Cards Hold Off Hooks in Opener

Box Score

SPRINGFIELD, MO - Despite five fielding errors, the Cardinals managed a 10-6 win over the Hooks on a chilly Wednesday afternoon at the newly-minted Route 66 Stadium

Hooks starter Jackson Nezuh blanked Springfield in three of four innings but the exception was a four-run second.

Corpus Christi scored the first two runs of the contest. Max Holy, who reached base three times in his Double-A debut, cracked a double down the right-field line in the first. Trevor Austin cashed Holy in via two-out single.

Holy finished the day 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base.

Alberto Hernandez, appearing for the first time at Double-A, notched a pinch-hit sac fly in the third, plating the second run of the frame as the Hooks tied the game at 4.

Nic Swanson struck out two in a scoreless fifth but permitted three runs, two earned, in the sixth.

Trey McLoughlin spun 1 1/3 shutout frames before Alejandro Torres surrendered three unearned runs in the eighth. Ryan Campos' two-out, two run homer to right highlighted the barrage.

Thanks to two errors by third baseman Noah Mendlinger, the Hooks had the tying run on deck in the ninth. Will Bush scored two via an opposite-field base hit to left.