Stockton Sunk By Late Quakes Flurry, Fall in Game Three, 7-3

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. - The Stockton Ports (2-4) returned to life at the plate, but Rancho Cucamonga’s (3-3) late rally proved too much to overcome in Game 3 at LoanMart Field on Thursday night, 7-3.

Stockton started the scoring in the first with three hits, including a leadoff single by Ryan Lasko. He stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then came home on an RBI single by Myles Naylor to make it 1-0.

Rancho Cucamonga responded with three runs in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Josue De Paula lined a single to right field and stole second base. Zyhir Hope singled in De Paula to tie the game before Jake Gelof unleashed a 433-foot home run to the left of the center field batter’s eye to give the Quakes a 3-1 lead.

In the third inning, Stockton thought they trimmed the deficit when Lasko launched a towering ball that initially looked foul, but was taken by the wind clearly into straightaway left field and landed midway up the trees. Home plate umpire Gabe Vargas lost the ball and ruled it foul, forcing Lasko back to home plate, who eventually flew out. It was a blown call that should have resulted in Lasko’s first home run of the season.

Instead, Stockton tied the game in the fourth. With two outs, Bjay Cooke walked to extend the inning, and then with two men on, Lasko ripped a double off the center field wall to plate a pair and tie the game at 3.

The bullpens battled until the seventh inning when Rancho Cucamonga took the final lead. Jackson Finley (0-1) took the loss after walking Juan Alonso to lead off. A wild pitch moved him into scoring position and a batter later, Wilman Diaz scored Alonso on a single to right-center that gave the Quakes a 4-3 advantage.

In the eighth inning, Rancho Cucamonga got three more runs. Jeral Perez singled with one out, Cameron Decker doubled him in, and then with two outs, Carlos Rojas singled to right field to plate Decker. Diaz extended the inning with a single and then Kendall George beat out an infield single as Rojas scored to make it 7-3.

Reynaldo Yean (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning and got the win, while Christian Ruebeck fired the final two frames and earned his first save of the season.

Stockton will try to tie the series in Game 4, on Friday night at 6:30p. RHP Tzu-Chen Sha (0-0, 6.75 ERA) will go for the Ports against RHP Egdardo Henriques (0-0, 0.00 ERA). The Stockton Ports pregame show starts at 6:20p on Fox Sports Radio AM 1280.