Stockton @ Visalia Gm 5
The Visalia Rawhide stretched their winning streak to four games with an action-packed 9-8 victory over the Stockton Ports on Saturday night at Valley Strong Ballpark. Gavin Logan doubled and homered, one of four Rawhide batters with multi-hit games as the club rapped out 14 hits.
The starting pitcher matchup pitted two highly touted prospects but neither saw the end of the third inning and the offenses ran wild from the first inning. Landon Sims started for Visalia and gave up a first-inning run and left after a scoreless second inning having thrown 43 pitches, 24 for strikes.
Gunnar Hoglund lasted a little longer for Stockton but took on more damage. The Oakland A’s #11 prospect allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks over 2 2/3 innings, striking out one.
Sims’ relief gave up six runs over the next 3 1/3 innings and we had an 8-7 game in favor of Visalia after six. Reminiscent of many California League summers, there were only two complete innings where there was no scoring.
Cristofer Torin had two hits and scored three times for Visalia. The 4-5-6 hitters drove in two runs apiece. Six of the clubs 14 hits went for extra bases.
Robert Puason was 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Ports and is 5-for-17 in the series. Carlos Franco singled and drove in two runs.
It was my fourth trip to Valley Strong Ballpark this year and the weather was just about perfect for the crowd of 2,111. The first 500 got a bobblehead of Visalia native Steven Vogt which added to the fun of a fourth-straight win for the Rawhide.
At 15-20, Visalia remains five games out of first place in the up-for-grabs South divsion. Stockton (11-24) dropped to 16 games out in the North division, which looks like it belongs to Fresno as they have an eight-game lead over second-place Modesto.
Game six of the series is Sunday at 12:05PM.
SATURDAY SCORES
LAKE ELSINORE – 10
MODESTO – 6
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