Isaac Wenrich had two hits for Sonoma on Thursday night, but the Stompers offense only managed five hits in a 3-2 loss to Pittsburg.
James Toy III/Sonoma Stompers
Tim Livingston, Director of Broadcasting & Media Relations
Faced with a rare bout of adversity in 2015, the Sonoma Stompers did everything they could in trying to complete their fourth sweep of the young season. It just wasn't quite enough as a three-run fourth inning held up for the home team and the Sonoma Stompers dropped their second game of the 2015 season to the Pittsburg Diamonds, 3-2.
The game was hitless for both teams through the first three innings, as Sonoma starter Gregory Paulino (1-2) and Pittsburg starter James Trebus (2-0) balanced bouts of wildness with swing and miss offerings. Trebus was especially wild early, walking five total in the first three innings that included a hit batter.
That batter was Stompers player-manager Fehlandt Lentini, who took a pitch off the area just above his left elbow in the third. He stayed in the game at that point, but in the bottom half of the inning, he removed himself from the game for precautionary reasons. Mark Hurley was inserted in right field and Matt Hibbert moved over to center field.
While both pitchers were tough on the other team's lineup, they each had issues in one inning that allowed runs to come across. Paulino's issues came in the fourth when three runs came in on four Pittsburg (5-10) hits, giving the Diamonds a 3-0 lead. Sonoma (11-2) had trouble getting to Trebus until the sixth. A stolen base by Sergio Miranda and a passed ball led to an RBI groundout by Joel Carranaza, but Sonoma wasn't done.
Isaac Wenrich's two-out single brought Yuki Yasuda to the plate, and after a blooper that just stayed fair down the right field line, Yasuda was off and running on the first pitch to Danny Baptista. An errant throw trying to gun him down at second allowed Wenrich to score and cut the deficit to one run, but Baptista struck out to end the inning.
That ended up being Sonoma's best chance in the game to tie things up, as the Diamonds did just enough on the hill to keep the Stompers normally prolific offense off the board. The five hits in the game were the fewest so far in a single game this season for Sonoma, and they left nine runners on base.
Paulino was very good in defeat, as outside of that fourth inning, the Dominican-born right-hander didn't allow a hit at all, striking out four and walking three in six total innings. After his disastrous first start against Pittsburg on June 3, Paulino has allowed only 10 baserunners in his last 14 innings of work spanning three appearances, including two starts.
Wenrich had two hits on the evening to lead the Stompers offense and TJ Gavlik made two fantastic plays at the hot corner to rob Pittsburg of extra base hits.
While they did not get the sweep, Sonoma won their three-game series against Pittsburg and will continue their road trip on Friday night against the Vallejo Admirals, who sit in second place and are five games back of the Stompers. The two teams will play their next six games against each other with game one of Sonoma's three game road series beginning at 7:05 p.m. Southpaw Jeff Conley is the probable starter for the Stompers.