That run would be all the runs the Drillers needed as the Hooks were unable to get any runners past 2^nd.  The Drillers got an insurance run in the top of the 6^th.  Anthony Jackson and Danny Sandoval singled.  Jackson moved to 3^rd on a Michael Paulk sacrifice fly.  Jackson scored on a Ryan Harvey single.  The Drillers won the game 2-0. 

 

     Prior to game there was movement within the Hooks bullpen.  Casey Hudspeth and Chris Salamida were reassigned to High-A Lancaster Jethawks.  With that movement Tyler Lumsden and Charlie Weatherby III joined the ranks.  Lumsden was reassigned from the Round Rock Express.  Weatherby hasn't pitched in pro ball this year.  Last year he was with the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League.  The Ducks were a independent team.  Also joining the Hooks was Erick Abreu who was reassigned from the Lancaster Jethawks. 

 

Jul 3rd,

     The Corpus Christi Hooks played their 2^nd of a three game series against the Tulsa Drillers.  The Hooks converted another one of their relief pitchers, Andy Van Hekken to a starting role and the Drillers sent Keith Weiser to the mound.  Van Hekken pitched a solid six innings in his first outing as a starting pitcher this year.  Van Hekken threw 95 pitches, 56 of them for strikes.  He gave up seven hits with one run being scored.  He walked two and struck out one.  Weiser pitched seven innings in the loss.  Weiser threw 87 pitches, 61 of them for strikes.  He gave up 10 hits with five runs being scored.  He struck out two, walked no one but did give up a home run. 

 

     The Drillers scored first in the top of the 1^st.  Unfortunately for them it would the only time that they scored.  Danny Sandoval singled, moved to 2^nd on a Jeff Kindel single and scored on a Ryan Harvey single.  The Hooks knotted the score and then some in the bottom of the 1^st.  Wladimir Sutil singled, moved to 2^nd on a fielders choice that allowed Drew Meyer to reach 1^st.  A Jhon Florentino double scored Sutil and moved Meyer to 3^rd.  A Jimmy Van Ostrand ground out scored Sutil, and moved Florentino to 3^rd.  A Drew Locke single scored Florentino, bringing Locke's Texas League Leading RBI total to 73.  The Hooks left the 1^st with a 3-1 lead. 

 

     The Hooks added another run in the bottom of the fourth.  Brian Esposito singled, moved to 2^nd on a Van Hekken sacrifice bunt and scored on a Sutil single.  Van Hekken was replaced by Ryan McKeller in the 7^th and the Drillers managed to get runners to the corners but the next two batters struck out eliminating the Drillers threat.  As the Hooks came to bat in the 7^th, Nicholas Moresi came into the game as a pinch hitter for McKeller and the first pitch he was offered he drilled onto the left field berm.  This was Moresi's first home run at the Double-A level.  The Hooks left the 7^th with a 5-1 lead.

 

     Tyler Lumsden replaced McKeller in the 8^th and retired the three batters he faced.  In the Hooks 8^th, Drew Locke singled, and came home when Collin DeLome clubbed his 15^th home run an opposite field shot to the left field berm.  The Hooks left the 8^th leading 7-1.  Lumsden would retire the Drillers side in the 9^th to record the save.   

 

Jul 4^th,

     The Corpus Christi Hooks played wrapped up their final game against the Tulsa Drillers at home.   Wilton Lopez took to the mound for the Hooks while Esmil Rogers went for the Drillers.  Lopez pitched another solid performance as he went 7 innings, but the Hooks lack of offense and some weak defensive plays killed his effort.  Lopez threw 83 pitches, 63 of them for strikes.  He allowed eight hits with three runs being scored.  He struck out four and walked no one.  Rogers also went 7 innings.  He allowed four hits, struck out eight and walked two. 

 

     The Drillers scored in the top of the 3^rd.  Jose Gonzalez tripled and scored on an Anthony Jackson double.  Jackson scored on a Danny Sandoval single.  These two runs would be all the Drillers needed as the Hooks failed to get a runner across home plate.  The Hooks twice got runners to 3^rd.  Once in the 4^th and the last time in the 7^th.  In the Drillers 7^th, Daniel Mayora doubled and moved to 3^rd on a Darin Holcomb double and scored on a Jose Gonzalez sacrifice fly.  Jimmy Van Ostrand cut off Mitch Einertson's throw to home.  The Drillers left the 7^th with a 3-0 lead.

 

     Charles Weatherby replaced Lopez in the 8^th and retired the Drillers side.  Weatherby ran into problems in the Drillers 9^th.  He gave up singles to Daniel Mazora and Darin Halcomb.  He issued a walked to Jose Gonzalez loading the bases for Anthony Jackson who cracked a single to left field that scored Mayora and Holcomb.  The Drillers won the game 5-0 and took the series 2 games to 1. 

 

     The Hooks playing in the outfield looked sluggish and the team as a whole seemed to lose situational awareness of were the Drillers runners were on base.    

 

Jul 5^th,

     The Corpus Christi Hooks started the first of a three game home stand against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.  Brad James took to the mound for the Hooks while Anthony Lerew went for the Naturals.  In James 3.1 innings of work he threw 81 pitches, 49 of them for strikes.  He allowed seven hits with seven runs being scored.  He issued two walks and struck out three.  He also allowed a home run.  Lerew lasted four innings.  He threw 100 pitches, 60 of them for strikes.  He allowed six hits with four runs being scored.  Unfortunately for the Hooks these would be the only runs that they mustered.  He struck out four and walked two.

 

     The Hooks scored in their half of the 1^st.  Wladimir Sutil singled and stole 2^nd.  Drew Locke walked.  Sutil moved to 3^rd on a Jason Castro ground out that resulted in Castro reaching 1^st but resulted in Locke getting nabbed at 2^nd.  A Jimmy Van Ostrand double scored Sutil and moved Castro to 3^rd.  Castro and Van Ostrand scored on a Collin DeLome single.  The Hooks added their last run in the bottom of the 2^nd.  Nicholas Moresi reached 1^st on a ground out and stole 2^nd.  Sutil was hit by a pitch.  A wild pitch moved Moresi and Sutil up one base.  Drew Locke was intentionally walked.  Moresi scored on a Castro single, but any further runs were nixed when Locke was thrown out at 3^rd getting the Naturals out of the inning trailing 4-0. 

 

     The Naturals got all the runs they needed in the top of the 3^rd.  The Naturals sent 7 batters to the plate which five of them scored.  Three of those runs came courtesy of a three run blast by David Lough.  The Naturals sent 8 batters to the plate in the 4^th against James and McKeller.  McKeller ran into his own problems as the Naturals sent another 7 batters to the plate in their half of the 5^th of which three scored.  At the end of 5 innings the Naturals had a 10-4.  A lead they never surrendered.  Danny Meszaros relieved McKeller and pitched three innings of shut out work. 

 

     Chia-Jen Lo replaced Meszaros in the 9^th and the Naturals had a field day with him as they sent 10 to the plate.  Four runs scored, three which came off a Cody Clark home run.  The Naturals won the game 14-4. 

 

Jul 6^th,

 

     The Corpus Christi Hooks played their second of a three game home stand against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.  What was painfully obvious was that pitching was not the strong point for either team and it would come down to who scored the most runs.  Between the two teams they went thru 8 pitchers.  The Naturals used five while the Hooks used three.  Kenny Baugh the newest addition to the Hooks bullpen took to the mound while Blake Johnson went for the Naturals.  Baugh lasted 4.1 innings in his first outing.  He threw 83 pitches, 49 of them for strikes.  He allowed six hits with six runs being scored.  He struck out three and walked five.  Johnson lasted three innings.  He threw 54 pitches, 31 of them for strikes.  He allowed four hits with five runs being scored.  He struck out three and walked two.  Between the two teams they threw a total of 346 pitches. 

 

     The Hooks scored first in the bottom of the 1^st.  Wladimir Sutil walked, moved to 3^rd on a Drew Meyer single and scored on a Drew Locke ground out that also moved Meyer to 3^rd.  Meyer scored when Jason Castro blasted a shot over the right field fence that landed in the swimming pool.  Mitch Einertson reached 1^st on a throwing error by Johnson.  Einertson stole 2^nd and crossed home plate on a Mark Ori double.  At the end of the first inning the Hooks had a 4-0 lead.  The Hooks added another run in the 2^nd after Sutil walked, stole 2^nd and scored on a Locke single which brought Locke's Texas League leading RBI total to 75.  The Hooks added one more run in the 3^rd.  DeLome was hit by a pitch, stole 2^nd, moved to 3^rd on a Mark Ori single and scored on a Felix Molina ground out. 

 

     The Hooks now had a 6-0 lead, but as the night before the Hook came to score the first 10 runs in the two games but then allowed the Naturals to score the next 25 runs.  The Naturals got a run across the plate in the top of the 4^th as the Hooks led shrunk to 6-1.  The wheels came off the wagon in the Naturals 5^th as they sent 11 batters to the plate.  Seven runs would score.  Between Baugh and his replacement Tyler Lumsden they threw 53 pitches in the 5^th inning alone.  They walked two batter, hit a batter and had one wild pitch.  A Nicholas Moresi fielding error allowed three runs to score.  The Hooks 6-1 lead now became a 8-6 deficit from which they never recovered from.  The Naturals got 3 more runs in the Naturals 7^th.  The Hooks were able to add one run in the Hooks 7^th when Mitch Einertson hit a towering shot onto the left field berm.  The score was now 11-7. 

 

     Erick Abreu came on in relief of Lumsden and would retire the rest of the Naturals batters he faced during the remainder of the game.  Abreu had recently rejoined the Hooks from High-A Lancaster Jethawks and his performance behind the plate has improved. 

    

Jul 7^th,

 

     The Corpus Christi Hooks wrapped up their three game home stand against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.  Unlike the previous two nights the Hooks never had the lead as their offense at the plate sputtered.  Sergio Perez took to the mound for the Hooks while Everett Teaford did so for the Naturals.  Over Perez's outing of 4 innings he threw 69 pitches, 41 of them for strikes.  He walked three and struck out one.  He allowed seven hits with six runs being scored.  Teaford nearly went the distance as he pitched 8 strong innings.  He threw 89 pitches, 59 of them for strikes.  He walked one and struck out two.  He allowed two hits and the only two runs which the Hooks scored came off of him. 

 

     The Naturals scored first and scored often.  The scored the only runs they needed to win the game in the 2^nd as the Naturals scored three runs.  The Naturals added two runs in the 3^rd along with single runs in the 4^th, 5^th, 6^th and 7^th.  The Hooks managed to get runs across home plate in the 4^th and 8^th.  Sutil scored in the 4^th while Ori scored in the 8^th. 

 

     In the six game home stand the Hooks were outscored 42-20 and out hit 71-43.  It appears that the Hooks must still be on their All-Star break because their performance has been minimal.