STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Ports earned a series victory over the San Jose Giants on Thursday night and Seth Brown achieved a milestone in the process. Brown hit his 20th home run of the season as part of a 2-for-4 night as the Ports defeated the Giants by a
STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Ports earned a series victory over the San Jose Giants on Thursday night and Seth Brown achieved a milestone in the process. Brown hit his 20th home run of the season as part of a 2-for-4 night as the Ports defeated the Giants by a final of 6-4.
San Jose jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second when Lodi native Gio Brusa hit a two-run double to the right field corner to score Jonah Arenado and Dillon Dobson who'd been hit by a pitch and walked, respectively. Stockton tied the game in the bottom of the third as Mikey White walked to lead off the inning and Santiago Chávez doubled to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Nate Mondou and Richie Martin hit back-to-back RBI groundouts that tied the score at 2-2.
Stockton took the lead for good in the fourth as Sheldon Neuse hit his third home run in as many games, a solo shot to right-center that gave the Ports a 3-2 lead. Two batters later, Brown tripled and scored on a two-out RBI single by Mikey White to make it a 4-2 game.
Giants right-hander Matt Solter (4-1), who took over after starter Jake McCasland faced just one batter and left due to injury, suffered the loss. Solter allowed four runs on five hits over 3.2 innings worked.
Heath Slatton took over for the Giants in the fifth and, after striking out his first two batters, gave up a double to Brett Siddall and an RBI single to Neuse to make it a 5-2 game.
Ports starter Norge Ruiz (3-0) gave up three straight two-out singles in the sixth inning, the last one hit by Dobson to drive in a run, cutting the Ports lead to 5-3. It was the final run allowed by Ruiz, who earned the win after going six innings and allowing three runs on five hits while striking out two.
Stockton got the run back on the very first pitch of the bottom of the sixth as Brown clubbed his 20th home run of the season to make it a 6-3 game. It was the final run allowed by Slatton who pitched three innings in relief.
Kyle Friedrichs took over in the seventh and pitched into the eighth, where he recorded back-to-back outs to open the frame. Friedrichs then surrendered a homer to Jonah Arenado that cut the Stockton lead to 6-4. After Dobson walked, Friedrichs was lifted for Nolan Blackwood (SV, 13), who struck out Brusa to end the inning.
Blackwood stayed on for the ninth and got back-to-back outs to start the inning before hitting Jalen Miller to get Steven Duggar to the plate as the possible-tying run. Duggar would ground out to second to end the ballgame as Blackwood notched his 13th save of the season.
After taking two of three from the Giants, the Ports welcome the Visalia Rawhide to Banner Island Ballpark on Friday to open a three-game series. Right-hander Angel Duno (8-7, 4.57 ERA) makes the start for Stockton, opposed by Rawhide right-hander Jose Almonte (8-8, 3.70 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. PDT.
