With the Cal League’s RBI leader Gianfranco Wawoe at the plate, Jeter fell behind 2-1. Then he got Wawoe to chase a fastball up and out of the zone, and something clicked. Jeter struck out Wawoe on a 3-2 fastball for the first out, but the heart of the order was coming up. Logan Taylor, who had hit the ball to the track twice and hit a solo homer in the sixth inning stood in and Jeter fell behind once again 3-0. But after getting a strike called on the inside corner, Jeter induced a fly-out to right-fielder Jason Morozowski. The fly ball brought home Jordan Cowan to make it a one-run game, and brought power-hitter Joey Curletta to the plate. But then Jeter did something he hadn’t done all night: he got a first-pitch strike. Three pitches later, he struck out Curletta on a high fastball and the Rawhide had defeated Modesto for the first time this season.

Each team had missed opportunities in the later innings. Both Visalia (12-10) and Modesto (13-9) had the go-ahead run in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings. But the Rawhide ran themselves into outs on the base paths and the Nuts ran into Kirby Bellow who thrived in the high stress situations and got out of both jams unscathed. The Rawhide capitalized on their scoring chance in the ninth off of Matt Festa when Francis Christy doubled off the top of the right field wall with one out. Henry Castillo followed with a walk, and then Matt McPhearson drove a line drive over Eric Filia’s head in right to score Christy and retake the lead, 4-3. With Castillo on third, Galli Cribbs laid down a safety squeeze that brought home Castillo to give the Rawhide the two-run cushion. Festa (1-1) was responsible for all of the runs that came across in the ninth inning.

The safety squeeze ended up being the difference in the ballgame.

Neither starter factored into tonight’s decision. Justin Donatella was solid for Visalia, tossing three no-hit innings to start his night before surrendering his only run of the evening in the fourth. Donatella exited after five innings after allowing one run on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts. He stranded runners on second and third in the fifth by striking out Wawoe looking on a fastball. Nuts starter Pablo Lopez gave up two runs in the first inning when Cribbs doubled to lead off the game and Gregor Blanco singled to move him to third. Blanco would steal second, and then back-to-back groundouts from Morozowski and Marty Herum scored Cribbs and Blanco respectively. Lopez was chased with one out in the fifth after allowing a leadoff single to Castillo and issuing a walk to Cribbs. Blanco would single home Castillo off of Lopez’s replacement, Kody Kerski.

Blanco finished with a game-high three hit night and stole three bases while driving in a run and scoring one. Herum saw his seven-game hitting streak snapped, but he drove home his team-leading 13th RBI. Visalia rattled off a double-digit hit total for the first time this week and won their first game against Modesto this season. With the win, Visalia now is one game behind Modesto in the California League North standings.

The post Rawhide Win Nailbiter in Modesto appeared first on Valley Voice.

“I heard about 10 minutes before game time (that I was starting), so it wasn’t ideal, but I just had the mindset of going in there and doing what I do and throwing strikes,” said Long.

Long shined, going 3.2 innings while allowing only one run on four hits with four strikeouts. It wasn’t enough to pick up the win, but he gave the Rawhide exactly what they needed: a good start where the rest of the bullpen could pick up the remainder of the game. Long worked around trouble in every inning. He only put together one clean frame in the third, but was able to weave in and out of traffic on the base paths to minimize the damage. The only run he gave up was on a solo homer hit by Josh Naylor in the fourth, a blast over the left-center field wall. Long was lifted with a runner on first and two outs, and gave way to Kirby Bellow.

“We ambushed Keegan Long with the start and it was amazing what he did…. We can’t be more thankful for his appearance tonight,” said Rawhide Manager Shelley Duncan. “It’s funny, sometimes with the bullpen guys, that’s when (a good start) happens, when they don’t have time to think about it. When you ambush them like that, they can just get in their bullpen routine like a normal performance. This outing showed a lot of people what (Long) is capable of.”

Bellow (1-0) picked up right where Long had left off, getting out of the jam by inducing a groundout from Ruddy Giron. Long would end up tossing 3.1 scoreless innings in relief, striking out four and allowing only one hit. Mason McCullough gave up a run in the eighth but struck out the side to preserve the lead. Then in the ninth, Bud Jeter was called upon for the save and things got interesting.

Giron reached on a ground ball single up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch, putting the tying run in scoring position with one out. After Jeter struck out Taylor Kohlwey, he hit Chris Baker with the first pitch of the at bat, putting the go-ahead run on. Then catcher Frank Christy saw a pitch to Edwin Moreno skip out of his glove, advancing the runners on the past ball and putting the tying run 90 feet away with 1 out. But Jeter (SV, 4) struck out Moreno on a high fastball and induced a flyout from Michael Gettys to end the game.

The Rawhide put together a solid offensive night as a club, bunching hits in the third and sixth to score runs. Daniel Lockhart acted as the spark plug in the third inning with a one-out double, his third extra base hit in the last two games, and scored on a Sergio Alcantara single. Then in the sixth, Matthew McPhearson reached on a leadoff bunt single and was scored by an Alcantara triple. Alcantara would come home to score on a wild pitch, giving Visalia (10-8) their third and final run of the game.

Lake Elsinore (7-11) got another fantastic start from right-hander Chris Huffman. Huffman (1-1) went the distance in the loss, tossing eight innings and allowing three runs on eight hits with four strikeouts to pick up his first career complete game. He had entered play with 15 straight scoreless innings to start the season.

The Rawhide continue the series tomorrow evening and will send RHP Jose Almonte against Lake Elsinore’s LHP Joey Lucchesi. First pitch will be at 6:00 PM and it’ll be a Two-fer-Tuesday at the ballpark. Fans can pick up a 2-1 voucher at participating Chevron and Texaco stations and receive two tickets for the price of one when they bring it to the Rawhide Ticket Office tomorrow night. Tickets and more information are available on rawhidebaseball.com.

The post Bullpen Locks Down Nailbiting Win: Long Shines in First Career Start appeared first on Valley Voice.