Modesto’s Marcelo Perez
The Modesto Nuts scored in four of the first five innings and then withstood a late rally to drop the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes by a score of 6-4 on Friday night at John Thurman Field. Marcelo Perez (W, 1-0) went six shutout innings and struck out seven while allowing one hit and one walk to earn his first California League win.
The Nuts jumped on June’s Cal Legue Pitcher of the Month Jared Karros for three runs on five hits, including back-to-back home runs from Freuddy Batista and Miguel Perez in the second inning. Batista had three hits to pace Modesto’s 10-hit attack.
The Nuts built a 6-0 lead before Dayton Dooney launched a two-run homer in the top of the eighth to get Rancho Cucamonga on the board. The Quakes pushed across two more runs in the ninth to close the gap, but the Nuts held on for their third win in the first four games of the series.
Gabriel Gonzalez was 1-for-5 for Modesto and is tied for the league lead in hits with 63, while his .339 batting average is also tops. Batista’s .317 average is good for sixth.
Game five of the six-game series is Saturday night at 6:05PM. The Nuts are 28-27, eight games behind San Jose in the North division, while Rancho Cucamonga (33-22) leads the South division by 4 1/2 games.
FRIDAY SCORES
STOCKTON – 10
INLAND EMPIRE – 4
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LAKE ELSINORE – 13
FRESNO – 14
11 Innings
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SAN JOSE – 9
VISALIA – 4
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Story
The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes forced their way into a three-way tie for first place with a 2-0 win over Inland Empire on Wednesday night at San Manuel Stadium. Three pitchers held the 66ers to just three hits and three walks with 11 strikeouts and a two-run fifth-inning rally held up as the Quakes improved to 6-5 on the season.
