Modesto Nuts’ magic number is 1 – for elimination from wild-card race

The Modesto Nuts are staring down the wrong end of a magic number of one – one more win by San Jose or one more loss by the Nuts, and Modesto’s season will end with Monday night’s regular-season finale at Stockton.

Modesto lost to the Giants 3-2 on Wednesday night in San Jose, its second consecutive loss in the three-game series and third in a row overall. San Jose scored a walk-off victory when Brandon Bednar singled home Tyler Horan with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning after Horan doubled.

The Nuts (66-69) trail San Jose (71-64) by five games in the wild-card race with five to play, including Thursday night’s series finale at San Jose. Modesto finishes the regular year with four games in Stockton, beginning Friday at 7:10 p.m.

Modesto has scored three runs during its three-game skid. That included single runs in the third (on Raimel Tapia’s 12th home run of the season) and fourth (on Drew Weeks’ single to right field, scoring Ryan McMahon) for a 2-1 lead Wednesday night.

Otherwise, the struggles continued. The Nuts had eight hits but were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and totaled 12 strikeouts. They stranded runners in scoring position in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Modesto had a runner picked off in the third, and its last nine hitters were retired in order.

That was no help to Nuts pitchers Tyler Chatwood, Zach Jemiola and Jacob Newberry (1-1), who combined to allow seven hits and two walks while striking out nine, though Chatwood and Jemiola each allowed a solo homer.

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Modesto Nuts’ magic number is 1 – for elimination from wild-card race."