Hooks fall to Missions 7-4

After an hour long “it looks like it might rain” delay in San Antonio the hometown Missions outscored the Corpus Christi Hooks 7-4. The Hooks bats provided some thunder of their own in the second inning. Erik Castro and Jonathan Meyer hit back-to-back homers to stake starting pitcher Bobby Doran to an early 3-1 lead.

The Hooks mounted a rally in the first inning against Missions starter Keyvius Sampson. Domingo Santana was at the plate with two runners aboard when Jonathan Singleton was picked off first base by Missions catcher Rocky Gale to end the frame. Santana led off the second with a walk and came home on Castro’s bomb over the rightfield wall.

Geoge Springer broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning with a long homerun to left-center. It was Springer’s 18th round-tripper of the season. Former Astro Sergio Escalona relieved Doran in the bottom of the fifth and surrendered back-to-back triples to relinquish the lead. After a couple of harmless groundouts Escalona ran into more trouble and by the time the inning was over the Missions had built a 7-4 lead.

Both bullpens posted zeroes on the scoreboard for the rest of the evening. Nick Tropeano recorded the final nine outs for the Hooks and four Missions relievers chipped in with one scoreless inning apiece. Kevin Quackenbush finished things off and recorded his 12th save of the season. Missions hurlers tallied ten strikeouts in the game.

Astros outfielder Justin Maxwell continues to work his way back from a hand injury that landed him on the disabled list back in late April. The long layoff has taken a toll on Maxwell’s timing. After going 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts in his fifth game with the Hooks, Justin is now 0 for 17 during his injury rehab assignment. Maxwell exited the game in the seventh inning after failing to catch up to a high fastball from Jeremy McBryde.

One player that I was impressed with was Max Stassi. The Hooks catcher looked good behind the plate. He did a nice job of shifting his body to block several pitches in the dirt and threw out both of the runners that attempted to steal on him. Stassi also went 1 for 4 at the dish.