Rawhide Rout Giants, Take Third Straight in Series
July 27, 2014 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
VISALIA - The Visalia Rawhide knocked out 13 hits and scored in six different innings en route to a 13-5 victory over the San Jose Giants on Saturday evening at Recreation Park. With the defeat, San Jose has lost the first three games in the series to the Rawhide.
Mitch Delfino (2-for-5, 2B, HR, RBI) doubled and homered to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Shawn Payne (2-for-3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI) and Jesus Galindo (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI) also finished with two hits apiece for the Giants.
Visalia jumped on Joe Kurrasch for three runs in the bottom of the first knocking the San Jose starter out of the game before he could get out of the inning. Raul Navarro led off with a double, stole third and scored on Alex Glenn's one-out single. Brandon Drury then stepped to the plate and launched a two-run home run to left center for a 3-0 Rawhide advantage. Kurrasch followed by issuing a walk to Rudy Flores before striking out Steve McQuail. But at 34 pitches after facing just six batters, Kurrasch had reached his inning pitch limit and was removed from the contest. Jeff Soptic entered from the bullpen and promptly struck out Ryan Gebhardt to end the frame.
The Giants answered with a run in the top of the second when Payne belted a two-out RBI triple off the fence in deep left center. Meanwhile, Soptic retired the first five batters he faced before running into trouble in the bottom of the third. With one out, Glenn walked. After Drury grounded out to advance Glenn to second, Flores produced an RBI single into center to extend the Visalia lead to 4-1.
Down by three runs, San Jose loaded the bases with none out in the top of the fourth, but was unable to score. Delfino led off with a double down the left field line. Brian Ragira then drew a walk before Elliott Blair singled. Rawhide starter Blayne Weller though got out of the inning by striking out Ben Turner and then inducing Payne to ground into a 5-4-3 double play.
Visalia then took full control of the game with back-to-back two-run innings in the fourth and fifth. Still facing Soptic in the bottom of the fourth, Brandon Jacobs doubled with one out before Navarro drew a two-out walk. After Navarro stole second, Breland Almadova hit a grounder to shortstop that was misplayed by Brandon Bednar. The error allowed both runners to score pushing the lead to 6-1.
Ian Gardeck relieved Soptic to begin the bottom of the fifth and allowed three straight hits to start the inning as Drury doubled, Flores singled and then McQuail produced an RBI single. After Gebhardt walked to load the bases, Jacobs grounded into a double play plating Flores for an 8-1 advantage.
The Giants cut into the lead with single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but would get no closer late in the game. In the top of the sixth, Delfino led off with a home run to left center field. Then in the seventh, Payne walked to leadoff and scored two batters later on Galindo's one-out double into the left field corner.
Leading 8-3, the Rawhide came up in the bottom of the seventh and exploded for four runs against reliever Mason McVay. After McVay struck out the first two batters of the inning, Gebhardt singled and Jacobs reached on a fielding error committed by Delfino at third. Jose Queliz then lined an RBI single into left center to make it 9-3. After Navarro walked to load the bases, Almadova stepped to the plate and blasted a bases-clearing three-run double off the wall in deep right. The hit padded Visalia's advantage to 12-3.
The Rawhide scored their 13th and final run of the night in the bottom of the eighth when Gebhardt hit a sacrifice fly to score Drury, who had led off with a walk and advanced to third on a Flores double.
San Jose scored twice in the top of the ninth as Turner and Payne delivered back-to-back doubles down the right field line to produce the first run of the inning. After Alberto Robles reached on an infield single, Galindo grounded out to score Payne cutting the lead to 13-5. Visalia reliever Keith Hessler though would comeback to strikeout Chuckie Jones and after Bednar singled, Delfino struck out swinging to end the game.
Weller (1-0), who was making his second start with Visalia after a promotion from Class-A South Bend, earned the win. He worked seven innings with three runs (all earned) and seven hits allowed. Weller walked four and struck out six.
Kurrasch (7-4) took the loss after yielding three runs (all earned) on three hits in 2/3 of an inning - the shortest start by a Giants pitcher this season. Kurrasch walked one and struck out two.
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