Three-Run Lead Evaporates Late After Ports Can't Add on Early

STOCKTON, Calif. — A three-run lead slipped away from the Ports on Tuesday night, when Inland Empire broke out for five runs in the top of the seventh to win 7-3 in game one of the six-game series.

The Ports got out to a 3-0 lead over the 66ers but squandered opportunities for more, stranding 12 runners, including leaving the bases loaded twice. They went up 1-0 when Davis Diaz ripped a base hit into left to score Joseph Rodriguez, but their other two runs would come in gift wrapped by Inland Empire.

Stockton loaded the bases in the fourth with two outs and scored a run when Cameron Leary was hit by a pitch, but didn’t do any more damage after that. They’d load bases with no one out in the fifth inning and went up 3-0 when Tommy White scored on a wild pitch, but would leave the bases loaded again.

The 66ers got a run in the sixth inning on a wild pitch to make it 3-1. In the seventh, Inland Empire started the inning with five-straight hits. They tied the game at 3-3 on back-to-back RBI singles to left from Imanol Vargas and Anthony Scull. Inland Empire would take the lead on a three-run blast by Ryan Nicholson, as the single-season home run leader at the University of Kentucky hit his second with the 66ers for a 6-3 advantage.

Jake Pfennigs had his first bumpy outing of 2024 and took his first loss of the season, after being lights out for the Ports since being activated from the injured list during the series in Visalia. Joseph Rodriguez tied a career-high with three walks in the game, and it was his first time doing so with Stockton.

UP NEXT
Game two will feature LHP Francis Texido (3-6, 6.83) starting for Inland Empire versus RHP Steven Echavarria (0-5, 6.55) for the Ports.

It will be the final Wine Wednesday of 2024, as fans can enjoy $6 Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Merlot, courtesy of Consumnes River Farms. It will also be the final Silver Sluggers
Weekly Wednesday ballgame for fans 55 years and older.

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].