River Cats Top Ports 5-3 in Sacramento

River Cats Top Ports 5-3

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. - In their first of two exhibition games with the Sacramento River Cats, the Stockton Ports came up short on Monday night at Raley Field, falling 5-3 to their Triple-A brethren. Stockton had scored a run in the top of the ninth and had the bases loaded with nobody out before River Cats reliever Jordan Norberto reached his pitch limit, at which point the teams called an end to the inning.

Addison Russell, the A's first-round pick from 2012, went 3-for-3 for the Ports with a pair of singles and an RBI double that scored the game's first run in the third.

Sacramento got on the board in the fourth with back-to-back RBI singles form former Port Michael Choice and Scott Moore off Ports starter Sean Murphy, giving the River Cats a 2-1 lead.

The Ports tied the game in the sixth on back-to-back two-out RBI doubles from B.A. Vollmuth and Dusty Robinson off Pedro Figueroa.

Sacramento reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the sixth when Choice hit a solo home run off Pedro Vidal to make it a 3-2 game. Jake Brown was summoned in relief and gave up a triple to Moore, an RBI single to Luke Montz and an RBI double to David Freitas to give the River Cats a 5-2 cushion.

Norberto came on to pitch the last of the ninth for Sacramento and gave up a leadoff double to Tony Thompson. Two batters later, Bobby Crocker, who went 2-for-3 on the night, doubled to drive in Thompson and make it 5-3. After Norberto walked Wade Kirkland, the teams came off the field as Norberto had reached his pitch limit.

The second game in the exhibition series will be played at Banner Island Ballpark on Tuesday night with the first pitch set for 6:35 p.m.