Jose Azocar hits his ninth home run of the season for the Missions’ only run of the game.Jose Azocar homered and had two of the San Antonio Missions’ four hits Sunday in a 3-1 loss to the Corpus Christi Hooks at Wolff Stadium.
The Hooks won five of six games in the series. The Missions are off Monday and play their next 12 games on the road. The next home game at Wolff Stadium is Tuesday, Aug. 24.
Azocar hit his ninth home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth for the Missions’ only run of the game. Allen Cordoba had the Missions’ other two hits.
Hooks leadoff man Corey Julks started off the game with his third home run of the series. Corpus Christi added a second run in the top of the first and scored an insurance run in the eighth.
Missions starting pitcher Pedro Avila went 2 2/3 innings and allowed two runs to take the loss. He gave up five hits including Julks’ homer, walked two and struck out three.
The Missions got some strong work from their bullpen. Joe Beimel pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings, James Reeves went 2.0 scoreless innings and Jose Quezada pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
Phillip Wellman, Freddy Flores – San Antonio Missions
Adrian Martinez started on the mound for the Missions and held the Hooks hitless for six innings Friday at Wolff Stadium. – photo by Joe AlexanderAdrian Martinez was a starter for the San Antonio Missions early in the season.
More recently, he was coming in a few innings later when the Missions used Reggie Lawson like an opener.
Martinez was back to being a starter on Friday night. The 6-foot-2 right-hander from Mexico pitched six hitless innings and struck out nine batters.
The Missions beat the Corpus Christi Hooks 3-1 at Wolff Stadium. The Missions have a modest two-game winning streak after going through a rough stretch that included a winless road series against Frisco.
Martinez (3-3) got the win. Mason Fox and Henry Henry followed with one inning each on the mound. Joe Beimel threw a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth for his first save of the season in only his second appearance, both coming this week.
Combined, the four Missions pitchers held the Hooks to two hits and two walks while striking out 10.
Missions batters had only four hits, but came through at the right time and took advantage of two Hooks errors.
Michael Curry hit his first home run of the season in the third inning for the Missions’ first run of the game.
Jack Suwinski smoked a ground ball down the first base line to drive in Jose Azocar in the fifth. Eguy Rosario scored in the eighth on a Juan Fernandez bunt combined with a Hooks error.
Michael Curry, Phillip Wellman – San Antonio Missions
Joe Beimel, a 44-year-old who has pitched in 676 games in the majors, made his season debut on Wednesday night with the Missions at Wolff Stadium.Joe Beimel was drafted as a college player by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1998 – before some of his current San Antonio Missions teammates were born.
The 6-foot-3 left-hander pitched 917 games over his career in the minors and majors that ended in 2016 – until this week. The San Diego Padres signed Beimel to a minor-league contract on June 13 and assigned him to the Missions on Monday.
Wednesday night in the eighth inning at Wolff Stadium, Beimel walked out to the mound as part of a major league organization for the first time in five years. The 44-year-old pitched a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout in a Double-A game, a Missions loss to the Corpus Christi Hooks.
Wednesday’s game was a possible first step back to the majors.
Beimel orignally made his pro debut in the minor leagues in rookie league in 1998 and made his Major League debut with the Pirates in 2001.
Over the next 15 years, he pitched in 676 games in the majors, all but 23 of those in relief. He spent time with the Pirates, Twins, Rays, Dodgers, Rockies, Nationals, Pirates (again) and Mariners. Beimel has a 29-34 record with five saves and a 4.06 ERA for his career.
Beimel’s final season in the majors was 2015, when he pitched in 53 games in relief with the Mariners.
In 2016 he pitched in 12 games for Triple-A Omaha. And that is where his career statistics ended – until Wednesday night.
Missions shortstop CJ Abrams is helped off the field in the ninth inning Wednesday at Wolff Stadium.San Antonio Missions star CJ Abrams left Wednesday’s game in the top of the ninth inning as the team lost to the Corpus Christi Hooks 4-0 at Wolff Stadium.
Abrams is one of the top prospects in the San Diego Padres organization. The 20-year-old shortstop collided with second baseman Eguy Rosario on a ground ball up the middle. Abrams was not putting any weight on his left leg as he was helped off the field.
The Missions’ offense managed only two hits on the night. It was the eighth-straight loss for the Missions, who were swept in their recent six-game road series against the Frisco RoughRiders.
There were some positive signs from the San Antonio pitching. Starter Aaron Leasher (4-3) took the loss, but pitched five innings and allowed one run on six hits with five strikeouts.
Former big league pitcher Joe Beimel made his season debut, going one scoreless inning in relief in the eighth. Beimel last pitched in the majors with the Seattle Mariners in 2015.
Joe Beimel made his season debut on Wednesday with the Missions at Wolff Stadium.
