Ports Score Early, Fend Off Giants Late Push

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Ports scored in each of the first five innings on Tuesday night at Excite Ballpark, including two runs in the fourth. Though errors let the Giants back into the game in the late innings, Stockton ultimately won game two of the series 8-5.

The Ports played some of the their best baseball of the season in the first half of the game, which is perhaps why they believed they could clean up the sloppy second half at some point and hang on for the victory, even getting some breathing room in the ninth.

Doubles from Ryan Lasko (15) and Nate Nankil (16) put Stockton ahead 1-0 in the first inning, and it could have been 2-0 if it weren’t for a perfect relay from left to get T.J. Schofield-Sam at the plate for the second out of the inning.

Starter Jackson Finley got around some two-out trouble in the bottom of the first inning, needing 30 pitches to navigate a base-loaded jam. He would face the minimum in the second and third innings, and left after allowing just a two-out single in the fourth for a scoreless 3.2 innings on 70 pitches.

Clark Elliott hit his first triple of the season on a rocket to right with one out in the second, before Myles Naylor doubled (6) off the wall in right center for a 2-0 lead. Bjay Cooke hit his first home run of the season on a fly ball out to deep left to go up 3-0 in the third inning, followed by Elliott hitting his second triple to start the fourth.

Myles Naylor again hit a deep fly ball with Elliott at third base, this time to straight-away center that went off the batters eye, taking a big hop that center fielder Wade Meckler could not track. After getting twisted around on the initial bounce, Meckler couldn’t locate the ball, which began to roll back towards the infield.

Manager Javier Godard waved Naylor home and he raced ahead of the throw for an inside-the-park home run on his team-leading eighth round tripper of the season for a 5-0 advantage. Darlyn Montero hits second home run (3) in as many starts since returning from injury, when he belted a no-doubter to deep right to go up 6-0. That run at the time felt like it was plenty extra for the Ports, before it would end up the winning run by the end of the night.

The fifth inning started with a throwing error by catcher Carlos Amaya after a swinging strikeout on a bouncer in the dirt, which was the first of four errors on the night for the Ports. An error by Elvis Rijo at third put a second runner on, before a couple of productive outs and a base hit cut it to 6-3, making none of the runs earned on reliever Alejandro Manzano’s line, who ended up collecting the win.

An error at second by Schofield-Sam was followed by a double for Meckler (1) to make it a two-run game in the sixth, before a double and a triple cut to one at 6-5 in the seventh inning. But the Ports got the breathing room they needed when Schofield-Sam singled and stole second in the ninth, and Nate Nakil homered on a blast to deep left to buy some insurance at 8-5.

Derreck Corro recorded the save and got the final out on the wildest play of the night. His final pitch was high and a bit behind hitter Estanlin Cassiani, and as Cassiani ducked from the ball, he held his bat out behind him. The ball plunked directly off the bat and died in front of the batter’s box in fair territory. Corro pounced on it and fired to first with Montero scooping it on the hop to put the game away.

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Game three has been pushed back to 7:00 PM to accommodate for the triple-digit heat and the post-game fireworks show.

Single game tickets, mini plans, and group outings are all on sale for the 2024 season. For more information, call the Ports front office at 209-644-1900 or email at [email protected].