Wagner puts in extra work against 'Hawks

By DAVE RASBACH
Valley Press Staff Writer

In fact, they usually don't last past the fifth inning and never throw more than 75 pitches.

But Modesto's Denny Wagner showed something special Saturday in his start against the Lancaster JetHawks. Wagner pitched seven outstanding innings to lead the A's to a 3-1 victory before a sellout crowd of 4,139 at John Thurman Field.

"He pitched well against us," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "You could see he was keeping a lot of our guys off balance."

Modesto broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning by turning back-toback singles by Brian Luderer and Caonabo Cosme into a a two-run lead. The big hit of the inning was Omar Rosario's one-out RBI double, which Lancaster right fielder Alex Fernandez lost in the twilight.

"He didn't see that ball at all," Garner said. "If he would have seen it, I'm sure he would have made the play. Then we would have at least held them to one run, and maybe even have gotten out of the inning. That's just how things have been going for us."

As a result, Luderer scored from second base on the play. Cosme also scored from third on a groundout by Oscar Salazar.

With those runs, Lancaster fell to a franchise-low 32 games under .500 overall (34-66), which is also the worst mark in minor league baseball. The loss also marked the JetHawks' fifth consecutive defeat, a streak that began with the start of their current nine-game road trip, as Lancaster fell to 11-17 in the second half.

Modesto, meanwhile, improved to a franchise-best 26 games over .500 (63-37).

It's that success that convinced the A's to continue the tandem approach into the second half after the rest of the Oakland affiliates switched to a more traditional fiveman starting rotation.

If Modesto continues to get starts like it did from Wagner on Saturday, the A's also might consider adopting the more traditional rotation.

"I was talking to their thirdbase coach, and he said they just didn't let guys go that long usually," Lancaster's Jason Regan said. "But he threw so well, they decided to let him go."

Wagner didn't allow an earned run in his seven innings of work, scattering six hits and a walk through his longest outing of the season. The seven innings matched the longest of the year by a Modesto starter.

The right-hander was extremely effective with his pitches, as 55 of his 73 throws to the plate were for strikes. The ratio (43 strikes in 54 pitches) through the first six innings was even more impressive.

"He threw a nice slider," Garner said. "We didn't do a good job of sitting on it. We were real aggressive at the plate."

Regan was the only JetHawks player to have much success against Wagner (7-4), going 3-for-4 with two singles and a fourth-inning double.

It was that double that drove in Lancaster's only run of the game. It was unearned, though, as Greg Connors reached base to lead off the inning on an error by second baseman Salazar.

Connors was the only Lancaster runner to advance past second base.

Wayne Nix, who usually is Wagner's starting tandem partner, worked a scoreless eighth and ninth inning to pick up his second save of the year.

Patrick Dunham (0-1) threw four-plus strong innings, holding the A's to five hits and one walk, but ended up taking the loss.

Jason Turman held Modesto without a run through his four innings of work.

"We got good pitching, but once again we didn't get the hitting to go along with it," Garner said.

Uploaded July 26, 1999