By CHRIS BRANAM
Staff Writer
LANCASTER - Just when the Lancaster JetHawks looked like they had gotten a spark, along came Mike Neill.
Neill crushed a John Daniels pitch over the wall in right-center field that gave the Modesto A's an 11-8 lead in the eighth inning Wednesday night in front of 3,904 at The Hangar.
Neill's homer quashed the momentum the JetHawks had gained after a six-run seventh had pulled them into a tie at eight with the Northern Division-leading A's.
Although the JetHawks put the leadoff batter on base against Modesto starter Carl Dale in four of the first five innings, the only significant hit Dale gave up in the early going was a two-run home run by Jesus Marquez, his 15th of the season.
Marquez, who would loom large later in the game, tied James Clifford for the team-high in homers and also collected his team-leading 85th RBI.
But Dale, who was one of four players acquired by Oakland from St. Louis for Todd Stottlemyre in January, persevered.
He induced rally-killing double plays in the second and fifth. The JetHawks also stranded a runner at third in the fifth, just like they had done in the first.
But Dale left after the JetHawks loaded the bases in the seventh. He gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked three.
But he didn't like what he saw after he left.
Shane Monahan greeted reliever Chris Cochrane with a two-run single up the middle, and Jose Castro booted Jason Cook's grounder to reload the bases.
Jesus Marquez then hit a drive to right field that eluded the glove of Gary Hust at the wall.
Everybody ahead of Marquez scored, and when the A's couldn't get the throw back to the infield, Marquez trotted home to tie the game, 8-8.
Modesto built most of an 8-2 lead against Lancaster starter Ken Cloude, who retired the first nine A's batters before losing his control.
Cloude created his own problems in the fourth, when he walked three, including first baseman Derrick White with the bases loaded and two out that forced in the first Modesto run.
Cloude came into the game averaging about three walks per nine innings, but he tied a season-high with five walks in his previous start July 24 in Modesto and was erratic after the fourth Wednesday.
In the fifth, he gave up a double to David Newhan and an RBI single to Castro that tied the game at two.
In the sixth, Emil Brown singled with two outs and scored on White's triple into the gap in rightcenter field that just eluded the diving center fielder Monahan.
White scored on Hust's single and the A's took a 4-2 lead.
And the A's padded their lead in the seventh as Cloude couldn't get an out.
He gave up a leadoff single to Danny Ardoin, walked Castro and third baseman David Slemmer, who was promoted from rookie-level Southern Oregon just last week, doubled into the gap in left-center to score two and put the A's up 6-2.
That was all for Cloude, who gave up seven runs, all earned, eight hits, struck out five and walked four in six innings.