Drillers Blanked By Arguello & Hooks
For the second time this season, Arguello turned in a dominating performance against the Drillers, surrendering only four hits in six shutout innings. In two starts against Tulsa this year, the Houston Astros' prospect has allowed only one run in 11 1/3 innings. Even more impressive, he has not walked a batter while striking out 11.
It was apparent early that it might not be the Drillers night. They got a hit in each of the first two innings, but both times the hit was followed by a double play grounder.
Corpus Christi opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning on third baseman Marcos Cabral's two-run homer off Tulsa starter Cory Riordan.
It remained 2-0 until the Hooks doubled their lead with two more runs in the fifth. Cabral and Luis Santangelo walked in front of a run-scoring single by J.B. Shuck, and Wladimir Sutil added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
Tulsa's best chance to score came in the top of the seventh. Arguello's night ended when Jeff Kindel reached on an error to start the inning, and reliever Chia-Jen Lo walked Ryan Harvey and Scott Beerer to load the bases. Lo recovered and struck out Wilin Rosario, Kiel Roling and Jason Van Kooten to end the threat.
The Drillers had another chance in the ninth when Harvey doubled with one out for his second hit of the game. After Beerer flied out and Rosario walked, Danny Meszaros was summoned from the bullpen to replace Lo. The right-hander and struck out Roling to complete the shutout and record his first save of the season.
An opening night crowd of 6,549 watched the action at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi. With the loss, Tulsa's record falls to 1-6.
The two teams will continue their three-game series Friday night. Brandon Durden (0-0, 1.29 ERA) will take the mound for the Drillers against Fernando Abad (0-0, 1.80 ERA) of the Hooks. Starting time is scheduled for 7:05PM.