Rawhide Rally Falls Short to Ports

Visalia, CA – The Visalia Rawhide (54-75, 26-37) brought the walk-off run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth but fell to the Stockton Ports (59-70, 32-31) 5-4 on Thursday night at Valley Strong Ballpark.

The Rawhide still lead the series two games to one.

Visalia’s rally started in the eighth inning trailing 5-2. Jack Spanier singled and Jake Duer banged an RBI double off the barn in right field to trim the lead to one. Victor Santana followed with an RBI knock to center field but he was left stranded in scoring position.

In the ninth Pedro Blanco reached on a strikeout and wild pitch but a groundout ended the ballgame.

Stockton scored in the first inning and Visalia tied the game in the second. Spanier led off with a walk and came around to score on Victor Santana’s run-scoring single.

The Ports retook the lead in a third with a run before the Rawhide tied it again in the bottom of the third. Blanco walked, Weber Neels doubled and Blanco scored on a Spanier RBI groundout.

Stockton plated two in the fifth inning via three hits and extended the lead with another run in the sixth.

Mervin Fell suffered the loss in a four inning start allowing two earned runs with five strikeouts. He finished the season with a team-best 98 strikeouts.

Kelvin Rosario tossed two scoreless frames in his Valley Strong Ballpark debut with four strikeouts and Samuel Gonzalez added a perfect inning and two strikeouts.

Victor Santana led Visalia with two hits and two RBI while Weber Neels finished with two doubles. Neels has nine doubles and 12 extra base hits in his first 10 pro games.

The series between the Rawhide and Ports continues on Friday kicking off the final weekend of baseball at Valley Strong Ballpark in 2026. Friday is Cars Night with the first 350 fans receiving a Rawhide Racecar Jersey courtesy of Blue Scope. The Rawhide will be wearing jerseys inspired by the movie “Cars” with the in-game worn jerseys available for purchase via silent action.

The game is also a Four Pack Friday courtesy of Valley Pacific Petroleum Service and Chevron. Fans can pick up a four pack voucher at participating Chevron locations or show their Chevron Gas Card at the ballpark to receive four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas for only $50.

Gates open for season ticket holders at 5:15 PM and the general public at 5:30 PM with first pitch at 6:35 PM.

All Rawhide tickets are available through the team’s website and at the stadium box office starting at 10 AM on weekday gamedays.

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The Visalia Rawhide are the Single-A Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks playing professional baseball in the Central Valley since 1946. The Rawhide's 2026 theme is "Savor the Season" as the team transforms into the Central Valley Sir Loins on Saturday gamedays.   

Stay up to date with the Rawhide on the team’s website and by following the Rawhide on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and X. The Rawhide play all home games at Valley Strong Ballpark located at 300 N Giddings Street Visalia, CA 93291.

Fans can purchase season ticket packages, group ticket plans, single game tickets and team merchandise through the Rawhide website and at the stadium ticket office sponsored by Kaweah Health. All Rawhide games can be watched on MLB.TV and the Bally Sports Live App with a free radio broadcast also available online. Select home games will be aired on KNXT MyTV53. For more information, visit milb.com/visalia, email info@rawhidebaseball.com or call (559) 732-4433.