Astros: Hooks Miss Alex Bregman

Pitching and Defense

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SportsCenter Top 10 nominee Evan Grills was the only Hooks started to earn a win this week, pitching seven innings on Saturday against Springfield, allowing three runs on eight hits. It wasn’t a spectacular performance from Grills, but it was enough to get the job done and hand the ball off to Aaron West, who picked up the six-out save. West’s ten saves are third best in the Texas League. Former teammate Brendan McCurry still leads the league with 13 after being promoted to AAA in June.

Kyle Smith joins West as the only other Corpus Christi pitcher to not allow an earned run this week, working five shutout innings in relief on Thursday. In total Hooks pitchers had an ERA of 5.75 this week, allowing 23 runs in 36 innings. Newcomer, Albert Minnis picked up the win on Sunday, working four and one-third innings and allowing two runs on four hits,

Related Story: Corpus Christi Player Spotlight: Aaron West

For most of the season, the Hooks have had one of the most balanced teams in the Texas League, leading the league in OPS (.731) and ERA (3.09). Neither the offense or the pitching showed up this week, save a few good individual performances. They’ll need to turn things around if they want to make a run at a second-half title, but they still have most of the components that got them to those impressive marks in the first half of the season. Let’s hope this rough patch is smoothed over quickly and the team returns to their winning ways.

**Statistics provided by MiLB.com and Baseball-Reference**