Ports Win Series Versus Giants With Walk Off in the 12th

STOCKTON, Calif. — The Ports won on a literal walk off in the 12th inning on Sunday afternoon, with Ryan Lasko drawing a bases-loaded, full-count walk for a 5-4 win and a series victory over the Giants.

The win moved the Ports to 2-1 in extra-inning games, and the 4-2 series win over the Giants puts them at 7-5 on the season against San Jose.

Lasko helped Stockton get out to a 1-0 lead as well, drawing a walk in the bottom of the first and stealing second, before TJ Schofield-Sam drove him in with a single into center.

The Giants answered in the second inning on the only mistakes starter Jackson Finley made in a great outing for the Georgia Tech product. He hit Giants right fielder Cesar Quintas with a pitch with one out, then committed a balk after stumbling off the mound without delivering a pitch. A bloop single into center would score Quintas and tie the game at 1-1.

Finley would end up going five innings and allowed just one hit, one walk, the hit by pitch, and one run with five strikeouts. San Jose put runners on in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings — including a runner at third in the sixth — against reliever Yunior Tur. However, Tur would bend but not break in three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and two walks with four strikeouts.

Lasko and Dereck Salom led off the ninth with base hits, but the Giants Tommy Kane retired the next three batters. Neither team scored in the 10th, with both sides going down in order. But the stalemate broke in the 11th, with the Giants putting the Ports up against the ropes in the top of the inning.

Micah Dallas was perfect in the ninth and 10th, but finally ran into trouble in the 11th. Cole Foster hit an RBI double with one out to break the 1-1 tie, and with two outs Charlie Szykowny hit his first home run of the season to put the Giants up 4-1.

The Ports were down to their last out in the bottom of the 11th with Lasko at second, but Giants first baseman Guillermo Williamson dropped a pop up allowing Lasko to score to make it 4-2. Schofield-Sam got a seeing-eye single to get through the middle, before Stockton’s RBI leader Nate Nankil mashed a double off the wall in right center to tie the game at 4-4.

Diego Barrera worked a 1-2-3 top of the 12th, giving the Ports another chance to walk it off in the bottom of the inning. It would again take a two-out rally, with Stockton losing two runners on force outs at third.

But Szykowny committed an error at third with the speedy Nelson Beltran hustling down the line to load the bases. That was followed by Lasko battling back to work the full count walk and push across the game-winning run in the form of catcher Carlos Amaya for the 5-4 win.

Lasko had two stolen bases in the game, making him 15 of 17 on the season. Schofield-Sam was the only Stockton player with two hits in the pitcher’s duel, and Berrera collected his team-leading fifth win to move up to 5-1.

UP NEXT
The Ports will head to Lake Elsinore for a six-game series from Tuesday to Sunday.

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].