Ports Close First Half With 3-0 Win Over Giants

SAN JOSE, Calif. - After being shut out 3-0 two nights ago, the Stockton Ports returned the favor to the San Jose Giants on Saturday night at Municipal Stadium. Stockton scored a run in the third and two runs in the sixth en route to a 3-0 win over the Giants. For the Ports, it marked their third shutout victory of the season and put them at four games over .500, the most games over .500 they've been all season.

Santiago Casilla started the game for San Jose on his second Major League rehab appearance of the series and pitched the first two innings scoreless as he did not allow a hit and walked one batter.

Pat Young (5-2), San Jose's regularly scheduled starter, came on to start the third inning and issued a leadoff walk to Billy McKinney. Bobby Crocker came up next and struck out but on the third strike pitch, McKinney stole second. Young then uncorked a pair of wild pitches that allowed McKinney to get to third and to score and give the Ports a 1-0 lead.

The Ports widened their lead in the sixth. Young issued walks to Chad Pinder and Matt Olson to put two men aboard. With two on and two out, Ryon Healy and Renato Nunez hit back-to-back RBI singles to score Pinder and Olson and stretch the Stockton lead to 3-0.

Young suffered the loss, going four innings and allowing three runs on four hits while walking three and striking out two.

Ports starter Chris Lamb (3-0) pitched around a pair of singles in the first, a double in the second, a leadoff single in the third, a walk and a single in the fourth, and a double in the fifth to keep the Giants out of the run column. Lamb retired the final four batters he faced as he set the side down in order in the sixth and went on to pick up the victory, tossing six scoreless innings and allowing six hits while striking out three and walking one.

Josh Bowman came on in relief of Lamb to pitch the seventh and pitched around a one-out double hit by Ben Turner. Jeremy Barfield entered the game to pitch the eighth inning and gave up a one-out single to Mitch Delfino and a walk to Blake Miller, but struck out Brian Ragira and got Shawn Payne to ground out to shortstop to escape the jam. San Jose went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the ballgame.

Kris Hall (SV, 2) was summoned to pitch the ninth for the Ports and picked up his second save of the season. Hall gave up a one-out single to Ben Turner, but induced a game-ending double-play off the bat of Alberto Robles to close out the contest.

After taking three of four from the Giants, the Ports head into the All-Star break with a first-half record of 37-33 and a second-place finish in the North Division. Stockton will kick off the second half by hosting the Bakersfield Blaze in a four-game series beginning on Thursday at Banner Island Ballpark. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. PDT.