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Stockton Ports

Stockton Makes Noise in Ninth But Comes up Short against San Jose

September 4, 2022 - California League (CalL)
Stockton Ports News Release


STOCKTON, Ca. - In the penultimate game of the home schedule for the Stockton Ports, the 3,227 fans inside Banner Island Ballpark were treated to another appearance from Oakland Athletics outfielder Ramon Laureano. Playing the field, the A's star outfielder had a quiet night at the plate, as did most Ports, but the game tightened up at the end. With runners in scoring position to tie the game in the final inning, the San Jose Giants closed out the game and held on for a 4-2 win over the Ports. The Giants have now secured a series win over the Ports.

Laureano was held hitless in four tries at the plate on Saturday night, but he had a pair of hits that were taken away by great defensive plays from the Giants. In the bottom of the third with a man on second, Laureano sent a grounder up the middle that Aeverson Arteaga made a sliding play on, getting up and throwing to first for an out to end the inning. In the seventh, with a runner on first, Laureano sent a shallow fly ball to center that P.J. Hilson made a diving catch on, once again ending an inning.

The Ports fell behind in the first inning for the fourth game in a row on Saturday, with Adrian Sugastey picking up an RBI single with two outs in the inning. All four runs the Giants scored in the game came with two outs, including a pair of runs in the fifth inning that proved to be daggers in the game.

Dheygler Gimenez opened up the inning by walking a pair of batters, but appeared to have Alexander Suarez, the lead runner, in a pickle. He stepped off the mound and got him in a rundown between second and third, but T.J. Schofield-Sam dropped the ball at third and both runners reached. A sacrifice fly (which would have ended the inning) and a base hit later, and the Giants added on two runs immediately after the Ports tied it.

That run scored thanks to some help of the Giants defense. Junior Perez walked with one out, and Dereck Salom then singled to right field. Victor Bericoto had the ball go under his glove, which allowed Junior Perez to score from first, and then his throw coming in was off-line, and allowed Salom to advance all the way to third. The Ports made it a 1-1 game in the fourth but couldn't add on with two outs.

In the sixth, the Ports added a run on a sacrifice fly from Perez, scoring Daniel Susac, who had opened the inning with a single. A shutdown inning was not in the cards for the Ports, however, as Bericoto delivered his second RBI hit of the night in the top of the seventh off of Blaze Pontes made it 4-2 Giants.

That score would hold until the bottom of the ninth, when Cooper Uhl singled with one out to get a rally started. Brennan Milone walked, and suddenly, the Ports had the tying run on base. Caeden Trenkle appeared to have beat out an infield single on the right side, but was called out for the second out of the inning, putting both runners in scoring position.

Cameron Masterman had a chance to be a hero, but he struck out to end the game.

Gimenez went 4.2 innings in the start, and allowed just one earned run with five walks and four strikeouts in the loss.

Manuel Mercedes picked up the win in relief, going 5.1 innings and allowing just one earned run. He came in after Liam Simon made his San Jose debut in a starting role, and went 2.2 scoreless innings.

The final home game of the regular season is on deck for Sunday evening, with a 6:05 first pitch in the final game of the series between the Giants and Ports. Mitch Myers will get the ball for Stockton, putting his 4-8 record with a 5.20 earned run average to the test against Nick Sinacola, who started game on of the series.

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