STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Ports earned their eighth shutout win of the season on Friday night at John Thurman Field and held the Modesto Nuts without a hit to the outfield. Modesto mustered just two infield singles in the contest as Ports starter Dustin Hurlbutt (2-2) hurled seven scoreless
STOCKTON, Calif. - The Stockton Ports earned their eighth shutout win of the season on Friday night at John Thurman Field and held the Modesto Nuts without a hit to the outfield. Modesto mustered just two infield singles in the contest as Ports starter Dustin Hurlbutt (2-2) hurled seven scoreless innings in a 3-0 Stockton victory to open a three-game series.
Stockton's first run came in the second inning when, with Luke Persico at third base and two outs, Brallan Perez drove him home with an infield single to make it a 1-0 game.
Modesto starter Reggie McClain (2-5) kept the Ports out of the run column the next three innings but would be tagged for a pair of runs in the sixth. With runners at the corners and nobody out, a passed ball charged to Nuts catcher Tyler Baker allowed Jonah Heim to score from third to make it 2-0. With one out, Luis Barrera stroked a triple to right field to run the Stockton lead to 3-0.
McClain would suffer the loss, going seven innings and allowing 10 hits while walking one and striking out four.
Hurlbutt, meanwhile, retired the first 11 batters he faced before allowing the first of two infield singles to Evan White with two outs in the fourth. Hurlbutt worked around a walk issued in both the fifth and sixth innings. In the seventh, White opened the inning with his second infield single of the night. Two batters later with one out, Joe Rizzo walked to put two aboard, the only instance where the Nuts had more than one baserunner on in the contest. Hurlbutt would bear down and get back-to-back flyouts to end the inning and his outing.
Hurlbutt earned the victory, tossing a season-high seven innings while working around three walks and striking out four.
Sam Sheehan and Andrew Tomasovich (SV, 3) each worked a scoreless inning to close out the ballgame with Tomasovich earning his third save of the season.
Persico and Perez each had a multi-hit game for Stockton.
The Ports and Nuts play the middle game of their three-game series on Saturday night at John Thurman Field. Left-hander Evan Manarino (1-0, 4.50 ERA) makes the start for Stockton, opposed by Modesto southpaw Colin Rodgers (2-2, 4.29 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. PDT.
