Corpus Christi had the kind of night that kept threatening to become something more, the kind with runners moving and innings extending and the tying run never feeling completely out of reach. The Hooks put together nine hits Friday at Whataburger Field, but the difference in a 4-1 loss to Springfield was what happened after the traffic arrived.
The Hooks left 10 men on base, including a first-inning chance that set the shape of the game before Springfield starter Braden Davis ever had much room to breathe. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Justin Thomas Jr. shot a grounder through the left side, Will Bush followed with another single into left, and Walker Janek reached on a slow roller on the right side that loaded the bases.
Davis escaped by striking out Alejandro Nuñez, and that missed opening grew heavier an inning later.
Springfield broke through quickly against spot starter Alejandro Torres in the second. Cade McGee opened the inning by driving a fly ball to left that carried deep onto the berm, his first home run in a Springfield uniform and the start of the Cardinals’ decisive inning. After Tre Richardson III doubled, Jon Jon Gazdar doubled on a line drive past third and into left to make it 2-0. Chase Heath followed with a single, and Luis Pino’s forceout brought in Gazdar for a three-run inning.
Torres took the loss after allowing three earned runs in two innings. The rest of the night, Corpus Christi’s bullpen gave the Hooks enough room to chase. Andrew Marrero, Railin Perez, Amilcar Chirinos and Colby Langford combined to allow one run over the final seven innings, with Langford striking out five over 1.2 scoreless innings.
The problem was that chase never became a rally.
Corpus Christi answered in the bottom of the second when Brandon Forrester walked with two outs and Tyler Whitaker sent a grounder up the middle. McGee could not handle it cleanly at second, and Forrester read the play aggressively enough to score from second before the throw home. That cut Springfield’s lead to 3-1.
It was the only time the Hooks scored.
Bush was in the middle of the club’s best offensive stretches, reaching base three times and finishing 2-for-3 with a walk. Forrester also went 2-for-3 with a walk and scored Corpus Christi’s lone run. Still, Davis worked through 5.2 innings with no earned runs, seven strikeouts and two walks, turning several Hooks threats into stranded runners instead of crooked numbers.
Schiavone, who spoke before the game about keeping perspective through the daily grind, offered the kind of hitter’s answer that fit both his season and a night like this.
“I wanted to just keep everything simple, just change up a little bit of swing pat stuff, work on that, and, you know, just being really aggressive this year.”
— Jason Schiavone, Hooks Catcher
Corpus Christi put two aboard in the sixth after Bush walked and Nuñez reached on a forceout before Marcus Brown singled off José Davila. Davila ended that threat with a strikeout. In the seventh, Forrester singled, stole second and reached third on a throwing error, but Davila stranded him there.
Springfield added its insurance run in the seventh against Chirinos. McGee singled, Ryan Campos singled him to third, and a pitch that kicked away before Richardson’s groundout pushed the margin to 4-1. That was enough for the Cardinals, who finished with 12 hits but left 13 of their own runners on base.
McGee led Springfield by going 3-for-5 with a home run and an RBI, while Heath went 3-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base. The Cardinals kept creating pressure, but Corpus Christi’s bullpen kept the game from running away.
The Hooks’ last chance came in the ninth, when Alberto Hernandez walked and Forrester beat out a bunt single against Jack Findlay. With two on and nobody out, Whitaker grounded into a double play, and Findlay finished the save by striking out Schiavone.
For Schiavone, the pregame conversation had touched on the difficulty of staying level in a game built on failure. Friday gave the Hooks another version of that lesson: plenty of contact, enough baserunners to change the night, and too few finished innings.
“We play a game where you fail seven out of ten times and you still consider one of the greatest, so, you know, you can’t.”
— Jason Schiavone, Hooks Catcher