Arenado keys win for Nuts

STOCKTON — Nolan Arenado stands at the plate with an open stance, bat waving and held high, waiting to be unleashed.

It is the sight California League pitchers have feared all season.

Arenado launched a two-run homer to left-center in the eighth inning, a blast that rode the delta breeze blowing straight out toward, well, Modesto. His big fly reversed a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead that eventually became a 5-3 victory Thursday night.

Stockton reliever Mike Hart (1-4), behind on the count 1-0, tossed the kind of fastball Arenado has rocketed toward far-away landing spots for five months. It was Arenado's 19th homer, and it gave him 117 RBIs. No one in professional baseball has chased home more runs.

His was the loudest calling card dealt this night. All that is known for certain is that Modesto and Stockton — Modesto won 14 of 24 games — will renew their series in the Cal League playoffs starting next Wednesday night.

"We're pretty even. They compete like we do," Arenado said. "I believe we can pull through, but it will be a tough one. We'll be ready for it."

Modesto clinched no worse than a wild card berth Wednesday night and, after its loss at Stockton, motored back to Thurman Field for a celebratory post-game meal.

The Nuts, especially the corps of the team in place since Opening Night, deserved a party. They limped out of the starting gate with an 8-15 April.

"We thought we would be pretty good in spring training. There was definitely a chance we could do something," Arenado remembered. "We struggled big-time early but we picked it up. Now we're showing what we thought would happen."

Nuts manager Jerry Weinstein gathered the team before Thursday night's game and, as a mild surprise, emphasized the importance of outlasting San Jose and winning the second-half title (the teams are tied for first place with four games left). The veteran Nuts manager, not unlike most field bosses at this level, always trumps development over outcome.

There is a slight game-changer, however, at play here. Though Modesto will advance for the fifth straight season into the playoffs, it hasn't captured the first or second half in the North in seven years. That would be 2004, the last Cal League title year in Modesto and the last year it was run by the Oakland Athletics.

In fact, Modesto never has annexed more than a wild card under Colorado stewardship.

"Not at the expense of burning up our players and not having them ready for the playoffs, but we are trying to win," Weinstein said.

The Nuts trailed 1-0 and 2-1 and struggled against Stockton starter AJ Griffin (10 strikeouts in six innings), a right-hander who's bounced up and down Oakland's farm system. The 6-foot-5 Griffin, in his first appearance against Modesto, fooled the Nuts by changing speeds.

Modesto answered with lefty Edwar Cabrera, who struck out nine in five innings. Stockton regained a 3-2 lead on Ryan Lipkin's two-run homer off reliever Leuris Gomez in the sixth. After Arenado's heroics, Carlos Martinez added insurance with a solo homer in the ninth. Reliever Will Harris (3-2) got the win and Mike Marbry retired the Ports in the ninth for his 15th save.

"Two pretty even teams that know each other well," Weinstein summarized. "I suspect they'll be low-scoring games."

• NOTE — Chad Bettis (12-5, 3.44) starts for Modesto tonight to begin a regular season-ending four-game series against Visalia at Thurman Field.