Early Cushion Enough as Ports Hold Off Rawhide

VISALIA, Ca. – The Ports drew eleven walks and made a four-run second inning stand as Stockton held off the Rawhide for a 5-4 victory in the series opener on Tuesday night at Valley Strong Ballpark in Visalia.

Taking advantage of wildness from Visalia starter Diomede Sierra, the Ports (22-36) took an early lead with their big second inning. CJ Rodriguez began the frame drawing a leadoff walk and Robert Puason followed with a one-out free pass to put runners on first and second for Danny Bautista, who with two outs launched a three-run homer to left field to give Stockton a 3-0 lead. Sierra then walked Junior Perez who scored on an RBI double by Nick Brueser to make it 4-0 Ports.

The Rawhide (16-42) got one back in the bottom of the fourth inning with an unearned run against Stockton starter James Gonzalez. With two outs and nobody on Danyer Sanabria reached on an infield single and was awarded second base on an errant throw to first by Ports shortstop Max Muncy. Alvin Guzman then lined a single to left field to score Sanabria, cutting the Stockton advantage to 4-1.

In the top of the sixth the Ports recaptured a four-run lead. With the bases loaded and nobody out after walks to Max Muncy and Rodriguez and a single by Kevin Richards, Jhoan Paulino lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to score Muncy from third base to give the Ports a 5-1 lead.

The Ports failed to score any more runs in the frame and ended the game 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position while leaving 13 runners on base.

Visalia made things close in the later innings thanks to left fielder Junior Franco. After Stockton reliever Ed Baram retired the first two batters of the bottom of the seventh, Franco followed a two-out single by Dayvison De Los Santos with a home run into the Ports’ bullpen in right field to trim the Stockton lead too 5-3.

Franco then got to Hunter Breault with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth inning with a solo shot, cutting the Stockton lead to one. After allowing a single to Sergio Gutierrez following Franco’s second home run of the game, Breault struck out Oscar Santos to end the ballgame and deliver the Ports a series-opening victory.

The loss for the Rawhide was their ninth in a row.

Calvin Coker (1-0) got the win for Stockton with two innings of shutout relief while striking out four, while Sierra (1-2) took the loss for the Rawhide allowing four runs on three hits in 2.2 innings while walking a season-high six batters. The save for Breault was his eighth of the season.

The Ports will go for their second straight win over the Rawhide when the two teams continue their series with game two at Valley Strong Ballpark in Visalia on Wednesday at 6:30 pm.