By George Vondracek

CORPUS CHRISTI – The much-anticipated Class AA pitching debut of former No. 1 Astros draft pick Mark Appel went as well as could have been expected.

The same can’t be said for his Corpus Christi teammates.

The righthander wasn’t overpowering but certainly was serviceable, tossing five scoreless innings for the Hooks against San Antonio on Wednesday night at Whataburger Field. He allowed only two singles, both on hit-and-runs by the Missions, struck out four and walked four. He also threw a wild pitch.

His performance was overshadowed, however, by San Antonio’s James Needy, Frank Garces and R.J. Alvarez, who combined on 6-0 no-hitter after an official scoring change following the game.

“I feel like I did a really good job of competing with what I had, throwing a big pitch when I needed to to prevent them from scoring any runs,” Appel said. “My goal was to be tied or winning when I left the ballgame and I was there. It’s always tough when we lose games but I still had fun tonight.”

Appel was lifted in favor Chris Devenski in a scoreless game after throwing 83 pitches, 49 of which were strikes. Appel was on an 85-pitch limit or five innings.

Appel’s fastball was clocked consistently in the 95-97-mph through the first three innings, working in a wicked slider in the mid-80s. All of his strikeouts came on sliders. He relied mainly on the slider and the changeup in the fourth inning when he recorded his first three-up, three-down inning.

“He went out, stuck with the game plan,” said Astros senior pitching advisor Doug Brocail, who has served as Corpus Christi’s interim pitching coach for most of the season. “He has some work to do but he threw up five zeroes and I’ll take five zeroes anyway I can get them.”

The velocity on Appel’s fastball decreased in his final inning, topping out at 93. Of the 21 batters he faced, Appel recorded 12 first-pitch strikes. His toughest inning was the third when he threw 23 pitches. Two walks and a single by Casey McElroy – he had both hits off Appel – loaded the bases with two outs but Appel coaxed a lineout to center to escape damage.

“I’d walked a couple guys, gave up that hit, got out of a jam. I just took a breath and said, ‘OK, it’s time to go, it’s time to put up a couple more zeroes and hopefully we can score some runs,’” Appel said. “I was three innings into my first Double-A game. I guess I’m here to stay.”

Appel got the word from the Astros Saturday he would be promoted from High-A Lancaster in the California League and headed to the Texas League. The promotion created quite a stir considering Appel’s 9.74 earned-run average and 2-5 record in 12 starts with the JetHawks.

Yet in a Tuesday news conference, Appel said he wasn’t discouraged by the numbers he posted in Lancaster.

“You can’t really put your finger on one thing for those numbers,” Appel said. “Honestly, I’m not too concerned about those numbers. I know when I’m pitching in Houston and we’re in the World Series, I don’t think anybody’s going to be thinking about my numbers in Lancaster. So it’s really a non-issue for me.”

Appel also raised some eyes following a Sunday morning bullpen session with Astros pitching coach Brent Strom at Minute Maid Park prior to his arrival in Corpus Christi, although most have said that situation was overblown.

“Being able to do that and have Stromie just say, ‘Everything is working good, you’re moving in the right direction,’ having that affirmation for what I was feeling is always great, especially from the big-league pitching coach,” Appel said. “It was fun to be in Houston. It’s something I can hopefully look forward to in the future. But I know I have work to do in Corpus and I’ll have work to do wherever I wind up.

Appel signed for a $6.35 million bonus after Houston drafted him first overall in 2013 out of Stanford. He combined for a 3-1 record and 3.79 ERA in stops at Tri-City and Quad Cities before being sent to Lancaster this season. His start to the season was delayed by an appendectomy prior to spring training.

George Vondracek is freelance writer.