VISALIA, CA - The Toros offense had been quieted by Stockton through the middle innings while the Ports had built a 6-3 lead. Their second pitcher, Miguel Ramos, had cruised through the fourth and fifth, striking out three and only allowing one hitter to reach on a hit batsman.
VISALIA, CA - The Toros offense had been quieted by Stockton through the middle innings while the Ports had built a 6-3 lead. Their second pitcher, Miguel Ramos, had cruised through the fourth and fifth, striking out three and only allowing one hitter to reach on a hit batsman.
He started the bottom of the seventh by inducing a groundout from Seth Spivey, which brought up Jorge Flores. Flores worked the count full against Romero and, on the sixth pitch of the at bat, hit a moonshot foul down the left field line: home run distance, but foul by 60 feet. One pitch later, Flores hit his first home run in 348 days to bring Visalia (56-55/20-21) within two runs. Then, with two outs and two strikes, Tyler Baker hit an infield single to the right side. Jason Morozowski followed with a double to right center that moved Baker to third.
The double by Morozowski chased Romero from the game, and Stockton brought in southpaw Jared Lyons to face Austin Byler, a left-handed hitter. Byler hadn't collected a hit in three at bats against Lyons (L, 2-3) this year, but didn't let the suspense hang: Byler blasted Lyons's first pitch over the bullpen in right and into the Pasture seating section for a go-ahead, three-run homer to give the Rawhide a 7-6 lead.
Austin Mason (W, 1-1), who had set down the side quietly in the seventh inning, got one out in the eighth before being removed for Yoan López (SV, 2), who struck out both men he faced in the eighth inning before committing a high-wire act save in the ninth, allowing the tying run to reach third and the go-ahead to reach second for Mikey White. Lopez stole strike one with a slider on the outside corner and then blew two fastballs by White to end the game and send the Toros to the win.
Stockton (54-57/18-23) took the lead in the third inning off of Cody Reed when, in a 3-3 tie, Mikey white reached on a two-base fielding error by Fernery Ozuna with two outs. Seth Brown launched the next pitch into the Pasture in right to put the Ports up 5-3. They added on in the fifth on a double by White to score Brett Siddal. White's double, his second of the game, chased Reed after 4.1 innings.
Ports starter James Naile lasted four frames for Stockton and settled down after a disastrous three-run first. Only two of the runs came as earned against Naile, as leadoff man Ben DeLuzio reached on an error, but a two-run double by Byler and a run-scoring single by Fernery Ozuna put the Toros off to a 3-0 lead. Stockton quickly erased the lead in the top of the second on back-to-back doubles by Sheldon Neuse and Mikey White, which were followed by a Brown single and a Skye Bolt triple.
Visalia ended their five-game losing streak that had extended back to the prior homestead's final two games against Lake Elsinore. Their seven runs marked the highest run total Visalia has scored since July 26, the last time they played Stockton.
Byler finished with two hits on the night, the double and the clutch homer, and a season-high five runs batted in. Baker and Flores both added a pair of hits for Visalia. Colin Poche entered for Reed in the fifth inning and pitched 1.2 hitless innings, striking out two and walking one.
Visalia will continue the four-game series with the Stockton Ports tomorrow as well as Taquiza y Toros weekend, where the Rawhide will become the Visalia Toros to celebrate the Hispanic heritage of Tulare County. First pitch is at 7 PM and will feature RHP Sam Lewis (0-1, 1.50) for the Rawhide and RHP Norge Ruiz (2-0, 4.25) for Stockton. Tickets are still available on Rawhidebaseball.com.
