Parker stays hot; Nuts whip Rawhide

For Kyle Parker, spring training lasted 50 games and started May 11.

That was the day the Modesto Nuts' outfielder came off the disabled list after breaking his wrist on opening night.

Fast forward 50 games from there and you have the start of Parker's current 10-game hitting streak, which continued Wednesday night in Modesto's 8-1 thrashing of Visalia, a win that moved the Nuts into first place in the California League's North Division.

The former Clemson University quarterback went three-for-four in the win. All three hits drove in runs and two came with two outs. Over the last 10 games, he's 20 for 35 (.571) and has raised his average from .279 to .319.

"I felt like after that first month I got back I started seeing the ball better and started picking up where I left off last year," said Parker, who broke into professional baseball last year by hitting .285 with 21 homers and 95 RBI in Asheville.

"I was struggling at the beginning partly because I'd get to two outs or two strikes and put pressure on myself. Now, having had a lot of those at-bats, I get a little more comfortable and I'm able to calm myself down."

Parker's success seems to be contagious, as Modesto collected 14 hits. Rafael Ortega, Delta Cleary Jr. and Cristhian Adames added two hits apiece and every Nuts' starter had at least one hit.

"It resembled a game that you want to see at this point of the season," said Nuts' manager Lenn Sakata. "You go right down the lineup and everybody contributed something. It was a comfortable game for us. You have to have the entire team contribute and for the most part that's been the case."

That extended to the mound, where the piggyback starting tandem of Juan Gonzalez and Roberto Padilla worked well for the second time.

Gonzalez worked four scoreless innings, then Padilla (3-2) got the next eight outs in what will be his last appearance for Modesto for a while. The San Jose State product was shipped after the game to short-season Tri-City, where he'll start every five days.

"The improvement in Gonzo in the piggyback is encouraging," Sakata said. "The two times this tandem started they gave up two runs in 13 innings, which is as good as you're going to get from anybody."

Parker's two-out double in the first scored Brett Tanos with the game's first run. Modesto collected five singles in the fifth to score three runs off Rawhide starter Willy Paredes (1-1,) with Cleary lining a one-out RBI single and Parker and Dallas Tarleton adding two-out run-scoring hits for a 4-0 lead.

The Nuts added two runs in the seventh thanks to three walks and Joey Wong's two-out RBI hit, and Parker capped a two-run eighth with an RBI single for an 8-0 lead.

Because of injuries and player movement, this never will be the team Modesto was expected to be coming out of spring training. Parker and Wong injured on opening night and leading hitter Corey Dickerson was promoted to Double-A Tulsa before either injured player returned to full strength.

But it doesn't mean the Nuts can't contend, and this latest performance might be an indication of how high Modesto can be allowed to aim.

"We're starting to play well," Parker said. "Any time you play professional ball you never really know who is going to be on your team because you never really know what the organization wants to do. The big thing is to go to work every day and try to get better."