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Sports - Modesto Nuts

Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

One hit better than none for punchless Nuts

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For about three innings, Ryan Tatusko was the loneliest man in Modesto.

The 24-year-old righthander for the Bakersfield Blaze was in the late stages of a potential no-hitter. He knew it, his teammates knew it, and the sparse crowd of 941 at John Thurman Field knew it.

Tatusko wanted to talk about it with someone, anyone, to break the tension, but found no willing ears.

"They always say you're not aware you're throwing a no-hitter when you're in the middle of one, but I knew it," Tatusko said. "I was trying to find somebody to talk to in the dugout and nobody wanted a piece of me."

The only person who ended up getting a piece of Tatusko was Modesto shortstop Hector Gomez, who drilled a 2-1 fastball up the middle for a clean single with one out in the bottom of the ninth.

Tatusko (2-2) went on to retire the final two Nuts' batters and settled for a one-hitter in a 2-0 Bakersfield victory.

The Indiana State University product, taken in the 18th round of the 2007 draft by the Texas Rangers, had some fortune on his side Thursday night. The Nuts had about 10 well-hit balls against him, but all seemed to find a glove.

He allowed only five Modesto hitters to reach base — one via a second-inning infield error and three via walks. He struck out seven, capping the game by retiring Matt Repec on a fastball.

Tatusko was throwing almost nothing but fastballs in the ninth inning. He already had reached his designated pitch count of 100, so he was working on borrowed time.

"I was going to come at them with my best — going to empty out everything I had left in the tank," he said. "If they were going to beat me it was going to be with a fastball."

He struck out Charlie Blackmon to open the inning before catching a little bit too much of the plate with his fastball to Gomez.

"I had to go over my pitch count, but I felt as good in the ninth as I did in the first," he said. "I'm sure the adrenaline had something to do with that and I'm also sure I'm going be really sore here in about 30 minutes."

Had Tatusko notched the no-no, it would have snapped a remarkable streak. In 48 years as a head coach or manager at the high school, college and professional level, Modesto manager Jerry Weinstein never has been on the receiving end of a no-hitter.

"To my knowledge, that's the case," Weinstein said. "But we didn't feel helpless tonight.

"It's only helpless if the game is out of reach. Going into the last inning we needed to get two runs to tie and a couple bloops and a blast would have won it, but he was outstanding."

In the other dugout, manager Steve Buechele was holding in some great memories of his playing days. He was Texas' starting third baseman for Nolan Ryan's final two no-hitters in 1990 against Oakland and 1991 against Toronto.

"A no-hitter is special no matter what level it comes at," Buechele said. "He was awesome tonight. He was over his pitch count when he gave up the hit and I went out to make sure he wanted to finish the game."

Tatusko's gem overshadowed an excellent outing by Modesto starter Kenny Durst (2-7,) who allowed two runs on only four hits over 7 1/3 innings. Bakersfield scored in the fifth and seventh innings, both on two-out singles after runners reached base on the only two walks issued by Durst.

When the final out was recorded, Tatusko finally had all the friends he wanted, with each of his teammates shaking his hand or slapping him on the back.

"I've never had a no-hitter," Tatusko said. "This is the closest I've come, and I felt the nerves a little bit. But this also was, by far, my best professional outing, so whether it was a no-hitter, one-hitter or two-hitter I'll take it."

Bee staff writer Brian VanderBeek can be reached at bvanderbeek@modbee.com or 578-2300.