Healy, Walsh, Sanchez RockHound Heroes

CORPUS CHRISTI - Ryon Healy's two-run, two-out, eighth-inning single off Ruben Alaniz provided the go-ahead scores in Midland's 5-4 triumph over Corpus Christi Saturday at Whataburger Field before 7,686.

Midland (63-50; 28-15) advanced its lead over the Hooks to four games in the Texas League South Division second-half standings. Corpus Christi (72-41; 24-19) captured the first-half title and has already qualified for postseason play.

With the game tied at 2, Jaycob Brugman singled to begin the eighth, but was ruled out when struck by Colin Walsh's dead-ball single. Alaniz (4-3) hit Chad Pinder with a 2-0 offering and the RockHounds put runners at second and third when Matt Olson grounded out to the pitcher. Healy then laced a 1-2 fastball back up the middle.

In the home half of the eighth, Colin Moran's second home run in as many pitches pulled the Hooks to within a run.

Walsh's RBI single off Travis Ballew provided ninth-inning insurance for the visitors. That proved critical, as Teoscar Hernandez rapped an RBI double off Brandon McCurry in the ninth.

Brian Holmes yielded two runs to Midland in the first. Three straight one-out hits, including an RBI double by Pinder, preceded an inning-ending double play. Olson contributed an RBI single.

Holmes, who pitched his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, faced the minimum in the second, third, fifth, and sixth innings. Corpus Christi manager Rodney Linares pulled Holmes after he struck out Anthony Aliotti and Josh Whitaker to open the seventh.

Holmes gave up a fourth-inning single to Healy and walked two. The former Wake Forest star struck out eight and his pitch count was 106 (65).

Jake Sanchez (10-7) allowed just four Hooks baserunners through the first five frames before Moran belted a two-run homer - his sixth round-tripper of 2015 - with Hernandez aboard after a single.

The Hooks left the bases full in the seventh, as Sanchez induced a ground out from Hernandez to Healy at third. Sanchez, who leads the league in victories, permitted six hits, three walks, and struck out six.

Pinder has a 12-game hitting streak.

Midland southpaw Dillon Overton (3-2) meets Hooks right-hander Michael Feliz (5-2) Sunday in the series and homestand finale at 6:05. Mrs Baird's presents Hooks Insulated Lunch Boxes to the first 1,500 children 12-and-under. It's H-E-B Kids Day, too, so all youngsters run the bases postgame.