Ports’ Bats Quiet in Loss to 66ers as Skid Reaches Three

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – The Stockton Ports (19-35) were out hit 12-4 in game three against Inland Empire, falling 8-1 at San Manuel Stadium.

The 66ers (26-25), or the Cucuys as they were known on Thursday night to celebrate MiLB’s the Copa de la Diversión identity, struck early and kept tacking on, scoring in each of the first four innings. A leadoff single by Nelson Rada in the bottom of the first was followed by his league-leading 25th stolen base before an RBI groundout to first from Mike Peabody scored Rada for a 1-0 lead.

Two errors in the middle infield led to a run scoring in the bottom of the second to make it 2-0 Inland Empire. The Cucuys home run leader would get his ninth of the season on his first inside-the-park home run in the third. Matt Coutney hit a towering fly ball to left center that caromed off the base of the wall and darted into straight-away center, forcing the Ports center fielder Pedro Pineda to chase it down as Coutney reached second base.

Pineda made a good throw into the cutoff man Bjay Cooke who fired home in time to get Coutney at the plate, but catcher Cooper Uhl couldn’t hang on the ball as he applied the tag and Coutney was safe for a 4-0 Inland Empire lead.

The Ports would get a run back in the fourth when Henry Bolte drove a ball into the right center gap that bounced in front of the wall and deflected off the top of it to stay in play and allow the speedy Bolte to slide into third with a triple. T.J. Schofield-Sam would drive him in with a base hit over the Cucuys third baseman to get Stockton on the board at 4-1.

An answer inning would follow though from Inland Empire, when a bloop double between three fielders in center deflected off a glove and scored a run to push the deficit back to four at 5-1. The Cucuys would have their biggest inning of the night in the seventh in Aaron Cohn’s second inning of relief.

Jeremy Arocho’s single was followed by one from Rada, and then they executed a double steal with no one out. Jorge Ruiz ripped an RBI double to score them for a 7-1 lead and a sac fly from Coutney rounded out the scoring at 8-1.

Luis Carrasco (0-1) took his first loss of the season allowing five runs (four earned) in five innings. Jorge Marcheco improved to 5-3 with the win and Dylan Phillips collected the save (3) with three shutout innings.

Game four is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. on Friday at San Manuel Stadium.