James Hicks gave the Hooks the kind of start that should have carried their home finale: strike-throwing, low-traffic, strong enough to leave Springfield chasing the game into the late innings. For most of Sunday evening at Whataburger Field, that was the shape of it.
Then the eighth inning swallowed the night.
Springfield turned a tied game into an 8-2 win with a six-run eighth that included only two hits but had enough walks, wild pitches and defensive trouble to undo nearly everything Hicks had built. Ian Petrutz delivered the final, unmistakable swing, hooking his first Double-A hit off the right-field foul pole for a two-out grand slam that changed a 4-2 game into a blowout.
Before that inning, Corpus Christi had a clean enough script. Hicks allowed two earned runs over 6.2 innings, struck out seven and did not walk a batter. Chase Call supplied the Hooks’ offense in the third, when Marcus Brown lined a single to right and Call followed with his sixth Corpus Christi homer, a high drive to left-center that left no doubt and gave the Hooks a 2-0 lead.
For a while, those two runs looked as if they might be enough.
Hicks opened with two perfect innings, then worked through an error in the third by striking out Ian Petrutz and Luis Pino before the Hooks came to bat. After Brown gave Corpus Christi its first baserunner, Call drove in both Hooks runs against Yhoiker Fajardo. It was Call’s only hit in a 1-for-2 day that also included a walk and a strikeout, but it was the swing that put the game briefly in Corpus Christi’s hands.
Springfield got even in the fourth on the one mistake that truly hurt Hicks. Rainiel Rodriguez singled to left with one out, and Jesús Báez followed with his 23rd Double-A homer, a fly ball to left that erased the Hooks’ lead just two batters after Springfield had been down two. Báez finished 3-for-5 with the homer and two RBIs, and he had a hand in both of Springfield’s meaningful pushes.
Hicks still kept the game from sliding away there. He struck out Jack Gurevitch after the homer and retired Cade McGee to end the fourth. In the sixth, Báez singled sharply to left and Gurevitch followed with a ringing single toward the right-field line, but Call cut it off with a sliding stop that held Báez at third and kept Gurevitch at first. Hicks then got McGee on a grounder to third, preserving the 2-2 tie.
That made the eighth hurt more for Corpus Christi.
Ramsey David, who had taken over for Hicks with two outs in the seventh, opened the eighth by walking Josiah Ragsdale. After Rodriguez popped out, Báez singled to left, and a fielding error by Hector Salas moved Báez to second while Ragsdale reached third. Gurevitch struck out, leaving the Hooks one out from escaping with the tie still close enough to rescue.
Instead, the inning unraveled without Springfield needing to square up another ball right away. Wild pitches helped bring home the go-ahead runs, and David walked McGee and Ryan Campos before Amilcar Chirinos entered. Chirinos walked Tre Richardson III, then Petrutz lifted a ball down the right-field line that stayed fair long enough to clang off the foul pole for a grand slam.
David took the loss after allowing four earned runs with three walks in one inning. Chirinos was charged with two earned runs over 1.1 innings while striking out four.
The Hooks never found another answer after Call’s homer. Springfield’s bullpen held Corpus Christi scoreless after the fourth inning, with Randel Clemente earning the win to improve to 4-2. The Hooks finished with two runs on three hits and committed three errors. Alejandro Nuñez had one of those hits and stole a base, while Jason Schiavone walked, stole two bases and struck out twice.
Hicks left having done more than enough to keep Corpus Christi in position. The game left him behind in one inning.