Big Bats Come Through and Finley Goes Five in 7-6 Win Over Giants

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Ports took a 4-3 lead in the third inning on a Myles Naylor two-RBI double on Thursday night and hung on for a 7-6 win against the Giants.

First-round pick Nick Kurtz hammered a 363-foot home run (2) out to the opposite field in left to put Stockton ahead 1-0 in the first. But in the bottom of the inning, starter Jackson Finley allowed three-straight singles to start the Giants half of the first. An error on a ball that bounced off of the Ports big first baseman Kurtz scored a run to tie the game. Finley would retire the next two batters before Ty Hanchey singled up the middle to put San Jose ahead 3-1.

At that time, it seemed like it could be a short outing for Finley, but he would go on to allow just the one earned run of the three scored, and went five innings on a career-high 87 pitches with five strikeouts. The Ports would put him line for a win after a big four-run third, started by an infield single from Carlos Amaya, who got the start at third base.

Amaya scored after an RBI ground out from 2024 third-round pick, Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, who also reached on an error for a 3-2 game. Kurtz drew a walk and Clark Elliott was hit by a pitch, before Naylor ripped a double just inside the third-base bag to put Stockton ahead 4-3. Dereck Salom would put a ball in play and reached on an error at third to score Elliott for a 5-3 lead.

The Giants got a run back in the sixth inning on a Bo Davidson RBI single to make it a one-run game, but Stockton created separation again in the seventh. Kuroda-Grauer got a single past the San Jose second baseman before Kurtz walked again. Elliott would score them both on a double into the right-center gap for a 7-4 advantage. The Giants would answer again though on an opposite-field home run from Guillermo Williamson to cut it to 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh.

Reliever Camilo Dominguez worked a scoreless eighth and ninth innings to get his first save in just his fourth game with the Ports. He got around a two-out bloop double by James Tibbs III in the eighth, and got a 4-6-3 double play in the ninth after hitting a batter in the hand to start the inning.

This week’s series is now just a 2-1 lead for the Giants and the season series has San Jose ahead 11-10. Darlyn Montero’s on-base streak is now up to 28 games and Nick Schwartz’ is at 19-straight. Kurtz now has five hits, two home runs, and four RBIs in four games with the Ports. Finley leads the club with 88 strikeouts, and finished five frames for a team-leading fourth time this season.

UP NEXT
Friday’s game will be a 7:00 PM start at Excite Ballpark, with RHP Ryan Vanderhei (2-2, 3.13) of the Giants starting versus RHP Steven Echavarria (0-4, 6.27) for the Ports.

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].