Hawks win pitching duel, 1-0

Modesto's Mike Wood and Lancaster's Doug Slaten matched each other inning for inning, zero for zero. Both starters pitched six dominant innings, easing through some innings and escaping jams in others, before handing the scoreless tie to the bullpens.

Both bullpens pitched four shutout innings before the JetHawks broke the scoreless tie in the 11th and holding on for the win, 1-0.

Cedrick Harris opened the 11th with a single to right field. Jamie Sykes sacrificed Harris to second, then Rico Montas drove him home with another single to right.

It took three hours, 26 minutes for a run to score in this game. Both teams used four pitchers, and the JetHawks finally got to the A's fourth, Derell McCall.

Jay Belflower (1-1) pitched the final two innings for Lancaster to earn the win. It was Belflower's first professional victory. McCall (1-5) allowed one run in two innings to take the loss for Modesto.

Brian Matzenbacher, Greg Jacobs and Belflower pitched Lancaster's four innings of shutout relief, and Kyle Crowell and Ron Flores gave way to McCall in the 10th.

The relievers were effective, but the starters starred in this anti-slugfest.

Wood, who's drawn comparison's to Oakland's Tim Hudson in his first season in the A's organization, got three of his eight strikeouts in key situations, pitching out of bases loaded jams in the second and sixth innings.

The JetHawks loaded the bases with one out in the second, but Wood struck out Jamie Sykes and Rico Montas. The JetHawks put runners on second and third with one out in the sixth, but Wood struck out Ryan Jones, then got Sykes to ground out after an intentional walk.

Wood had plenty of movement on his pitches, but sometimes struggled to control it. He struck out eight and walked four, and allowed five hits.

As good as Wood was, Slaten was better. He retired the first five batters he faced, and allowed just four hits over six innings.

He forced the A's to put the ball in play, and took advantage of the spacious outfield at John Thurman Field. He struck out just three batters, but recorded six fly ball outs. He retired the first batter in all six of his innings, and allowed just two Modesto baserunners to reach third - both with two outs.

Matt Kata had three hits for the JetHawks, but was caught stealing once and picked off first base once. Jeff Waldron had two singles and a walk in three plate appearances.

JetHawks catcher J.D. Closser took advantage of the extra innings, hitting a two-out single in the 10th to extend his hitting streak to 12 games.

Uploaded August 2, 2001