CORPUS CHRISTI The Midland RockHounds had their chances Monday night, but could not deliver the winning plays in a 4-3 loss to the Corpus Christi Hooks at Whataburger Field.
All of the runs scored came in consecutive half-innings. The Hooks (29-27) got on the board with a two-run double from Seth Beer in the bottom of the third inning. That was followed up by a two-run home run from Granden Goetzman.
Midland (25-31) answered in the top of the fourth inning with three runs of its own. Dairon Blanco hit a two-run triple to cut the deficit in half and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Nate Mondou.
The RockHounds were able to get the go-ahead run on base in the top of the ninth inning after Hooks reliever Nick Hernandez hit Mondou and Greg Deichmann. Colin McKee came on and needed just one pitch to pick up his fourth save as Edwin Diaz grounded out to end the game.
Brett Adcock (1-5) went seven innings for the win, giving up three hits while striking out four. Matt Milburn (2-4) was charged with four runs on seven hits over five innings for the RockHounds. He struck out six.
Midland missed scoring chances in the third, when Edwin Diaz tripled with one out, and fifth, when Kevin Merrell led off with a single and went to third on an error.
The series continues at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday.
