STOCKTON, CA - Stockton's Brallan Perez and Nate Mondou delivered RBI singles in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Ports to a dramatic 3-2 series-opening victory over the San Jose Giants on Friday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. The Giants forced extra-innings on Sandro Fabian's solo home
STOCKTON, CA - Stockton's Brallan Perez and Nate Mondou delivered RBI singles in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Ports to a dramatic 3-2 series-opening victory over the San Jose Giants on Friday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. The Giants forced extra-innings on Sandro Fabian's solo home run in the top of the ninth and then took the lead with a run in the top of the 10th only to see Stockton score twice in the bottom of the frame for the walk-off win. The loss was San Jose's (23-19) fourth in their last five games overall.
Jalen Miller (2-for-5, RBI, SB), Frandy De La Rosa (2-for-4) and Matt Winn (2-for-4) had two apiece for the Giants offensively.
A fourth-inning run gave the Ports a 1-0 lead and they held that advantage all the way until the top of the ninth when Fabian led off with a home run down the left field line. The homer was Fabian's third of the season.
After Patrick Ruotolo (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) breezed through a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to keep the game tied, San Jose took their first lead of the night in the top of the 10th. With Johneshwy Fargas at second base to begin the inning as the automatic runner, Miller led off with a line drive single into center. The hit scored Fargas to give the Giants a 2-1 lead. San Jose though was unable to add on in the inning as Wander Franco followed by drawing a walk on a pitch in the dirt, but Miller was thrown out on the play as he tried to advance all the way to third. Jacob Heyward then struck out before Franco was thrown out at second attempting to steal to end the inning.
With the score 2-1, Rodolfo Martinez relieved Ruotolo to begin the bottom of the 10th. Luke Persico was the automatic runner at second and he advanced to third on Kevin Merrell's sacrifice bunt. Perez was up next and he grounded a 1-2 pitch from Martinez up the middle for a single as Persico scored the tying run. Melvin Mercedes followed with a deep fly out to center for the second out, but on the play, Fargas threw wildly back to first in an attempt to double-off Perez allowing the potential winning run to advance to second. One pitch later, Mondou lined a single into left center to easily score Perez giving Stockton a 3-2 victory.
Sam Sheehan (2-2) picked-up the win for the Ports after pitching the top of the 10th.
Martinez (3-3) was saddled with the loss for the Giants. Both runs allowed by Martinez in the bottom of the 10th were unearned.
Logan Webb started on the mound for San Jose and tossed three scoreless innings. Webb worked around two hits and two walks while striking out three batters during his 46-pitch outing.
DJ Myers (2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO) entered from the bullpen to begin the bottom of the fourth and allowed a leadoff double to Jonah Heim before a two-out RBI single from Persico put Stockton in front 1-0. Myers would then leave the game following the Persico hit with an apparent injury.
Jeff Burke (2 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 SO) and Dylan Rheault (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) both kept the Ports off the board as the score remained at 1-0 until Fabian's homer in the ninth.
Logan Shore started for Stockton and scattered eight hits - all singles - over 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Shore walked one and struck out seven.
Notes
* Friday was the opener of a season-high nine-game road trip for San Jose.
* The Giants fell to 5-2 in extra-inning games this season. They started the year 5-0 before falling in 10 innings to Lancaster on Monday.
* San Jose out-hit Stockton 11-8.
* The Giants went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The only hit was Miller's single in the top of the 10th.
* Ports pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts.
* Webb lowered his ERA to 2.08.
* San Jose dropped to three games behind Stockton (26-16) in the first half North Division race.
On Deck
The Giants and Ports continue their three-game series on Saturday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark scheduled for 7:10 PM. Sandro Cabrera (5-0, 4.05 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Parker Dunshee (2-1, 2.70 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:50 PM.
