Hooks Rally Past Reeling Drillers in 8th

Box Score

TULSA - Corpus Christi picked up a pair of runs in the eighth inning and enjoyed lights-out relief from Brayan De Paula and Peyton Plumlee to edge Tulsa, 4-3, Thursday night at ONEOK Field.

The Hooks have won three in a row and 10 of 12 in September. The Drillers are mired in a 12-game losing streak. Tulsa is 2-7 vs. Corpus Christi on the year.

Luis Aviles Jr. began the scoring with a lead-off home run in the fifth. The blast into the terrace in left was Aviles' 15th round-tripper on the season, matching his career best. One out later, Garrett Wolforth, who reached base four times from the nine-hole, worked a walk and then scampered home when Will Wagner clubbed a triple to left-center.

Wagner's RBI three-bagger upped his on-base and hitting streaks to 14 and 27, respectively.

Ryan Gusto permitted one run on four singles and four walks over 4 2/3 innings. Gusto's exit was prompted by a bases-loaded walk. Cesar Gomez entered and kept the Hooks in front, 2-1, by inducing a fly out to leave three.

Tulsa rallied for two unearned runs in the sixth for a 4-3 margin, the club's first lead of the series.

The Hooks answer came in the eighth as they sent eight men to bat on three walks, a hit batsman, and an RBI single from Bryan Arias, which tied the game. Arias also scored the go-ahead run as he came around on a dropped third strike.

De Paula, making his Double-A debut, retired five of six Drillers in the seventh and eighth. The walk he allowed was erased when Wolforth threw out a runner trying to steal second base.

Plumlee turned in his second scoreless outing in a three-day span by retiring three in a row in the wake of a free pass that started the Tulsa ninth. The 26-year-old from Byhalia, MS is now 3-for-5 in Texas League save chances.