SPRINGDALE — The margin of victory for Corpus Christi on Sunday afternoon was a few inches and a debatable call. Teoscar Hernandez hooked a long, two-run homer around the left-field foul pole for all the runs the Hooks needed in a 2-1 win in front of a 3,456.
The win upped the road record for Corpus Christi (27-22, 75-44) to a remarkable 42-21. The loss was a rare one for Northwest Arkansas (18-30, 58-60) in series finales, dropping the Naturals to 23-9 in the final game of a series this year.
Roberto Pena singled with one out in the top of the third inning and after a fly out, Hernandez hit a long drive around the foul pole into a tree near the bounce-around play area.
“It would be really hard for a right-handed hitter to keep a ball fair and take a left turn,” Naturals Manager Vance Wilson said.
“It’s a tough call, but I thought he missed it.” Wilson came out and argued for three or four minutes.
“When you’re at your home park enough, you kind of know what’s distant to where a ball can’t hook around and hit that, for a ball to hook around and hit that tree and take a left-hand turn,” Wilson said.
“The umpire wasn’t real sure about it.”
Afterwards all three umpires conferenced near the mound and stood behind the home plate umpire’s original call with the third-base umpire offering little help.
“Those guys usually run from that,” Wilson said. “It is a tough call. My issue of them sticking with the call was that they all agreed where the ball hit. We’re all standing there looking at it, and hey what do you think? But, that’s part of it.”
Naturals starter Brooks Pounders went a solid six innings, yielding just four hits, one of which was essentially the long foul ball that resulted in the only two runs for the Hooks.
Benino Pruneda and Kevin McCarthy combined to pitch three innings of hitless ball.
“Pounders pitched great,” Wilson said. “The pitching stepped up great.”
The Naturals were held scoreless for eight innings before Lane Adams scored on a double-play grounder in the bottom of the ninth to avoid the shutout.
Northwest Arkansas wasted a great opportunity in the sixth inning against Michael Feliz. Ramon Torres walked to open the home half of the sixth and went to third when Feliz flipped a bunt by Raul Mondesi over the first baseman’s head. Feliz struck out the next two batters and induced an inning-ending ground ball.
“We had a couple of chances,” Wilson said. “We left some runs out there against some great pitching, and you just can’t do that.”
Three Corpus Christi pitchers scattered five hits, all singles.
SHORT HOPS
• Corpus Christi starter Michael Feliz extended his scoreless pitching streak to 261/3 innings with six spotless innings on Sunday night.
• Feliz is the reigning Texas League Pitcher of the Week.
• Feliz retired the first eight batters on Sunday.
Extra Bases: Corpus Christi leads the Texas League with 497 walks after receiving three on Sunday. The Hooks are second in the league in hits with 1,085 after rapping out eight on Sunday. … Corpus Christi’s biggest inning of the year is the third, with 99 runs scored this season, and that’s when the Hooks struck on Sunday with the two-run homer. … The two teams were a combined zero-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
On Deck: The Naturals are traveling today for a six-game swing through Texas, beginning a three-game series at San Antonio on Tuesday. Northwest Arkansas will start righty Kyle Zimmer (1-2, 2.76) against San Antonio’s Ronald Herrera (2-0, 5.32).
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