Hooks clobbered by Missions

The Astros AA Corpus Christi Hooks were 10-2 losers in San Antonio Saturday night. Hooks starter Ruben Alaniz had a rough night, giving up all ten runs on 11 hits in 3 & 2/3 innings of work. Only six of those runs were earned due to some lackluster play by the Hooks defensively.

The Hooks looked nothing like the team that finished in first place in the Texas League standings in the first half of the season. That’s probably because this is mostly a new cast of players. Star performers like George Springer, David Martinez, and Max Stassi have earned promotions to AAA or the big leagues. Domingo Santana is currently on the disabled list and Jonathan Meyer was conspicuously absent from the lineup.

Newcomer Leonardo Heras, recently plucked from the Mexican Leagues by Jeff Luhnow, had a nice night. Heras, batting second and playing leftfield,  went 2 for 4 with a walk. First-baseman Erik Castro provided most of the offense for the Hooks. Castro scored both runs and came up a triple short of the cycle. His second inning homerun was his seventeenth of the season.

The Hooks will play two more games in San Antonio and four in Frisco before returning home to close out the regular season with a 3-game series against these same Missions. Then, the Hooks and Missions will go at it again in the divisional round of the playoffs, starting on September 4th at Whataburger Field.

The Missions have dominated the Hooks in recent seasons and last night’s trouncing seemed to reinforce that fact. With so many games against each other down the stretch run and in the playoffs, the Hooks will need to bounce back quickly. It will be interesting to see what happens the rest of the way.

Erik Castro (photo by Tammy Tucker)