STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Ports earned another critical victory over the Visalia Rawhide on Tuesday afternoon. Stockton tied the game in the seventh inning, benefitted from a play at the plate in the top of the 11th and then won the game when Brett Siddall was hit by a
STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Ports earned another critical victory over the Visalia Rawhide on Tuesday afternoon. Stockton tied the game in the seventh inning, benefitted from a play at the plate in the top of the 11th and then won the game when Brett Siddall was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th to notch a 3-2 victory that gives them a chance for a share of first place by day's end.
Visalia opened the scoring in the fourth on one swing of the bat by Grant Heyman, who hit a solo home run to right field with two outs to give the Rawhide a 1-0 lead. Visalia widened the lead in the fifth as Sergio Alcántara singled and scored on an ensuing double by Jason Morozowski to give the Rawhide a 2-0 edge.
Ports starter Brendan Butler would not factor into the decision. Butler went 6.2 innings and allowed two runs on six hits while walking three and striking out six.
Stockton's first run of the contest also came on one swing of the bat as Siddall homered to begin the fifth inning and cut the Ports deficit to 2-1. It was the only run allowed by Visalia starter Jose Almonte, who went 5.1 innings and allowed three hits while walking four and striking out five.
Kirby Bellow, who recorded back-to-back strikeouts upon entering the game in the sixth, pitched into the seventh and gave up a one-out walk to Siddall. Two batters later, with Siddall at second base and two away, Santiago Chávez roped a single into left-center to score Siddall and tie the game at 2-2. It was the only run allowed by Bellow in an inning-and-two-thirds.
After the seventh, neither team mounted a threat until the top of the 11th when Austin Byler led off with a triple to left off Cody Stull (1-0). With the infield in, Stull would get Henry Castillo to ground out to third which kept Byler at third base. Byler was then lifted for a pinch-runner as Matt McPhearson came off the bench. Heyman would hit a bouncer to first base that was fielded by Sandber Pimentel. Pimentel threw home and catcher Sean Murphy swung around and applied the tag on McPhearson on a bang-bang play at the plate that kept the score knotted at 2-2.
Rawhide reliever Austin Mason (0-1) began his third inning of work in the bottom of the 11th and walked Seth Brown to open the frame. James Harris came up next and lined a ball off the glove of Cribbs, who made an errant toss to first to try and get Harris with the pitcher covering. It was ruled a hit for Harris and an error on Cribbs that enabled Brown to get to third base. After an intentional walk of Pimentel loaded the bases, Siddall came to the plate and was hit in the leg on a 2-2 pitch that forced the winning run home.
Mason suffered the loss after two-plus innings of relief while Stull, who pitched two scoreless frames, picked up his first win of the season.
The Ports and Rawhide wrap up their three-game series on Wednesday night at Banner Island Ballpark. In a battle of southpaws, A.J. Puk (4-4, 3.98 ERA) makes the start for Stockton, opposed by Visalia's Cody Reed (0-2, 4.96 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. PDT.
