MODESTO, Calif. - The Stockton Ports blew a 3-0 lead late in Friday night's ballgame but scratched across a late run that proved to be the difference at John Thurman Field. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Stockton got back-to-back singles from Eli White and Luis Barrera
MODESTO, Calif. - The Stockton Ports blew a 3-0 lead late in Friday night's ballgame but scratched across a late run that proved to be the difference at John Thurman Field. With two outs in the top of the ninth, Stockton got back-to-back singles from Eli White and Luis Barrera with Barrera driving in White to break a 3-3 tie and help the Ports to a 4-3 victory over the Modesto Nuts. With the win, the Ports move into a three-way tie for second place and sit one game back of Modesto for first place in the North Division standings.
Stockton's first run came in the opening stanza as Branden Cogswell and Richie Martin hit back-to-back singles to open the ballgame. Brett Siddall grounded out to the right side to advance the runners at Sandber Pimentel grounded out to shortstop to score Cogswell and give Stockton a 1-0 lead.
The Ports took advantage of an error that allowed Cogswell to reach with one out in the third inning. Siddall would drive Cogswell home with a single to right field to make it a 2-0 Stockton lead. The Ports added another run in the fourth as Mikey White led off with a single and scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Barrera to make it a 3-0 contest.
Nuts starter Tyler Jackson would not factor into the decision as he went six innings and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits while striking out three.
Meanwhile, Stockton starter Logan Shore was having the best outing of his career. Shore scattered three singles through the first six innings as he entered the seventh inning having retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced, including 11 in a row. In the seventh, however, Shore would face five batters and give up four hits. Kyle Lewis and Joey Curletta hit back-to-back singles to open the inning and Luis Liberato followed with an RBI double to score Lewis and cut the Ports lead to 3-1. After Arturo Nieto grounded out to drive in a second run, Logan Taylor hit a game-tying double to left-center to score Liberato and knot the score at 3-3, knocking Shore from the contest. Evan Manarino (6-8) would come on and record back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
Shore would not factor into the decision as he went a career-high 6.1 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits while matching a career-high with seven strikeouts.
Manarino would pitch a scoreless eighth and go on to pick up the win, allowing just one hit while striking out four in his outing.
Jack Anderson (0-2), who pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Nuts, would come back out to pitch the ninth. After recording back-to-back strikeouts to start the ninth, Eli White extended the inning with a single up the middle and stole second on the first pitch to Barrera. Barrera would make the stolen base pay dividends as he hit an RBI single to left to score White and give the Ports a 4-3 advantage. It was the only run allowed by Anderson as he would suffer his second loss of the season.
Nolan Blackwood (SV, 17), who'd converted his last 14 save opportunities, came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth for Stockton. Blackwood would immediately encounter an obstacle as he gave up a leadoff double to Liberato, who advanced to third on an ensuing groundout by Nieto. With the infield in, Blackwood got pinch-hitter Gianfranco Wawoe to ground out to the shallow-playing shortstop Richie Martin for the second out. Joe DeCarlo came up next and hit a sinking line drive to Martin who made a sliding catch moving to his left to end the ballgame and preserve Blackwood's 15th consecutive save.
The Ports and Nuts play the middle game of their three-game series on Saturday night at John Thurman Field. Brendan Butler (4-4, 5.69 ERA) makes the start for Stockton, opposed by Modesto left-hander Spencer Herrmann (3-5, 3.21 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. PDT.
