Ports Fail to Slow Down Fresno Bats in Sunday Loss

STOCKTON, Calif. — With temperatures finally starting to come down just a bit in the downtown Stockton area, the Stockton Ports had another tough time cooling off the bats of the Fresno Grizzlies. Despite an early lead, the Ports allowed the Grizzlies to score in five-straight innings en route to a 10-2 defeat on Sunday night at Banner Island Ballpark. With the win, Fresno has taken four of the first five games of this series.

Things got off to a good start for the Ports when the struck first in the bottom of the third. Colby Thomas nearly hit a home run with two outs in the inning, sending a ball into the batter’s eye in center. Brennan Milone followed with a grueling 15-pitch at bat against Grizzlies starter Connor Staine, and won the battle by dropping a single into the outfield to score Thomas and give Stockton the first run of the game. For Milone, it was his 41stRBI of the season, second most on the team behind Thomas.

Just a few pitches into the top of the fourth, however, Fresno got that run back off the bat of Ryan Ritter, who took DheyglerGimenez 453 feet deep to center for hist 18th home run of the season, making it 1-1. Fresno would add single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to eventually take a 4-1 lead.

That put Gimenez on the hook for the loss, which was tough-luck for certain. He did not allow a hit until the third inning, and surrendered only two earned runs over 5.1 innings, with four strikeouts.

His offense could not back him up enough, however, as the Ports had chances in the sixth and seventh innings, but failed to add on. In the sixth, they received two walks and a hit batter to load the bases with two outs, but could not score. In the seventh, Carlos Franco and Bjay Cooke singled to open the inning, and after loading the bases again with two outs, Stockton came up empty.

That led to the biggest surge of the night from Fresno, as the Grizzlies took advantage of missed chances by the Ports and added on six runs in the eighth inning. They needed five hits, three walks, and two wild pitches to do their damage, which ballooned the lead to 10-1.

Stockton got a run back in the ninth on a groundout from Henry Bolte to add onto their totals for the night. Thomas went 2-5 with both runs scored, while Bolte had a pair of singles with an RBI. Cam Masterman also reached base three times, with a double and twice being hit by a pitch.

The series concludes on Monday night at Banner Island Ballpark, as the Ports and Grizzlies will play one final time in Stockton this season. Jackson Cox will get the ball for Fresno and will be opposed by Stockton starter Wander Guante. First pitch is at 7:05 pm as the Ports celebrate Independence Day with a firework show after the ballgame.