Nuts let early lead slip away against Lake Elsinore
Trailing by one in the ninth inning with two outs and a runner on base, the Modesto Nuts had the right man at the plate in major-leaguer Corey Dickerson, who started a rehabilitation assignment with the Nuts on Sunday.
But Lake Elsinore pitcher Jason Jester threw a curveball to the outside part of the plate against the left-handed-hitting Dickerson for a called strike two, then blew a high fastball past him to end the game and secure a come-from-behind 7-6 victory for the Storm at John Thurman Field.
Dickerson, who hit .338 in 60 games for the Nuts during the 2012 season, has been on the disabled list since July 17 with plantar fasciitis in his left foot.
Nuts third baseman Ryan McMahon, who was 4 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs Monday, was on deck when Dickerson fanned. McMahon has 18 hits in his last 37 at-bats (.487) with six extra-base hits and 10 RBIs.
The Storm snapped a 6-6 tie in the top of the ninth when designated hitter Ryan Miller delivered a two-out single to right, allowing Marcus Davis to score on a throwing error by reliever Sam Moll.
After falling behind 1-0 in the top of the first, the Nuts came back with four in their half of the frame.
With one out, Michael Benjamin tripled to left field and scored on a single by Dickerson. McMahon then belted his 12th home run of the season and his fourth in last the five games to give the Nuts a 3-1 lead. Rosell Herrera lined to first for the second out and, after a Correlle Prime single, Dillon Thomas doubled him home to make it 4-1.
After the teams exchanged runs in the third, the Storm tied the score 5-5 with a run in the fourth and two in the sixth.
Modesto reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Thomas’ two-out triple plated McMahon, but Lake Elsinore came right back and tied it in the top of the seventh on Gabriel Quintana’s RBI single.
Nuts starter Zach Jemiola gave up 11 hits – two homers and two doubles included – and surrendered five earned runs while striking out five in six innings.
With the loss the Nuts (15-9 in the second half) fall three games behind Visalia in the race for the California League’s North Division second-half title and two games behind the Stockton Ports in the race for the wild card.
The teams will wrap their four-game series Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m. The Nuts’ Konner Wade (4-6, 4.64) will take on Zech Lemond (4-8, 5.61).
The Nuts are off Wednesday and open up a four-game set in Visalia on Thursday.
This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Nuts let early lead slip away against Lake Elsinore."