CalL1 Stockton Ports

Ports Outlast Storm 11-9 in 17-Innning Thriller

Published on May 22, 2013 under California League (CalL1)
Stockton Ports News Release


STOCKTON, Calif. - Those who witnessed Tuesday afternoon's contest between the Stockton Ports and Lake Elsinore Storm won't soon forget it. Stockton mounted a pair of comeback in extra innings and saw its winning pitcher hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 17th inning that gave the Boys of Banner Island an 11-9 win at Banner Island Ballpark. With the win, the Ports completed a three-game sweep of the Storm.

The Ports opened up a 3-0 lead in the first inning on RBI hits from Tony Thompson, Antonio Lamas and Ryan Delgado, all with two outs.

Lake Elsinore enjoyed its largest inning of the afternoon in the third. Ports starter Josh Bowman gave up a leadoff single to Yeison Asencio and Robert Kral followed with a two-run homer to right-center that cut the Ports lead to 3-2. Two batters later, Jace Peterson and Duanel Jones hit back-to-back singles and Travis Whitmore doubled to left to tie the game at 3-3. Kyle Gaedele came up next and hit a two-run single to left that gave the Storm their first lead at 5-3. Travis Jankowski came up next and singled, at which point Bowman was lifted for Jake Brown. Brown got Cory Spangenberg to ground out to second, driving in another run that made it a 6-3 Storm lead.

Bowman went 2.1 innings and allowed six runs on nine hits while walking three and striking out one. Brown tossed four scoreless innings in relief, allowing two hits while striking out two.

Stockton began chipping away at their deficit in the fourth inning when Myrio Richard led off with a groundrule double and scored on a pair of wild pitches to make it 6-4. It was the final run allowed by Storm starter Trevor Holder, who went four innings and allowed four runs on nine hits while striking out three.

Luis De La Cruz and Cody Hebner combined for 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. Matt Lollis retired the final two batters of the seventh and pitched into the eighth. Lollis walked Richard with one out and then gave up a two-run homer to Addison Russell that tied the game at 6-6. The home run was the only hit allowed by Lollis in 1.2 innings of relief.

The game went into extra innings and Lake Elsinore saw a golden opportunity to score in the 12th fall by the wayside. Ports reliever Omar Duran loaded the bases on three consecutive walks with one out. While Gaedele bat, Duran threw a pitch in the dirt that was blocked by catcher Phil Pohl. Peterson, the runner at third, tried to score on the pitch in the dirt and was thrown out as Duran covered home plate and took the throw from Pohl for the second out. Duran struck out Gadele to end the inning.

After the Ports loaded the bases with one out and failed to score in the bottom of the 12th, Lake Elsinore plated a pair of runs in the top of the 13th. After the Storm put two on with two out facing Duran, T.J. Walz came on and hit Luis Domoromo with a pitch to load the bases. Peterson came up next and hit a bouncing ball to first that got past Max Muncy, an error that allowed two runs to score, giving the Storm an 8-6 lead.

Matt Branham came on to pitch the bottom of the 13th and faced Russell to start the frame. Russell hit a routine fly ball to right that was dropped by Asencio, putting the leadoff man board. After Muncy reached on a fielder's choice force at second, Thompson singled to right and Lamas followed with a two-run double to left-center that tied the game at 8-8. After Pohl was hit by a pitch, Rashun Dixon hit into an inning-ending double-play to send the game into the 14th inning.

Thompson, who was in the starting lineup as the Stockton DH, pitched two scoreless innings beginning in the 14th. Thompson, who drove in seven runs in the fifth inning on Monday night, struck out three in his two scoreless frames.

Wade Kirland (1-0), who was not in the starting lineup, came on to pitch the 16th. Kirkland gave up an infield single to Whitmore, who was sacrificed to second by Gaedele. Travis Jankowski came up next and singled to left to score Whitmore and give the Storm a 9-8 lead.

John Hussey (0-2), who'd allowed six runs in two-thirds of an inning pitched on Monday night, came on to pitch the bottom of the 16th and gave up a leadoff home run to Pohl that tied the score at 9-9. It was Pohl's only hit as he came on in the 10th inning for defense after the Ports pinch-hit for starting catcher Ryan Delgado in the ninth.

Hussey stayed in the game to pitch the 17th inning and after getting the first out, gave up a single to Muncy. Kirkland, who entered the game in relief of Thompson, who became a pitcher after starting the game as the designated hitter, came up for the first time, swung at the first pitch and hit a two-run homer to left that gave Stockton an 11-9 win. Kirkland's home run also made him the winning pitcher in the contest, while Hussey suffered his second loss of the season.

Dusty Robinson found himself on the wrong side of history for Stockton as he went 0-for-8 with seven strikeouts in the game, becoming the first player in California League history to strike out seven times in a game. Lamas went 5-for-6, notching five hits in a game for the second time this season, duplicating a feat he accomplished on April 27th at High Desert.

Following a day off on Wednesday, the Ports travel to Bakersfield on Thursday to begin a four-game series with the Blaze. Drew Granier (4-3, 2.28 ERA) makes the start in the series opener for Stockton, opposed by Bakersfield right-hander Jonathan Moscot (1-6, 5.77 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m. PDT.

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California League Stories from May 22, 2013


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