Ports send Modesto reeling to fifth straight loss

Welcome to the California League drag race between the Stockton Ports and the Modesto Nuts.

The teams rolled their roadsters to the starting line Thursday night for the first of eight meetings over the season’s final 21/2 weeks. Awaiting them at the finish line is a potential wildcard berth.

When the light turned green at Thurman Field, the Ports roared out of the blocks for a 3-0 victory that sent the Nuts reeling to their fifth straight loss. A crowd of 2,044 watched in semi-silence as Modesto managed only three hits and four base runners and struck out 12 times.

Stockton reliever Lou Trivino typified the Nuts’ night with his reflex no-look backhanded catch of Rosell Herrera’s screamer to end the seventh.

The teams, 7-7 in matchups entering the game, understood the stakes. By winning, Stockton drew even with Modesto in a three-team battle for the wildcard with 17 games left. San Jose, which trails first-half champion Visalia by only one game in the North, makes it a three-way tie for the wildcard. If Visalia is overtaken by San Jose in the division race, only one wildcard team will advance.

Which means Modesto could find itself the odd man out, unless it restarts its engine. The Nuts have scored only four runs in their last three games.

“We’re worrying too much about San Jose, Visalia and Stockton. If we concentrate on what we have to do, we’ll be all right,” first baseman Correlle Prime said. “They’re all good teams. Hopefully, we’ll get hot at the right time.”

Modesto manager Fred Ocasio estimated before the game that the Nuts must win no less than five and maybe six of the eight vs. Stockton. Game 1, dominated by the Ports, wasn’t the start Ocasio had in mind.

Alex Balog (2-6), the Modesto right-hander from Los Gatos, lacked the command he displayed a week ago when he no-hit Bakersfield for 7 2/3 innings.

The Ports’ Michael Soto (3 for 4) strafed Balog for a 400-foot double off the center-field wall to bring in B.J. Boyd in the second. Two innings later, Soto singled home Tyler Marincov who had doubled. Modesto reduced the damage, thanks to right fielder Drew Weeks’ throwing out Boyd at third.

Balog competed hard for 52/3 innings and kept his team within shouting range. But before he left, Stockton dented him for a third run on Trent Gilbert’s solid two-out RBI single up the middle.

Modesto had not seen Stockton starter Casey Meisner (1-1), who was acquired by Oakland on July 28 in the trade that wheeled Tyler Clippard to the New York Mets. Meisner baffled the Nuts for five strong innings on two hits and five strikeouts. He retired 11 straight between the first and the fourth.

It was a single-trend game – all Stockton. The Ports sustained their momentum via two Modesto errors and two successful delayed steals of second.

Modesto seeks a turnaround tonight as cleanup hitter Ryan McMahon, after a night off, returns to the lineup. The Nuts hope that the loss signaled only a false start against the Ports.

“The playoffs start today. We haven’t gone out there with a playoff mentality,” Ocasio correctly said before the game. “If we can get in (the playoffs), we have the pitching and the position players to win the league. We just have to get in.”

Notes – Johendi Jiminian (4-8, 4.68) walks to the mound for the Nuts against the Ports’ Daniel Mengden (4-3, 4.73) tonight at 7:05. ... Infielder Cesar Galvez, who reported to Modesto in late May from extended spring training, was sent to Class A Asheville earlier this week. The move leaves Modesto with 12 pitchers and 12 position players. “We’re going with what we have. I hope we stay healthy,” Ocasio said. ...

San Francisco traded Double-A relief pitcher Stephen Johnson Thursday for Reds outfielder Marlon Byrd. Johnson made 49 appearances, all in relief, last year for San Jose. ... Former Rancho Cucamonga pitcher John Richy was one of the two prospects Los Angeles dealt to Philadelphia on Wednesday for Chase Utley. Richy pitched a complete-game shutout for the Quakes over Modesto 7-0 on May 28. ...

McMahon has stroked 37 doubles and is within reach of the Nuts’ doubles record of 45 held by Seth Smith (2005) and Jaxon Van Kooten (2009). ... Former Nuts outfielder Jordan Patterson has not disappointed since his promotion a month ago to Double A New Britain. He’s batting .306with five home runs in only 111 at-bats for the Rock Cats. Before he departed, Patterson popped a Nuts- record 12 triples. Lefty Harrison Musgrave, who went 10-1 for Modesto before he went to New Britain, is 1-3 with a 3.38.

This story was originally published August 20, 2015 at 10:55 PM with the headline "Ports send Modesto reeling to fifth straight loss."