Lancaster's title drive hits a Giant detour

Lancaster's quest for the firsthalf Valley Division crown took a serious blow as San Jose won the first game of a three-game series

The JetHawks won 12 of 15, but still lost a half game in the Valley Division standings to San Jose. During the same stretch, the Giants won 12 of 14.

If that was frustrating, Monday night must have been excruciating.

The JetHawks received their first opportunity to make up ground on the Giants in head-to-head competition, but couldn't score a run in the first eight innings. The Giants (38-20) took advantage, increasing their lead to six games over Lancaster (32-26) with a 5-2 victory at Municipal Stadium.

"They've been playing really well too," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "Everything we've done in the last two weeks, they've matched us. They're a good ballclub, and I think that showed tonight."

Although the loss did not mathematically kill the JetHawks' chances of a first-half title, it certainly put those chances on life support. A sweep of the three-game series could have pulled the JetHawks within two games of the Giants with 10 left to play. Now the JetHawks have to win today's and Wednesday's games just to stay within four when they leave the Bay Area.

To do that, the JetHawks need to produce more offensively then they did Monday night. Lancaster only got five runners on base through the first eight innings, on four hits and a walk, and none of them got beyond second base.

"I don't think we played bad tonight," Adonis Harrison said. "We just hit the ball right at them. We hit it hard, but the ball wasn't our friend tonight."

The main reason for the JetHawks' troubles was an outstanding outing by Manuel Bermudez (5-3). The right-hander, who split time between Bakersfield and San Jose last season, pitched eight scoreless innings. He struck out six.

"Their guy threw a great game," Burleson said. "He shut us down. He shut out some players who had been swinging a pretty hot bat."

The one time Bermudez got into trouble, his defense bailed him out. Cirilo Cruz Jr. led off the top of the fourth inning with an infield single. Brendan Kingman followed with single into left field.

After Jason Regan's fly ball to right field failed to move the runners up, Jayson Bass smashed a laser to the right of San Jose second baseman Travis Young. Young dove to snare the ball on the fly and flipped to Charles Mendoza to double off Cruz.

As well as Bermudez and the San Jose defense played, Lancaster starter Brian Fuentes and the JetHawks seemed equal to the task.

Fuentes (2-2) retired the first nine batters he faced, before Michael Byas picked up a bunt single to lead off the fourth inning. But even that hit didn't seem to faze Fuentes, who got Young to ground into a double-play.

Fuentes needed only 38 pitches to get through the first four innings. Unfortunately, he needed 23 pitches in the fifth and 29 more in the sixth.

The Lancaster left-hander got in trouble in the fifth with a leadoff walk to Guiseppe Chiaramonte. Juan Dilone followed with a single to right-center field. Benji Simonton then doubled both in with a shot that bounced over Regan's head at third and rolled down the left-field line.

The Giants added three runs in the sixth on four hits and a walk, highlighted by Dilone's two-run homer.

Lancaster couldn't break through until Bass doubled in Marcus Sturdivant and Cruz in the top of the ninth. The hit came off reliever Luis Estrella.

Fuentes allowed five earned runs on seven hits and three walks in six innings while striking out two.