NATURALS SCORE FIRST BUT FALL FOR SECOND STRAIGHT NIGHT TO HOOKS

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – Despite scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, the Northwest Arkansas Natuarls could not come out with a win Wednesday night, falling to the Corpus Christi Hooks for the second straight night, 10-3.

The first three Naturals hitters of the game reached, as Tucker Bradley walked and was singled in by Nick Loftin, then Loftin scored on an RBI single from Tyler Gentry.

Gentry, who went 1-for-5, has now reached base in 14 consecutive games and driven in 23 runs over 23 games with Northwest Arkansas at the Double-A level since his call-up one month ago.

The Hooks countered with two runs in the bottom of the first against Naturals starting pitcher Andrew Hoffmann, who was making his Double-A debut and his Royals organization debut. After surrendering a two-run homer in the first, Hoffmann went on to retire nine of his next 10 batters, before Corpus Christi hook the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth.

Northwest Arkansas briefly held a lead again in the fourth, as Logan Porter connected on his eighth home run of the year, a solo shot deep to left field that put the Naturals ahead at the time 3-2.

A hit batter, pair of singles and sacrifice fly gave the Hooks a pair of runs in the fourth, as they took a 4-3 lead. In total, Corpus Christi scored eight unanswered runs, following the two in the fourth with one in the fifth off of Hoffmann and five in the sixth inning against Walter Pennington.

Pennington took over for Hoffmann in the fifth and used a double play to end the inning and keep a pair of inherited runners from scoring. However, he was roughed up in the sixth inning, as the Hooks scored five runs on five hits, a walk and a hit batter.

Christian Chamberlain took over for Pennington, stranded a pair of inherited runners, and pitched 1.1 scoreless frames, with a strikeout. Ándres Sotillet pitched a 1-2-3 eighth for the Naturals as he struck out the side but Northwest Arkansas could not overcome what ballooned in the sixth inning to a seven-run deficit.

Despite surrendering a career-high five runs, Hoffmann did not walk a batter over 4.1 innings against a Hooks team that leads Double-A and ranks fourth in Minor League Baseball in walks, with 407. He threw 60 of his 87 pitches for strikes, a 69.0% strike%, the sixth-best strike rate for a Naturals starting pitcher this season.

The Naturals look to bounce back Thursday at 6:35 p.m. CT from Whataburger Field, as Anthony Veneziano heads to the mound to make his 16th start of the year.