Stockton Ports Game Highlights and Box Score - Adv A, California League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Modesto - 5  Stockton - 8  Attached is the box score. -   STOCKTON , Calif . -   There are home runs, and then there are “No Doubt About It” shots. On Sunday afternoon at Banner Island Ballpark, Chris Carter sent everybody home in the bottom of the 11th with a towering home run to left, a majestic shot that gave the Stockton Ports an 8-5 walk-off win against the Modesto Nuts. The win was Stockton ’s 20th in their last 24 games, and their tenth straight victory over Modesto .

For the first time in the series, Modesto scored first. In the top of the first inning, Mike Paulk homered to left off Ports starter Graham Godfrey to give the Nuts a 1-0 lead. As it turns out, that would be the only run Godfrey would allow in six strong innings of work.

The Ports offense would pick things up in the fourth. Nuts starter Esmil Rogers yielded a leadoff single to Sean Doolittle, and two batters later, with two outs, Darryl Lawhorn hit a two-run homer to right to give Stockton a 2-1 lead. Rogers surrendered another run in the fifth on an RBI single from Archie Gilbert to make it 3-1. Gilbert, who went 3-for-6, extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a single in the first.

Godfrey would not factor into the decision, as he allowed just the one run through six innings. He turned the ball over to Jose Fragoso in the seventh, and after getting the first out, Fragoso gave up back-to-back walks to Jay Cox and Daniel Mayora. After Fragoso got Travis Becktel to pop out, Ports skipper Darren Bush elected to call in Derrick Gordon from the bullpen. Gordon has been a reliable reliever thus far on the season, but he ran into some trouble out of the gate. He walked Geoff Strickland to load the bases, and the next batter--Anthony Jackson--singled to right to bring in two runs and tie the ballgame. While Nick Haley was batting, Gordon caught Jackson in a rundown between first and second. While Jackson was in a pickle, Strickland scored from third on the double steal to make it 4-3. Haley knocked in Jackson with an RBI double to right, giving the Nuts a 5-3 edge.

Stockton ’s offense would rally once again, this time in the eighth. With Nuts reliever Will Harris on the hill, Jed Morris hit a solo homer over the left field fence to make it 5-4. Two batters later with two outs, Jermaine Mitchell doubled to left, and Frank Martinez followed with an RBI single to left to tie the score at five. Andrew Johnston came on and got the final out of the eighth.

Sam Demel, who suffered a tough loss on Wednesday in Visalia , rebounded with a scoreless top of the ninth. In the bottom of the inning, Johnston gave up a one-out double to Josh Horton. They elected to intentionally walk Doolittle to face Carter, who hit into a fielder’s choice to put runners at the corners and two outs. Johnston got Morris to strike out to end the inning.

Demel and Johnston both pitched scoreless halves of the tenth. In the top of the 11th, Chris Farley (2-0) came on and walked Mike McKenry, the leadoff batter. McKenry reached as far as third base, but Farley got three ground ball outs to keep the go-ahead run from scoring.

In the bottom of the inning, Modesto brought on David Patton (0-1) to try and preserve the tie. Patton got two quick outs, and then gave up a double to Horton. Facing a decision, Modesto elected to once again walk Doolittle to face Carter. This time, Carter made them pay with the game winning home run to left on a 2-0 fastball, giving the Ports an 8-5 win. Carter was mobbed by his teammates at home plate, and the Ports, following another San Jose Giants loss, now lead the North Division by four games.

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