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Sports - Modesto Nuts

Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009

Lake Elsinore tops Nuts in rubber game

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Not even Cory Riordan could save the Modesto Nuts on Wednesday night.

Riordan, the Nuts' best pitcher the second half of the season, probably deserved to win on most nights, but not this one.

Lake Elsinore nicked him here and there and motored out of town with the rubber game of the three-game series, 3-1.

Modesto submitted quickly and quietly.

How quick, you ask? It was over in 2 hours and 15 minutes.

How quietly, you ask? A fraction of the announced crowd of 1,087 attended, and it watched the Nuts disappear in now-you-see-them-now-you-don't style for their fourth loss in five games.

Three Nuts were thrown out on the bases, and three others grounded into double plays, which doesn't yield a five-hit attack much wiggle room.

"We've tried to be aggressive all year. We got burned tonight," manager Jerry Weinstein said. "It's a double-edged sword. You take risks, and there's a downside to taking risks."

Weinstein waved Scott Beerer to the plate on Lars Davis' single with no outs in the second, but left fielder Danny Payne threw him out.

The play typified Modesto's night and demonstrated how the Nuts managed four hits in the same inning but pushed across only one run.

"He (Beerer) got to the base before the ball got to the left fielder. I was wrong. The guy (Payne) made a great throw, too." Weinstein said.

Riordan (11-7) had won his last six starts. Working up-tempo — the reason for his personal rally — he struck out six in eight innings and competed hard to keep Modesto close.

Just a couple of miscues, one of them Bryan Weems' third homer of the season on the first pitch of the seventh inning, beat him.

"It wasn't my best outing and it wasn't my worst," Riordan concluded. "In a close game like that, you can't afford to make mistakes."

Meanwhile, Lake Elsinore right-hander Aaron Breit (2-5) muzzled the Nuts' bats. Set-up man Colt Hynes retired all five batters, and Bryan Oland retired Modesto in order in the ninth for his 26th save.

The absence of infielder Matt Repec (10 homers, 54 RBIs) until the weekend — his brother is getting married in Hilton Head, S.C. — further limited Modesto's offense. Brian Rike's failure to get down a sacrifice bunt scarred a potential rally three innings later.

Even on Hector Gomez's RBI single in the second, the Nuts ran themselves into an out. Gomez was erased at second after the throw to the plate.

Weinstein thought the Storm's Ali Solis was doubled off first on Brad Chalk's line drive in the second. Weinstein lost the argument with both umpires and Solis later sped home on a wild pitch for Lake Elsinore's first run.

Modesto went hitless after the sixth as both teams walked off the field with their magic number for playoff berths down to 2.

"It's nice to win games, but you can't focus on that (personal winning streaks)," Riordan said. "I have to start another streak in five days."

• NOTES — Clubhouse guests included Marcel Lachemann, the Colorado Rockies' special assistant to the general manager, and senior advisor Bobby Knoop. ... Lefty Christian Friedrich (3-1, 1.93) starts for the Nuts tonight to open a four-game series against Bakersfield.