Hooks' Beer pours first Double-A homer

Seth Beer's first night in the Texas League didn't end with the results he'd hoped. He made up for it on his second night.
Twenty-four hours after making his Double-A debut, the Astros' ninth-ranked prospect went 3-for-4 with his first Texas League homer and three runs scored to lead Corpus Christi to a 9-6 victory over Midland on Saturday at Security Bank Ballpark. 

Beer, Houston's first-round pick in last year's Draft, earned a promotion after putting up a .328/.414/.602 slash line with a Carolina League-leading nine homers and 34 RBIs in 35 games with Class A Advanced Fayetteville. In his Hooks debut on Friday, he went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, but that didn't faze the Clemson product, who responded with his fourth three-hit game of the season. 
Batting cleanup, Beer led off the second inning with a ground-ball single to right field off starter Matt Milburn for his first hit at the new level. The fireworks came in his next at-bat in the third. After Stephen Wrenn connected for a one-out double off Milburn, Beer sent the right-hander's 1-0 offering to straightaway center field for a two-run shot to put the Hooks up, 5-1.
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"I was just trying to do whatever I could do to score Wrenn," Beer said. "I was looking for something up in the zone that I could drive and maybe do some damage with. I got a pitch I could handle and put my best swing on it. I was just hoping for it to go over and it did. 
"I felt a little bit more comfortable today," he quipped. "Getting that first [hit] out of the way definitely made me feel a lot better coming up for my next at-bat. I settled in and got back to my approach and that's really what's been working for me."
The 22-year-old tacked on a leadoff single in the fifth before walking in the seventh and flying out in the ninth. It was his 15th multi-hit game of the season.
"For me, [today] was a huge deal, just because all the guys at this level get here for a reason," he said. "Getting that first hit out of the way was like a weight off my shoulders, showing me that I belong here."
Beer soared through short season ball and a 29-game stint with Class A Quad Cities in his first year in the Minors, finishing last year in the Carolina League with a .262 average. He's no stranger to promotions, and he uses that experience to relax at the plate.
"At the end of the day, with the promotions I've had, I've realized it's the same game we've played our whole lives," Beer said. "That doesn't change. The competition gets better, but with each promotion you kind of get an understanding that you can't try and do too much. You can't change who you are. You just have to go out there and trust in the abilities that you have.

"That's what I've gotten in my past experiences with being promoted," he added. "I just try to stay in my approach, mentally, of what's been working for me. ... I got my feet wet yesterday and today it felt like just a normal game, like I was playing anywhere."
Astros No, 11 prospect Ronnie Dawson also notched a three-hit game, tallying two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Chas McCormick crushed a three-run homer in the fifth to top off the scoring for the Hooks. Carson LaRue (1-1) picked up his first win after scattering three hits and a run through five innings. He walked one and struck out one while lowering his ERA to 5.23.
Milburn (1-3, 5.64 ERA) took the loss after surrendering nine runs on 12 hits in five frames. He walked one and fanned three. A's No. 13 prospectLuis Barrera tallied two doubles for Midland, while Edwin Diaz connected on a three-run homer, his third of the year.