Midland RockHounds Trounce the Corpus Christi Hooks 11-4 in Texas League Action
Thursday, May 1, 2008 at 05:21PM MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – MIDLAND, Texas – Wednesday night and Midland have proven to be a dangerous mix for the Hooks.
Corpus Christi native Cliff Pennington scored four runs and stole two bases, Jesus Guzman continued his reign of terror on Hooks’ pitchers with three hits and three RBI’s, and starter Henry Rodriguez tossed five innings of shutout ball as the RockHounds routed the Hooks 11-4 at Citibank Ballpark. The result gives both clubs a 15-11 record, forging a tie for second place in the Texas League South.
Last Wednesday at Whataburger Field, the Hooks fell 11-0 to Midland.
Pennington sparked the RockHounds’ offense with a single to open the bottom of the fourth. Pennington stole second, then scored on a single by Guzman to give Midland a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, Brian Snyder singled to send Guzman home from third to make it 2-0 RockHounds.
ADVERTISEMENT Midland added three more in the fifth to knock Hooks’ starter Brad James out of the game. A two-run single by clean-up hitter Tommy Everidge made it a 4-0 game and ended James’ evening at 4.1 innings. Everidge came around to score later when Anthony Recker tripled off the wall in center.
James (3-2) was charged with five runs on six hits and four walks. He recorded a season-best six strikeouts.
The game got out of hand when Midland posted a five spot in the sixth to swell its advantage to 10-0. Pennington and Guzman had RBI singles in the frame, which was capped when Myron Leslie slugged an opposite-field three-run home run to the berm in left off reliever Ryan Thompson.
The Hooks managed just two singles in five innings off Rodriguez (1-1). In picking up his first win at the AA level, Rodriguez issued five walks and fanned four.
Corpus Christi broke through against the RockHounds’ bullpen in the seventh. Tommy Manzella and Richie Paz delivered RBI singles in the inning off lefty Justin Dowdy. Manzella extended his hitting streak to 19 games with his single to center.
Guzman, who plated Midland’s final run with an RBI double in the seventh, went 3-for-5 with two runs and three RBI’s. In six games against the Hooks, he’s batting .607 with 17 hits including two doubles, a triple, three home runs, 11 runs and 14 RBI’s.
Southpaw Brian Bogusevic (0-2) tries to stem the RockHound tide in Thursday night’s 6:30 start. He’ll be opposed by Vincent Mazzaro (2-2).
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