MODESTO, Calif. - The Stockton Ports' offense was on full display Sunday night at John Thurman Field. Stockton banged out 18 hits and plated 15 runs while Seth Brown gathered five RBI in a lopsided 15-3 win over the Modesto Nuts to earn a series victory and remain tied with
MODESTO, Calif. - The Stockton Ports' offense was on full display Sunday night at John Thurman Field. Stockton banged out 18 hits and plated 15 runs while Seth Brown gathered five RBI in a lopsided 15-3 win over the Modesto Nuts to earn a series victory and remain tied with the Visalia Rawhide for the second-best overall record in the North Division heading into a day off on Monday.
Stockton scored in all but two innings and the attack started in the first. Eli White doubled, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brett Siddall. The Ports added to their lead in the second as Skye Bolt led off with a home run, one of three homers hit by the Ports in the contest. Later in the inning, Nate Mondou provided a sac-fly to score Branden Cogswell and make it a 3-0 ballgame.
The Ports began to create big separation in the third. With one on and one out, Brown cranked a two-run homer over the batter's eye in center field to make it a 5-0 game. Two batters later, Argenis Raga homered to left to run the lead to 6-0. Stockton plated another run in the fourth on an RBI single by Jake Smolinski, scoring Mondou who'd doubled earlier to make it 7-0.
Nuts starter Reggie McClain (11-9) would suffer the loss as he went four innings and allowed seven runs (six earned) on nine hits while striking out four.
Ports starter Brandon Bailey, in his second game since coming off the disabled list, would toss three scoreless innings and pitch around two singles and a walk allowed. Miguel Romero (3-1) would take over in the fourth and give up his only run in the fifth. Romero dropped the ball at first base on a potential 3-1 putout of Jordan Cowan, who went on to score on a two-out RBI double by Joey Curletta. The run was unearned for Romero who picked up the win after tossing three innings and allowing four hits while striking out four.
Bryan Bonnell, who pitched a scoreless fifth, came back out for the sixth and saw the bases loaded with nobody out on two singles and a walk. Eli White delivered an RBI single to center, followed by a sac-fly by Smolinski to make it 9-1. Brown added an RBI single later in the inning to make it a 10-1 contest and chase Bonnell from the game. Bonnell would go an inning-and-two-thirds and allow three runs on five hits.
Marvin Gorgas took over in the sixth and pitched into the seventh. With runners at first and second and one out, Mondou hit a double-play ball that was booted by the shortstop Rayder Ascanio which loaded the bases. With two outs, Gorgas issued back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Smolinski and Siddall, followed by a two-run single to Browrn that ballooned the Ports lead to 14-1. All four runs that scored in the seventh were unearned for Gorgas.
Stockton's final run came in the eighth facing Matt Walker. With one on and two out, Mondou reached again on a fielding error, this time by second baseman Donnie Walton. Pinch-hitter Luis Barrera came up next and drew a walk to load the bases followed by Smolinski, who drew his second bases-loaded walk in as many innings to give Stockton its 15th run of the contest which was unearned for Walker.
Armadno Ruiz took over starting in the seventh inning and would work through the eighth. With two outs in the eighth, Ruiz gave up a single to Austin Grebek, followed by a two-run homer to Joe DeCarlo that cut the Ports lead to 15-3. They were the only two runs allowed by Ruiz in his two innings of work.
After taking two of three in Modesto, the Ports welcome the Nuts to Banner Island Ballpark for a three-game series beginning on Tuesday following a day off on Monday. Left-hander Dalton Sawyer (3-4, 3.22 ERA) is scheduled to make the start for Stockton, opposed by Modesto right-hander Robert Dugger (1-3, 3.66 ERA). First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. PDT.
