Rehab trip set for Nuts' Smith

By Brian VanderBeek
bvanderbeek@modbee.com

E-Mail

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

It would be just fine with Greg Smith if he never sees the California League again.

And if his baseball journey never takes him back in this direction, he will have earned a nice footnote in league history.

Smith, a member of Colorado's 40-man roster, made his second rehabilitation start with the Modesto Nuts on Tuesday and earned a no-decision with 5 2/3 innings of work against Visalia in a game that was going into the 12th inning tied 4-4 at press time.

While coming up in the Arizona organization, Smith posted a 9-0 record in 13 starts with Lancaster in 2006, and won his first start with Modesto to boost his mark to a perfect 10-0.

He likely will be taken off the Nuts' roster as early as today and sent to Colorado Springs to continue his journey back from biceps tendinitis in spring training, a recovery that was hampered by a flu bug that caused him to lose 15 pounds.

Modesto scored its first four runs in rallies that started with two outs and no one on base.

In the second inning, Lars Davis was hit by a pitch and Jeff Cunningham walked ahead of Michael Mitchell's RBI single. Cunningham strolled home when Rawhide starter Christian Beltre committed a balk.

Davis got the Nuts started in the fourth with a two-out single. He stole second and scored on Cunningham's double to right to give Modesto a 3-1 lead.

Smith took that two-run lead into the sixth before losing his touch. He walked four batters and gave up two singles as Visalia scored three runs to take a 4-3 lead.

But Modesto immediately answered against reliever Jorge Perez, again after the first two batters were retired, on back-to-back doubles by Radames Nazario and Davis.

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