Nuts waste strong pitching effort, fall 3-0

Modesto unable to back Durden in loss to Giants

By Kelly Jones
kjones@modbee.com

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Pitcher Brandon Durden gave the ailing Modesto Nuts pitching staff a big lift on Sunday.

His teammates were disappointed they couldn't do the same for him.

Durden pitched a complete game -- the first by a Modesto pitcher this season -- in a 3-0 loss to San Jose at John Thurman Field.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound left-hander was sent to Modesto from Double-A Tulsa to help a banged-up Nuts staff. Three pitchers have sore arms and everyone in Tulsa was healthy.

Durden said the Rockies' organization didn't want to use him in relief and he set out to make the best of his third trip to Modesto in four years.

"I saw it as an opportunity to go work on some stuff," Durden said after greeting former neighbors following the game. "In Tulsa I didn't have a feel for my two-seamer in all five starts.

"After two or three innings (Sunday), I started getting a feel for it and got some groundball outs."

Durden was happy to throw a complete game, expressing surprise his pitch count was only in the 80s in the seventh inning. He got stronger as the game progressed, striking out four and scattering 11 hits.

He didn't seem to mind Modesto's 107-degree weather at gametime, saying it beat the humidity in Oklahoma where pitchers lose "10 to 15 pounds" an outing.

Modesto manager Jerry Weinstein said Durden's performance was "amazing" and that he could pitch at any level in the Rockies' organization, but there was no room for him elsewhere. Durden was 3-2 with a 2.93 ERA at Tulsa.

"We did not do a good job of supporting him defensively or offensively," Weinstein said. "We had runners at first and second with no outs (in the eighth) and didn't score. There's not much outstanding about that."

It was a game full of missed opportunities for Modesto, which has started the second half of California League play 1-3. After the first inning, the Nuts had a runner on base in every inning. They stranded 10 runners and struck out 13 times.

Jason Van Kooten had two doubles and a triple, scoring Modesto's lone run in the sixth. Wilin Rosario drove Van Kooten home on a groundout to third.

"In the second half we've had trouble, big time, executing and doing the little things we usually do," Van Kooten said. "We know we can do it. That's why it's so disappointing. Brandon pitched great. He deserved to win."

A wild throw from first baseman Matt Repec on an attempted pick-off play allowed Darren Ford (single) to advance from first to third in the second inning. Ford scored on a Brian Bocock single. Bocock scored two batters later when Roger Kieschnick hit into a fielder's choice.

San Jose's other run came in the fifth when Tyler Graham hit a one-out triple to the gap in right center field and scored on a Bocock flyout.

The all-star break seemed to do little to cool San Jose's hot play. Even without catcher Buster Posey (.321) and first baseman Angel Villalona (.273) in the lineup, the Giants won their seventh consecutive game against Modesto. Kieschnick has 22 RBIs in his last 11 games.