Susac Plays Hero, Walks it Off for Ports in 10 over San Jose

STOCKTON, Calif. — The Stockton Ports offense has been in a groove over the last three weeks, and part of that improvement has been the play of Daniel Susac. The Oakland Athletics’ first round draft pick in 2022 has made an immediate impact on the Ports, and that continued on Tuesday night. Kicking off the final home series of 2022, the young backstop delivered a go-ahead double in the fifth inning and capped off the night with a walk-off single to left field in the 10th inning to beat the San Jose Giants 7-6.

Stockton nearly had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Cooper Uhl drew a one-out walk, and Jhoan Paulino singled him to second. That base hit brought out a pinch runner for Uhl, with T.J. Schofield-Sam placed on second for extra speed. After a strikeout for the second out, Caeden Trenkle lined a single up the middle, and the race was on for home. Alexander Suarez of the Giants fired a strike to the plate that got Schofield-Sam, ending the inning and sending the game to extras.

Extra innings would not have happened had the Giants not scored twice in the top of the ninth, taking advantage of two Stockton relievers. Damon Dues opened up the top of the frame against Jake Pfennigs, and he singled. Wade Meckler followed with his second double of the night, and suddenly the Giants had the tying run in scoring position. A lineout to right froze both runners, but brought Aaron Cohn out of the bullpen to try and keep the game in favor of Stockton. He induced a groundout of Logan Wyatt to make it 6-5 and put the tying run at third, albeit with two outs. On the first pitch, Victor Bericoto lined a double to center, over the head of Trenkle, and tied the game.

Back to Susac and his strong night, he put the Ports up by that 6-4 advantage they held until the ninth inning all the way back in the fifth. Junior Perez reached on a fielding error to begin the inning, and he stole second base before Trenkle walked. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position for Susac, who smashed a double off the warning track in right center that bounced over the wall, plating both runs and giving the Ports a 6-4 lead.

The back-and-forth affair between NorCal rivals began in the very first inning, when Perez lined the first strike he saw over the wall in center for a leadoff home run. His 14th dinger of the season put Stockton ahead first, but it was hardly the only action early in the game. San Jose answered with runs in the second and third, and two in the fifth, while Stockton came back with two in the second and one more in the third.

It was a strange game that saw the Ports plate two runs on a throwing error and an ensuing rundown in the second, and both teams scored runs on fielder’s choices that reached the outfield.

Susac was one of two Ports with multiple hits, including Trenkle. Every Port reached base with the exception of Brennan Milone.

James Gonzalez started the game and was roughed up for four runs and six hits across 4.1 innings. Up until the ninth inning, the bullpen did its job, getting 3.2 scoreless innings of work in thanks to Blaze Pontes and Serafino Brito.

The Ports will try to take the first two games of the series by turning to Yehizon Sanchez in game two on Wednesday night. The right-hander will be opposed by Seth Lonsway of San Jose. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm with coverage beginning at 6:55 pm on Fox Sports AM 1280.