Early pitcher’s duel turns into a 12-3 Fresno blowout of Modesto

Modesto, CA (Wednesday, August 16) – The Fresno Grizzlies (66-44, 30-14) routed the Modesto Nuts (59-51, 25-19) 12-3 Wednesday night from John Thurman Field. Fresno improved to 30-14 (.682) in the second half, 33-15 (.688) in their last 48 games and 43-18 (.705) in their last 61 contests. The Grizzlies moved to 34-5 when allowing three runs or fewer, 41-7 when tallying 10 or more hits, 44-11 when scoring first and 40-16 when crushing a clout. Fresno is now 21-10 this season when a game lasts longer than 2 hours and 40 minutes. The Grizzlies hold a five-game lead over the Nuts in the second half standings with 22 contests to go (10 versus one another).

Over the first five innings of the contest, the clubs traded zeroes as both starting pitchers were nearly unhittable. Fresno southpaw Michael Prosecky (10-6, win) tossed five scoreless frames, allowing four hits and one walk while punching out seven. Prosecky retired the final nine batters he faced, lowering his ERA to a California League-best 2.89. In his last six starts, Prosecky is 5-1 with a 0.83 ERA (32.2 IP, 22 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 8 BB, 42 K). Prosecky has permitted two runs or fewer in six consecutive outings and nine of his last 10 starts. He has five shutout starts in that span as well. Modesto righty Marcelo Perez (3-5, loss) cruised through five innings, which included retiring 11 straight batters at one point. Perez had a hiccup in the sixth though, giving up a pair of runs on one hit and walk. He concluded his evening with five and one-third innings of two-run ball.

The Fresno offense mustered just two hits over their first five frames of play. That didn’t stop the Grizzlies though, as the lineup roared to life in their final four innings. Fresno plated all 12 runs in that span, which included seven in the ninth. The Grizzlies recorded 13 hits for the second straight game, pushing them to 26 total rips. Every starter in the lineup notched at least one hit and run with seven of their 10 batters yielding one or more RBI. The Grizzlies clawed ahead 2-0 in the sixth when Cole Carrigg plated Kody Huff with a sacrifice fly. Bryant Betancourt brought home EJ Andrews Jr. with a swinging bunt single. Andrews Jr. laced a double prior to scoring. Fresno extended their lead to 4-0 in the seventh when Huff roped a double to center, inching across Andy Perez. A passed ball permitted Kyle Karros to lumber home with that fourth run. In the eighth, Skyler Messinger made it 5-0 with a solo shot to deep left-center field. Messinger’s 16th big fly of the year went 448 feet at 105 MPH. In the ninth, the Grizzlies sent 10 batters to the dish as the rout was on. Huff and Andrews Jr. continued their outstanding games with RBI singles. Then, a fielding error and balk by the Nuts provided three more runs for the Grizzlies. A Dyan Jorge RBI double and Luis Mendez groundout wrapped up the offensive outpouring.

Modesto logged all three of their runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Lazaro Montes spanked a solo wallop to right field, his third hit of the game and third homer with the Nuts. Jared Sundstrom poked an infield RBI single to net the second run. Finally, a double play rounded out the Modesto scoring. Despite the late runs, the Nuts could not figure out Grizzlies relievers Carlos Torres and Carson Skipper. The duo hurled three clean innings with Torres handling his 11th hold of 2023. Torres has appeared in seven games against Modesto this season. He is 2-0 with two holds and a 0.00 ERA. Over 14 scoreless innings, Torres has allowed nine hits and three walks while fanning 13. Skipper has appeared in 32 games this season, spanning 38.2 innings. In that stretch, he has issued three walks while striking out 51. Skipper has gone 18 straight outings (20.1 frames) without recording a walk (June 7 versus Lake Elsinore). The series continues tomorrow evening from John Thurman Field.

Top Performers: Fresno Grizzlies (Colorado Rockies)

• C Kody Huff (2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB)
• LHP Michael Prosecky (5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K)
• RF EJ Andrews Jr. (2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R)
• 1B Skyler Messinger (1-5, HR, RBI, R)

Top Performers: Modesto Nuts (Seattle Mariners)

• RF Lazaro Montes (3-4, HR, RBI, R)
• RHP Marcelo Perez (5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K)
• RHP Stefan Raeth (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K)

On Deck:

Thursday, August 17 @ Modesto Nuts, Fresno RHP Connor Staine (8-4, 4.98) vs. Modesto RHP Tyler Cleveland (11-5, 3.81), 7:05 pm PT

ON THAT FRES-NOTES:

This season, the Grizzlies have scored 35% of their runs in innings 7-9 (221 runs of 625 total runs).

For the second straight game, the base umpire was hit by a ball that was put into play.

Nuts’ infielder Josh Hood saw his 26-game hit streak come to an end.