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Astros’ Hooks Are Dominating in All Phases

By Matthew Bartlett |
Francis Martes, picture credit to Tammy Tucker Smith.
Francis Martes, picture credit to Tammy Tucker Smith.
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The Houston Astros Future is Bright With Hook’s Players

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The Astros Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks continue to pitch well and swing a big stick, extending their lead in the South Division to four games. The pitching staff was dominant, posting a sparkling 2.22 ERA with 58 strikeouts and 18 walks. The offense bashed 23 extra base hits and saw production from nearly every spot in the order – including a hit from every member of the starting nine in Thursday’s win in Midland.

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Kyle Smith was activated from the seven-day disabled list. Trent Woodward was sent down to Lancaster on Friday. To this point, Woodward had been the team’s best offensive option behind the dish, but he has seen his playing time decrease of late to Roberto Pena.

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Midland, W 6-1

Wednesday: Midland, W 6-3

Thursday: Midland, W 7-0

Friday: Midland, L 6-7

Saturday: San Antonio, W 5-4

Sunday: San Antonio, W 3-2

Current Record: 39-22, 1st in South Division, four games ahead of Frisco

Next: Hitting

Hitting

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It’s the middle of June and Alex Bregman still has an OPS over 1.000. Bregman is doing everything he can to make his case for a promotion to Triple-A Fresno including a walk-off home run in extra innings on Saturday night. That bomb was Bregman’s 25th extra base hit in Corpus Christi this season and his 6th RBI this week, and he would add a seventh RBI on Sunday.

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As hot as Bregman has been, the Hooks offense was dominant as a unit this week. Eight different Hooks hit home runs over the six-game span. Nick Tanielu and Chase McDonald each had two. The team also combined to hit 12 doubles and a triple, scoring 36 runs. Every Hook hitter that came to the plate had at least two hits and scored at least two runs, except catcher Roberto Pena, who went 0-8 with three strikeouts.

Alejandro Garcia led the team with seven RBIs, including the game-tying RBI in the bottom of the ninth that set the table for Bregman’s extra-inning heroics. In his first 11 games at AA Garcia’s slash line (Avg/on-base percentage/slugging percentage) is .275/.382/.505 – all marks that would put him near the top 10 offensive producers in the Texas League if he can keep them up over a larger span of games although a 0-3 night on Sunday dipped his OPS down from .887 to .681.

Next: Pitching and Defense

Pitching and Defense

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The starters were good. The bullpen was lights out. Eight relievers combined to allow three runs in 20 and 1/3 innings over the span of 6 games. The closing combo on Brendan McCurry and Aaron West continue to get the job done out of the bullpen, even though it was McCurry that earned the team’s lone loss of the week – allowing a pair of unearned runs on Friday because of an Alex Bregman throwing error.

Of the starters it was Francis Martes who put together one of his best starts yet in Corpus Christi on Thursday – blanking the Midland Rockhounds through 6 and 2/3rds innings, allowing five hits and a walk while striking out nine. 

Next: Astros: Talking Stros with 2nd Round Pick Ronnie Dawson (Interview)

Over his last four starts (19 2/3rds innings), Martes has allowed three runs and struck out 23 batters. Martes has continued to improve as the seasons progresses, his ERAs in April, May, and June are 9.00, 3.44, and 0.69 respectively.

***Stats from MiLB.com and Baseball Reference***

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