Three-Straight Wins for Ports After 3-1 Win Over Rawhide

STOCKTON, Calif. — The Ports defeated the Rawhide 3-1 on Wednesday night, winning a crisply-played, pitcher’s duel for their third-straight win to take the first two games of the series versus Visalia.

The return of starting pitcher Jose Dicochea powered the Ports with his five shutout innings, along with the return of Eduardo Rivera, who earned his first professional save with a 1-2-3 ninth. Both returned from high-A Lansing to work out the kinks in their game, and the Ports were happy to welcome them aboard.

In between, Tzu-Chen Sha allowed just one run in three innings of work, and the Ports manufactured three runs.

The scoring started when Robert Puason led off the second inning with a single through the left side. He advanced to second on a balk before Yeniel Laboy moved him over to third with a base hit to right. That was followed by a fly ball to deep right by Casey Yamauchi to score Puason on a sac fly, and it was 1-0 Stockton.

It would stay that way until the bottom of the sixth when the Ports would plate two more. Nate Nankil led off the inning with his sixth double of the season on a hard hit ball just inside the third-base bag. Ryan Lasko singled to left to put runners at the corners, then Lasko stole his team leading sixth bag to put two runners in scoring position.

With the infield in, Puason would come through again with a solid line drive into left center to score both runners for a 3-0 Stockton lead. The Rawhide would scratch across a run in the eighth, but Sha would strikeout the last two batters he’d face to end the threat.

The six-foot-seven Rivera would pounce off the mound to field a chopper to the third-base side of the mound to start the ninth, firing a strike to first to set the tone for his first outing with the Ports since last season. He would get a pair of fly outs to end the game as he was aggressive and worked quickly to get his first professional save.

UP NEXT:
Game three is scheduled for a 7:05 first pitch. The Ports will start rookie Steven Echavarria fresh up from the Arizona Complex League for his first appearance of the season, against RHP Jacob Steinmetz (0-0, 2.96)

It will be a Thirsty Thursday at the Banner Island Ballpark, featuring $1 cans of Busch Light, $2 popcorn, $3 hot dogs, and an $8 field box ticket.

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].