Modesto Nuts end season with walk-off loss at Stockton

The Modesto Nuts dropped their California League season finale Monday night.

As painful as August and September have been for the Nuts as they blew a playoff opportunity, blowing a six-run lead and losing 8-7 at Stockton in a walk-off ninth inning was just the final blow.

Leading 6-0 after five innings, the Nuts gave up two runs in the bottom of the sixth and five in the seventh before Branden Cogswell of the playoff-bound Ports (74-66 overall) scored the winning run when the Nuts couldn’t turn an inning-ending double play.

That left the Nuts with a 67-73 overall record, including 34-36 in the second half, last in the North Division.

Modesto scored four runs in the top of the third, starting with a two-run double by Raimel Tapia, who then scored on Michael Benjamin’s fielder’s choice. Benjamin scored on a single by Rosell Herrera.

The Nuts scored twice in the fourth. Correlle Prime doubled in Dillon Thomas, who led off by reaching on an error, and Prime scored on Wilson Soriano’s sacrifice fly.

Franklin Barreto, Stockton’s 19-year-old shortstop, contributed greatly to the Ports’ comeback. He singled after Brett Vertigan’s one-out walk in the sixth and scored the second run on a throwing error. Barreto capped Stockton’s five-run seventh with a two-run homer, his 13th of the season.

Herrera and Prime each had two hits for the Nuts.

This story was originally published September 7, 2015 at 9:55 PM with the headline "Modesto Nuts end season with walk-off loss at Stockton."