Ports drop Modesto, 10-3

MODESTO, CA (September 1st, 2013) -- A night after clinching the top spot in the North Division second-half standings, the Nuts were defeated by the Ports on Sunday night 10-3 at John Thurman Field.

The game had no bearing on the standings, with the Nuts (42-27, 74-65) already wrapping up the division on Saturday night. It did however give the Ports the season-series between the two clubs as Stockton improved to 14-12 against Modesto.

Nuts starter Tyler Gagnon (12-10) struggled as the Ports tallied eight runs on 12 hits against him in 4 2/3 innings. Six of the hits went for extra-bases including a pair of home runs.

Stockton led from start to finish, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Bobby Crocker tripled and scored on a sac-fly. Crocker homered in his next at-bat to make it a 2-0 game.
After Modesto cut their deficit in half in the third with a triple from Niko Gallego and a sac-fly by David Kandilas, the Ports resumed their onslaught on Gagnon in the fourth. Stockton added three runs in that inning and three more in the fifth to end his night.  

Will Swanner doubled in a run in the fourth and Gallego homered in the eighth for his third of the year.

Michael Ynoa started the game for the Ports and went two scoreless innings before Josh Bowman (7-6) took over and went the rest of the way for the win. He allowed all three runs on seven hits.

Dusty Robinson led all hitters going 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI.   The Nuts bullpen was stout as Ryan Buch and Patrick Johnson combined to strike out eight over the final three innings.

The two clubs will wrap the regular season with an afternoon matchup at John Thurman Field on Monday. RHP Ben Alsup (12-8, 4.63) will get the start, opposite RHP Tanner Peters (12-7, 4.06) for the Ports. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m.

Modesto will head to Visalia for game one of the North Division Mini-Series on Wednesday night, before returning home to host games two and three (if necessary) at John Thurman Field. The winner will advance to play a best-of-five series against the Giants starting on September 7th in San Jose.