Ducey Hits a Pair Out as Gulls Win

Rob Ducey homered twice and drove in four runs Saturday night to lead the Ventura County Gulls to a 6-2 win over the Modesto A’s in a California League game at John Thurman Field in Modesto.

Ducey’s homers were his eighth and ninth.

Winning pitcher Jeff Musselman (3-2) struck out 10 over five innings but soon tired after throwing 98 pitches. Tom Wasilewski and Mark Dickman finished up for Ventura, which remained three games behind division-leading Palm Springs.

Modesto scored in the first when Joe Kramer singled, stole second, took third on a grounder and scored on a wild pitch by Musselman, the league strikeout leader.

The wild pitch was the third strike to Tyler Brilinski, the league’s RBI and home run leader. Brilinski ran to first and tripped over the bag as catcher Greg Myers threw the ball into right field. Brilinski hurt his ankle on the play and was thrown out by Ducey. Modesto said Brilinski probably will be out a week.

Darryl Landrum, returning from an April 24 injury, hit his eighth home run in the sixth inning.