Hooks Hammer Midland
CORPUS CHRISTI - Ruben Sosa, Telvin Nash and Tony Kemp homered in Corpus Christi's seven-run third as the Hooks blitzed Midland 14-1 Sunday evening at Whataburger Field before 4,877.
The rout snapped Midland's nine-game winning streak, the RockHounds falling to 14-8 in Texas League second-half play. The Hooks are 13-10, 1½ games off the South Division lead, and have won eight straight at home and nine of 11 overall.
Chris Devenski worked five scoreless frames while improving to 2-0 in his initial Double-A start. He walked one and struck out four.
Midland let Billy Burns' lead-off walk and league-leading 44th stolen base go by the boards in the first. Devenski retired the next three RockHounds.
The visitors threatened again during the second. Jeremy Barfield and Dusty Coleman struck one-out singles before Delino DeShields, Jr., robbed Hiro Nakajima of a three-run homer. On the run, DeShields timed his leap to bring the ball back from Corpus Christi's bullpen, the fence folding his upper torso at the waist.
Devenski caught Beau Taylor looking to avert any damage.
The Hooks tagged Shawn Haviland (5-6) for two in a second-inning, four-hit uprising. Rene Garcia's soft liner sat down in shallow center, scoring Andrew Aplin. Nash, who reached with a single of his own after Aplin's opening safety, ultimately scored on a wild pitch.
Then came the third, and the fifth Nash Mash in six games - a three-run blast over the left-field berm - was the biggest blow as Corpus Christi sent 10 to bat. Sosa's lead-off jack was the first volley and Kemp completed the trifecta with a two-out, two-run shot off Blake Hassebrock. Jonathan Meyer had an RBI single.
Haviland, who faced five men without recording an out, was gone after Nash's Mash, victimized for seven runs and hits to go with three walks.
Hassebrock was done after striking Kemp with a bases-loaded pitch in the dirt as Corpus tallied its 10th run in the fifth. Sosa's sacrifice fly greeted Frank Gailey. The Hooks added three unearned runs in the eighth off Ryan Doolittle and second baseman Conner Crumbliss, pressed into emergency duty on the mound.
Corpus Christi established 2014 bests for margin of victory and hits (17).
Monday's game features Hooks lefty David Rollins (2-3) vs. Chris Jensen (6-7) at 7:10. Gates open 5:40 and the first 1,500 kids 12-&-under receive a Hooks Toothbrush Holder from STAR ORTHODONTICS.