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JetHawks’ Defeat Is Elementary

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Lancaster JetHawks lost, 5-3, to the Modesto A’s on Wednesday night at the Hangar but it was baseball fundamentals that took a beating.

Trailing by two runs in the seventh inning, the JetHawks had Yuni Kim at second with none out. But Tarrik Brock lined out to second baseman Jose Castro, who caught Kim off the bag for a double play.

The gaffe was magnified when the next two hitters singled. The JetHawks (22-24) failed to score when Carlos Villalobos, who earlier singled to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, flied out.

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Manager Rick Burleson, a stickler for fundamentals, pulled Kim out of the game after the inning.

In the eighth, Shawn Buhner needed a fly ball or a grounder through the drawn-in infield to score a runner from third with one out but took a called third strike.

The JetHawk pitching staff was tagged for the fewest runs in a week, and outfielder Miguel Correa broke a one-for-14 slump with a home run and two doubles.

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JetHawk starter Matt Apana (0-1), who won 14 games in the California League in 1994 and is back rehabilitating from rotator cuff surgery, blanked the A’s for two innings, but Modesto scored a run in third on a home run by catcher A.J. Hinch.

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