Fresno’s playoff hopes dwindle as Stockton swipes Tuesday’s opener 8-3

Fresno, CA (Tuesday, August 20) – The Fresno Grizzlies (21-28, 59-55) tripped over the Stockton Ports (16-33, 42-71) 8-3 Tuesday evening from Chukchansi Park. The Grizzlies dropped to 78-31 all-time against the Ports (17-8 record this season) and are still one victory shy of tying the fourth-most wins against an opponent in Grizzlies’ single-season history. With the loss, Fresno’s playoff hopes dwindle as they now sit eight games back of the San Jose Giants in the California League North Division second half standings with 17 contests left to play (with six against one another).

The Grizzlies were shellshocked, falling behind 6-0 after three innings of play. The Ports’ five-run third inning ended up being the nail in the coffin. A Darlyn Montero RBI double started the scoring and was continued by a passed ball, plus three RBI singles. Davis Diaz, Myles Naylor (two-RBI) and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer were the RBI recipients in that third inning. Fresno notched three runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Felix Tena. The right fielder smacked a two-RBI single and scampered home on a wild pitch from second. Prior to the Tena hit, Caleb Hobson swiped his 35th base of the season. This placed Hobson on the Grizzlies’ Top-10 single-season stolen bases list. He joins Tyler Graham (2010), Darren Ford (2014), Jonathan Villar (2015) and Myles Straw (2018) with 35 stolen bases.

The Ports provided two more insurance runs, one in the seventh and the last one in the eighth. Montero and Rodney Green ripped RBI singles to secure the series opener. Stockton’s offense tallied 10 hits (three doubles), adding seven walks and four stolen bases to help the outburst. Naylor and Montero drove in four of the seven RBI at the bottom of the lineup, while the sixth spot for Stockton found their way on four times (Diaz/Mario Gomez). The Grizzlies offense could not muster an extra-base hit for the third straight game, but supplied seven singles. Kelvin Hidalgo in his Grizzlies debut led the charge with two hits.

The Grizzlies used seven pitchers, tied for the most in a game this season. McCade Brown (0-1) took the defeat despite striking out three in one and two-thirds innings. Brown was returning from the injured list as he looks to regain his original form. Brady Hill (0.1) and Justin Loer (1.0) relished scoreless appearances while Nathan Blasick made his professional debut. Tyler Hoffman knotted a career-high with two innings of action and Austin Becker was electric in his outing. Becker chucked two and one-third innings, retiring the final seven batters he faced, which included a pair of 1-2-3 frames.

Ports’ righty Norge Vera left the game with a hamstring injury after two and one-third frames of shutout baseball. Mark Adamiak (5-3) was awarded the decision after two and two-thirds innings of scoreless work. Tom Reisinger wrapped up four innings to seize his first Stockton save. The defense helped matters by turning three double plays to weave through multiple jams.

The clubs continue their six-game series tomorrow night from Chukchansi Park. Fans can grab their tickets for the 11 remaining regular season home games now at FresnoGrizzlies.com.

Top Performers: Fresno Grizzlies (Colorado Rockies)

• RHP Austin Becker (2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K)
• RF Felix Tena (1-4, 2 RBI, R)
• SS Kelvin Hidalgo (2-4)

Top Performers: Stockton Ports (Oakland Athletics)

• 1B Darlyn Montero (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI)
• DH Myles Naylor (1-4, 2 RBI, R, BB)
• SS Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (2-5, RBI, BB, SB)

On Deck:

Wednesday, August 21, 2024 at 6:50 pm PT Stockton Ports at Fresno Grizzlies

Stockton RHP Jackson Finley (2-7, 6.17) vs. Fresno LHP Stu Flesland III (1-2, 4.28)

On That Fres-Note:

Fresno’s lineup went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.