Craig Clark won his 10th consecutive decision to tie a San Jose Giants record in a 7-1 victory over the Visalia Rawhide on Wednesday evening at Recreation Park. The San Jose starter worked seven innings with just one run allowed becoming the fourth pitcher in Giants history to win 10 straight games. The victory, San Jose's sixth in a row overall, improved the Giants' second half record to 22-5.
Clark (11-2) tied the team record set by Dan Rambo (1990), Jeff Urban (1998-99) and Kevin Pucetas (2008) as the left-hander has not suffered a loss since his May 7 start - a span of 13 appearances. He allowed six hits with one walk and four strikeouts during his 95-pitch outing. Clark is now tied with teammate Scott Barnes for the league-lead in victories.
In addition to claiming their sixth straight win, San Jose has won a season-high five consecutive road games while also securing their seventh win in a row against Visalia.
Every San Jose starter recorded at least one hit in the contest with C.J. Ziegler (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) connecting for a go-ahead two-run homer in the top of the second inning. Aaron Lowenstein (3-for-5, RBI), Roger Kieschnick (2-for-5, 2 2B, RBI) and Nick Noonan (2-for-5) also supplied multi-hit games at the plate.
The Giants trailed 1-0 entering the top of the second inning before Conor Gillaspie led off with a walk and then Ziegler hammered a 2-2 pitch from Rawhide starting pitcher Josh Collmenter over the fence in left center field for a two-run homer. Noonan followed the home run with an infield single before Lowenstein singled into right field to put runners on the corners. After Shane Jordan walked to load the bases, Tyler Graham scored a run with a ground out to second base. Brian Bocock then delivered a sacrifice fly to right bringing home Lowenstein extending the San Jose lead to 4-1.
Clark allowed only a single run in the bottom of the first inning as Ollie Linton led off with a first-pitch double to the fence in center field before advancing to third on Eli Rumler's sacrifice bunt and then scoring on James Skelton's sacrifice fly.
Clark retired six consecutive Visalia hitters until Rumler singled with two outs in the bottom of the third, but quickly got out of the inning when Skelton grounded out. Still trailing 4-1, the Rawhide threatened in the bottom of the fourth when Konrad Schmidt drew a leadoff walk and Kyle Greene singled to put runners on first and second. However, Clark recovered to strikeout Andrew Fie before Ryne White lined into a double play to shortstop ending the rally.
Clark allowed just two more baserunners for the remainder of his evening - a two-out double in the fifth inning from Linton and a two-out double off the bat of Greg Thomson in the bottom of the seventh. He retired 11 out of the last 13 batters of his outing.
The Giants added to their lead in the top of the seventh inning when Kieschnick doubled with one out before scoring when the next hitter, Gillaspie, grounded a single down the left field line. Three batters later, Lowenstein came through with a two-out single into center field plating Gillaspie for a 6-1 advantage.
In the top of the eighth, Graham led off with a double into the left center field gap and eventually scored on Kieschnick's two-out double.
David Mixon (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) and Dan Runzler (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) worked scoreless eighth and ninth innings respectively out of the bullpen to secure the San Jose victory.
Notes: The Giants have not lost a game that Clark has started since May 7 ... San Jose is 15-2 in his starts this season ... Clark's next scheduled start is on Monday, July 27 at home against the Stockton Ports ... He is 10-0 with a 2.52 ERA in his last 13 appearances (12 starts) ... The Giants out-hit the Rawhide by a 14-6 margin ... Kieschnick is tied for the league-lead with 78 RBI's ... Ziegler is 15-for-34 (.441) with two home runs and nine RBI's in nine games since returning to the club ... San Jose has won 15 out of their last 17 games ... Visalia fell to 2-19 in July ... Collmenter (7-6) suffered the loss for the Rawhide after yielding four runs (all earned) on six hits over five innings.
On Deck: The Giants and Rawhide continue their three-game series on Thursday evening with first pitch at Recreation Park scheduled for 7:05 PM. Scott Barnes (11-3, 2.81 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Pat McAnaney (7-5, 4.55 ERA). The game can be heard live on www.sjgiants.com.
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