Nuts Pitch Their Way to Third Straight Win

Fresno, CA – Only a single unearned run was scratched across against the Modesto Nuts’ pitching staff in their 4-1 win against the Fresno Grizzlies on Friday night at Chukchansi Park.

Brayan Perez started for the Nuts (56-44) and retired the first nine batters he faced as part of four shutout innings with two strikeouts and just one hit allowed.

Juan Mercedes (W, 6-4) followed that up with four scoreless innings of his own. He struck out two with no walks and just two lonely singles allowed. At one point, Mercedes retired nine in a row.

Matthew Willrodt worked the ninth inning. The Grizzlies (64-36) put the leadoff runner on after a Noelvi Marte fielding error at shortstop. The run would score on a sac fly but Willrodt struck out Robby Martin to slam the door shut on the night and give the Nuts their 13th win in their last 14 games.

It was the bottom of the Nuts’ order that did lots of the early damage for the Nuts. In the second inning, Corey Rosier sparked a two-run rally with the first of his two hits while extending his hitting streak to eleven games. Ty Duvall also walked in the inning before Eric Jones brought in a run with an RBI groundout. Brett Rodriguez followed that up with an RBI double.

In the fifth, Rodriguez added a second RBI with a triple against Grizzlies starter Austin Kitchen (L, 1-4). The Grizzlies southpaw worked a career-high six innings with three runs allowed and five strikeouts.

Duvall later in the game would add an RBI double.

The Nuts go for their fourth straight win on Saturday night at 6:50 pm against the Grizzlies in Fresno.