VISALIA, Calif. – Jackson Phipps delivered 6.1 innings of two-run ball, and the Ports offense did the rest in a 4-2 win for Stockton over Visalia on Saturday night. The Ports win coupled with a loss for Fresno put Stockton up by a game for the Cal League North second half playoff spot. The Ports just need to win on Sunday or need Fresno to lose if they lose to book a playoff berth for the first time since 2018.
The Rawhide scored first when Paul Schoenfeld and Pedro Blanco each singled to start the bottom of the second. After they each stole a base, an RBI groundout by Jack Spanier made it 1-0 Visalia.
Much like last night, however, Edgar Montero helped spark a rally for the Ports the very next inning. He battled to work a full count walk to get on base to start the third. On a 3-0 count, Alex Hernandez had the green light and turned on a fastball down the middle and ripped it 111 MPH off the bat and 391 feet out to left as it barely cleared the wall for his first professional home run and a 2-1 Stockton lead.
The Ports took advantage of a defensive miscue at short in the sixth inning to extend their lead. After Gavin Turley walked with one out, a ground ball to short was bobbled and Spanier couldn’t make the toss to second and the Ports had two aboard. Bryan Andrade singled through the right side to score Turley and make it 3-1 before a sac fly by Montero put the Stockton ahead 4-1.
Phipps worked into the seventh and got a groundout to first, before giving up a solo home run over the batter’s eye to Pedro Blanco (18) to make it a 4-2 contest. Josnier Parra came in out of the pen and got a strikeout and a fly out to right to end the inning.
Tyler August got around a one out hit by pitch to put up a scoreless eighth. August got the first two outs of the ninth before walking Blanco on a full count. Kade Brown entered and took a 102 MPH comebacker off the foot, and he tracked down to toss it to first and end the ballgame for his eighth save of the season.
UP NEXT: The season finale is scheduled for a 12:05 PM first pitch with RHP Daury Vasquez (1-5, 8.41) starting for Visalia versus RHP Josiah Romeo (8-4, 5.92) for Stockton.