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.

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Baker surrendered three consecutive singles to Julian Leon, Jake Yacinich, and Zach Gibbons, scoring one run. Matt Thaiss followed by chopping a grounder toward the hole at second that Rawhide second baseman Fernery Ozuna ranged far to his left to grab. After he gloved the ball, though, Ozuna had trouble on the transfer and threw it past Austin Byler. Visalia catcher Francis Christy corralled the rebound off the wall and attempted to throw out Thaiss at second, but the ball sailed into center. All things told, two runs scored on the play, and in a matter of minutes, the Rawhide saw their lead dwindle to a one-run advantage.

With a Theiss on second and one out, Manager Shelley Duncan brought in Mason McCullough to stop the bleeding. But McCullough did more than that: he shifted the momentum of the game. He struck out the next two batters to escape the jam, and then struck out two more in the eighth inning to keep it a one-run ballgame.

The Rawhide took advantage of another Inland Empire miscue in the bottom of the eighth to score an insurance run. Byler led off with a ringing double to right and moved to third on a Zach Nehrir groundout. With two out, Grant Heyman struck out on a wild pitch and was able to beat the throw to first. Byler rushed home to score, giving Visalia a 5-3 advantage.

Cody Clark allowed a run on a Gibbons RBI double, but struck out Thaiss and Jared Foster to end the game and earn his first save of the year in a 5-4 Rawhide victory.

“When we had that seventh inning that was kind of a circus… which is no fault of anybody, but those innings can spiral out of control. And (McCullough) came in from the bullpen and… got everybody regrouped,” said Duncan. “Next thing you know, that momentum was back on our side and our offense rode with it. That’s what makes us who we are: a team that plays aggressively, puts pressure on the other team nonstop, and isn’t afraid of big moments.”

Before the wild seventh, Visalia (6-2) and Inland Empire (2-6) were caught in the midst of a pitcher’s duel between Jose Almonte and Jose Rodriguez. Following Wednesday night’s 9.1 perfect innings by the Rawhide pitching staff, Almonte came out of the gates and threw four no-hit innings, before eventually surrendering his first hit on a Gibbons grounder in the fifth. It wasn’t a smooth ride for Almonte though: while he struck out nine batters, he also walked five, including three in the second inning to load the bases. He exited the game after 4.2 innings with runners on first and second. Baker (1-0) retired Foster on a fly-out to right to escape the jam.

“Almonte had dominant stuff but didn’t quite put it all together,” said Rawhide Pitching Coach Jeff Bajenaru. “We came into today with the goal of using his fastball more, and he did effectively, but he couldn’t command it. His stuff was nasty, but the walks forced up his pitch count early.”

Almonte threw 35 pitches in the second inning alone, and for the second straight outing was unable to throw five complete innings.

Rodriguez (0-2) allowed a pair of runs in the first inning when Colin Bray, Ozuna, and Marty Herum laced back-to-back-to-back singles to the opposite field. Herum’s hit scored Bray, and Byler followed with a sac-fly to plate Ozuna. But Rodriguez settled down to retire 11 batters in a row before eventually allowing another two runs in the sixth inning on Byler’s triple.

The Rawhide and 66ers will play the second game of the three-game series on Friday night. First pitch is at 7:00 and will feature RHP Ivan Pineyro for Visalia and RHP Luis Pena for Inland Empire. It will also be the first Firework Friday of the year, where the Rawhide putting on a post-game fireworks show. Tickets are still available on rawhidebaseball.com.

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