Bash brothers lead Lancaster past San Jose

Cirilo Cruz and Jayson Bass hit homers off erratic San Jose pitcher Luis Estrella to lift Lancaster to victory

Not throwing behind in the count to Cirilo Cruz. And not throwing behind Jayson Bass.

Yes, Estrella should've quit while he was behind. And fortunately for the Lancaster JetHawks, they didn't quit when they were behind.

Courtesy of Cruz and Bass, who smashed eighth-inning solo homers they'll be talking about in ``did ya see those'' tones at The Hangar for a while. The shots paced the JetHawks to a 7-5 victory over the San Jose Giants in the middle game of a three-game series Wednesday night.

We'll dispense quickly with the lounge act that had Cruz, Bass
spark Lancaster to victory the Giants score twice in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 5.

That took away some of the luster from another don't-sendmeback-to-Wisconsin night by Greg Connors, who hit his fourth and fifth home runs in six games since his promotion from the Class A Timber Rattlers.

The keys to that inning were second baseman Chris Dean's dropped pop fly opening the inning, and Angel Melendez's tworun single. Both of which spoiled another fine outing by JetHawks starter Brian Fuentes, who struck out nine and scattered seven hits in 7 1/3 innings.

Let's get right to the main act - the bottom of the eighth.

The curtain opened with Cruz pounding his sixth home run of the season - a laser shot over the leftfield scoreboard that broke the 5-5 tie. Cruz's home run was his second in three nights, echoing the eighth-inning rocket he hit Monday night against Lake Elsinore.

But for sheer dramatics, it had nothing on what was coming.

First was Jason Regan's fly out to left. Up came Bass, who in the first inning tripled home Regan with the game's first run.

Tired of waiting on Estrella, Bass asked for time, was granted it by home plate umpire Ramon Armendariz, and stepped out.

Estrella never stopped. Not only did the right-hander follow through with his windup, but he uncorked a fastball right at Bass' head.

Estrella's shenanigan nearly touched off a brawl from the irate Bass, who was restrained by Armendariz. It did bring a visit by equally irate San Jose manager Shane Turner, whose disposition didn't improve two pitches later.

That's when Bass called Estrella's bluff, launching a ball over the right-field light standard that official scorer Dave Guenther said was the longest ball he's seen hit in three seasons at The Hangar.

Followed by a bat-flip and a leisurely, 360-foot stroll around the bases.

``He threw at me, so I was going to take my sweet time,'' said Bass, who was told to run by Armendariz. ``I'm going to watch it, I'm going to enjoy it.''

Much like Connors is enjoying his stay around these parts. Since his recall last week, Connors is 12for-26 with five home runs. Wednesday night, he went 2-for-4 with two runs and the three RBI.

``I'm very comfortable here. I've always liked playing here,'' he said.