Ports Fall To Nuts in Opening Night Pitchers' Duel

MODESTO, Ca. - Five Modesto pitchers combined on a 2-hit shutout, and the Ports fell on the road to the Nuts by the final of 3-0 on Tuesday night at John Thurman Field in Modesto.

Right-hander Josias De Los Santos started for the Nuts and gave up just one hit in four innings pitched with six strikeouts. He was followed by Luis Curvelo who picked up the win with two shutout innings. Jorge Benitez, Robert Winslow, and Nolan Hoffman finished the game with three hitless innings. Hoffman picked up the save.

The Nuts opened the scoring in the bottom of the second inning. Cesar Izturis, Jr. led off the inning with a double to left field and came around to score on a two-run home run by Nuts catcher Matt Scheffler. Both runs came off Ports starter Osvaldo Berrios who took the loss gaving up 2 earned runs on four hits in four innings with five strikeouts.

Lefty David Leal was impressive out of the bullpen for Stockton, giving up just two hits in three shutout innings with three strikeouts. Tyler Soderstrom and Lazaro Armenteros picked up the only hits for the Ports; Soderstrom had a double with two outs in the top of the first, and Armenteros a one-out single in the sixth.