Seven Home Runs Were Not Enough in 16-15 Walk-Off Loss

Stockton, CA – Noelvi Marte crushed three home runs, but the Modesto Nuts suffered a walk-off 16-15 defeat against the Stockton Ports at Banner Island Ballpark on Tuesday night.

With a two-run lead entering the bottom of the ninth, Juan Mercedes (L, 4-3) took the ball for the Nuts (41-38). Mercedes retired the Ports’ (33-46) leadoff hitter Lawrence Butler. Brayan Buelvas followed with a line drive into center that Colin Davis misjudged allowing it to roll all the way to the wall giving Buelvas a triple. T.J. Schofield-Sam then beat out an infield single to put runners at the corners. Joshwan Wright made it a one-run game when he lifted a sacrifice fly into left.

With two outs and the Nuts one strike away from a win, Jose Rivas crushed a walk-off two-run homer to send the Nuts to their fourth straight loss.

Sam Romero (L, 1-0) worked 1.1 innings while striking out three out of the Ports’ bullpen.

Noelvi Marte put on a show at the plate in the loss. He drove home an RBI single in the first inning. Then He smacked a laser beam grand slam into the left field bullpen. In his third at-bat, Marte lifted a towering two-run homer down the left field line. In the sixth he smashed his biggest home run of the night with a 432-foot monster blast out to left-center field. He finished with nine RBI, five runs scored, four hits, three home runs, and one walk.

Robert Perez Jr. also homered in the game. Spencer Packer went deep in the fourth. James Parker connected on his first Modesto home run in the eighth.

Josias De Los Santos started the game for the Nuts and worked 2.1 innings allowing eight runs on six hits with five walks and no strikeouts.

The Nuts will try to end a four-game losing streak on Wednesday night in game two of a six-game series with the Ports in Stockton at 7:05pm.