Pitching Continues to Shine in 3-2 Win over Inland Empire 

STOCKTON, Calif. — After snagging their first win of the series against Inland Empire on Thursday night, the Stockton Ports came back with another strong showing on Friday led by their pitching staff. After holding the 66ers to an 0-11 skid with runners in scoring position one night ago, they held Inland Empire to just four hits en route to a 3-2 win in front of 1,959 fans. Stockton has now evened up the series after dropping the first two games, improving to 7-12 in the second half of the California League season.

Grant Judkins set the tone early for the Stockton pitching staff and delivered one of his best starts of the 2022 season. Riding the high from a 5.1 shutout-inning performance in relief his last time out, Judkins failed to allow an earned run across five strong innings. He limited Inland Empire to just three hits, while walking one and striking out five. The only blip on his radar came in the top of the second inning, when a one-out walk, followed by a fielding error at first base led to a first-and-third situation for the 66ers. Quentin Selma delivered with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 1-0, but Danny Bautista made a great diving catch to take away a hit and potentially extra-bases from Selma.

The bullpen was strong for the second night in a row as well, delivering four innings of one-run baseball while allowing just one hit. Aaron Cohn got things rolling by tossing 2.1 innings without a hit, but he left in the stickiest jam of the night. A one-out walk in the top of the eighth inning chased Cohn and brought on Hunter Breault, who then walked the next hitter to put the Ports 3-1 lead in jeopardy. A fielder’s choice moved the lead runner to third, and with two outs, David Calabrese singled to center to cut the lead to 3-2. A fly out ended the inning and kept Stockton in front.

Clark Cota was tasked with locking the door in the ninth inning, and he did so without a hitch, going one-two-three in the top of the inning for his second save of the season, and the Ports 21st of the year, good for second-best in the California League.

The offense didn’t need to explode on Friday night to be effective, scoring twice in the fourth and once more in the seventh to have just enough for a victory. In the fourth, Max Muncy singled with one out in front of Jhoan Paulino, who used his fourth double of the series to move Muncy to third. Junior Perez brought home the first run, tying the game on a sacrifice fly, and then T.J. Schofield-Sam delivered a clutch RBI-single to plate Paulino and make it 2-1 Stockton.

In the seventh, the Ports added an insurance run on a pair of doubles. Perez doubled with one out, and then the Ports chased 66ers starter Julio Goff after Jalen Greer ripped a double into the right field corner for his fifth RBI of the season, giving the Ports a 3-1 advantage.

Stockton will aim to pull ahead in the series on Saturday night with a 7:05 first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark. They will turn to left-hander James Gonzalez, winless on the season with a 4.55 earned run average, while the 66ers will counter with Chase Chaney and his 2-2 record. A postgame firework show is on-hand, as well as a postgame jersey auction on Marvel Defenders of the Diamond Night.