For four innings, Corpus Christi kept finding ways to escape. In the fifth, the Hooks ran out of them.
A defensive breakdown, two bases-loaded walks and Cameron Leary’s three-run double turned a tie game into a four-run deficit, and the Hooks’ comeback stopped two runs short in a 5-3 loss to the Midland RockHounds on Thursday at Momentum Bank Ballpark.
Corpus Christi finished with three errors, matching its hit total. The cost of that imbalance was concentrated in Midland’s four-run fifth, an inning that began with Logan Sauve’s ground-ball single and came apart around Hudson Leach.
Casey Yamauchi reached on an error by third baseman Zach Daudet, and Jared Sprague-Lott walked to load the bases. Leach then walked Brennan Milone to force home Sauve with the go-ahead run.
Leach struck out Bobby Boser before Andrew Marrero entered and induced an infield-fly popup from Ali Camarillo. The Hooks were one out from holding the deficit at 2-1 when Leary bounced a ball under Jack Moss’ reach at first and down the right-field line. Yamauchi, Sprague-Lott and Milone all scored as the ball rolled away, stretching Midland’s lead to 5-1.
All four runs in the inning were charged to Leach, though only one was earned. He allowed four runs in 1 1/3 innings and fell to 0-4.
The collapse stood in sharp contrast to the way Corpus Christi escaped trouble an inning earlier. Midland loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth, prompting Leach to replace Joey Mancini. Leach struck out Pedro Pineda, and C.J. Pittaro lifted a fly ball to left.
Chase Call made the catch and came up throwing. His throw carried to catcher Will Bush in time to cut down Boser at the plate, ending the inning with a double play and preserving Midland’s 1-0 lead.
Mancini had allowed that lone run over three innings, striking out two and walking two. The RockHounds scored it in the first when Boser sent a two-out ground ball through the middle to bring home Yamauchi.
Corpus Christi’s offense had little room for error against Steven Echavarria. Moss doubled down the right-field line in the first for his first Double-A extra-base hit, but Echavarria stranded him and held the Hooks to that lone hit through five innings. The right-hander struck out eight, walked two and allowed one earned run.
That run came in the fifth without the benefit of a hit. Anthony Huezo walked before Alejandro Nuñez grounded out to bring him home and tie the game.
Moss supplied the only forceful answer after Midland seized control. Zach Daudet singled to open the sixth and Justin Thomas Jr. walked before Moss drove a ball into the right-center-field alley. It skipped to the fence as Daudet and Thomas scored standing up, cutting the deficit to 5-3 and leaving the tying run at second with nobody out.
Will Johnston walked Bush, giving the Hooks two aboard. He recovered by striking out Tyler Whitaker, Huezo and Alberto Hernandez consecutively, freezing Corpus Christi’s best chance to finish the comeback.
The Hooks did not manage another hit. Shohei Tomioka retired all six batters he faced over two scoreless innings, and A.J. Causey worked a scoreless ninth for his third save.
Moss finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. The rest of the Corpus Christi lineup went 1-for-25.
Colby Langford kept the game within reach with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts, and Railin Perez struck out two in a scoreless eighth. The Hooks’ pitching staff gave the offense time to recover, but the fifth inning had demanded too much from a three-hit afternoon.