VISALIA, CA - Angel Duno and Justin Donatella dueled it out tonight on the hill, but it was Duno's six strong innings that helped lead Stockton to a win over the Rawhide. Duno (W, 8-6) allowed only an unearned run on four hits with six strikeouts while Donatella (L, 6-9)
VISALIA, CA - Angel Duno and Justin Donatella dueled it out tonight on the hill, but it was Duno's six strong innings that helped lead Stockton to a win over the Rawhide. Duno (W, 8-6) allowed only an unearned run on four hits with six strikeouts while Donatella (L, 6-9) allowed two runs, one of which was earned, on four hits with three strikeouts over five innings.
Donatella was able to navigate a two-out rally by the Ports in the second to keep the game scoreless, but wasn't able to escape the fourth inning. He walked Brett Siddal to start the frame and, after inducing a fly-out from Sandber Pimmentel, gave up what appeared to be a chopper single to Sheldon Neuse. But as right fielder Ben DeLuzio came in on the ball, a funny hop skipped right past him and rolled all the way to the wall, scoring Siddal and advancing Neuse all the way to third. In the process, the two-base error gave the Ports a 1-0 lead. Three pitches later, Seth Brown doubled down the line in right to score Neuse and put Stockton (49-53/13-19) on top 2-0.
Visalia's lone offensive production also came in the fourth inning and also came on a defensive miscue. Jason Morozowski led off the inning with a single and then moved to second on a fly-out by Fernery Ozuna. Grant Hermann hit a slow chopper to first that Pimmentel fielded and tossed to Duno covering the bag, but the throw went right past Duno and rolled into foul ground. Morozowski motored around third to score, and the Rawhide had their only run of the night.
Duno would work around a one-out Matt McPhearson triple in the fifth inning and set down Visalia (52-50/16-16) in order in the sixth with a pair of strikeouts. Donatella lasted through the fifth and served as the hard-luck loser, but looked solid and pitched to weak contact. In the effort he decreased his ERA to a season-best 3.53.
Visalia had chances to score against Armando Ruiz out of the bullpen in the seventh and eighth innings. They put runners on second and third with one out in the seventh to no avail and saw a lead-off double by Morozowski in the eighth go to waste. Nolan Blackwood (SV, 11) retired the Rawhide quietly in the ninth inning to seal the game.
Morozowski and McPhearson extended their hitting streaks to eight games apiece and Austin Byler reached ten straight games with a hit by singling in the second inning. After going 11 of 13 games with double-digit hits, the Rawhide have accumulated just 13 over the past two nights.
Visalia will conclude the series against Stockton tomorrow night in the rubber match of the series and will feature a to-be-determined Rawhide starter against Stockton LHP Dalton Sawyer (1-3, 4.19). First pitch will be at 7:00 PM and tickets are available online at rawhidebaseball.com.
