Ramos' Mission: Three-hit complete game

Cesar Ramos came into Monday's game with a bloated 7.71 ERA, but was nearly untouchable as he fired a three-hit complete-game shutout in San Antonio's 4-0 win over Midland at Nelson W. Wolff Stadium.

Ramos (2-2) had been battered through his first four starts of the season, giving up 16 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings as the Texas League was hitting .333 against him. He had already suffered a loss to the RockHounds 10 days earlier, despite giving up just two runs in six innings. But Midland didn't even get half as many runners across the plate this time.

The 22-year-old left-hander did not allow a hit for the first 5 2/3 innings and retired 17 of the first 18 batters he faced before Gregorio Petit and Brian Snyder hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the sixth frame. After giving up a leadoff base hit in the seventh, Ramos sat down the last nine batters of the game in a row for his first professional shutout.

Ramos struck out six and gave up one walk over his season-high nine innings.

Ramos had one other complete-game effort on his professional resume, back in 2005 when the former '05 first-round draft pick tossed seven innings for the Fort Wayne Wizards against Southwest Michigan on Aug. 14.

The Missions (15-9) got on the board in the second when Sean Kazmar hit an RBI single that did not leave the infield. Will Venable and Shawn Wooten padded the lead with back-to-back RBI singles in the third, and Chase Headley capped off the scoring with a leadoff home run in the fifth.

Headley went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and is second in the Texas League in batting average with a .360 mark. He is also tied for fourth in home runs in the league with five.

Petit, Snyder and Casey Myers were the only batters to hit safely for Midland (13-8), and Myron Leslie drew a one-out walk in the third. Starter Luis Ramirez (0-1) took the loss after giving up four runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out four in five innings.