Giants Close out Season with 12-3 Victory
September 2, 2014 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
ADELANTO - The San Jose Giants concluded the 2014 season with a convincing 12-3 victory over the High Desert Mavericks on Monday evening at Heritage Field. San Jose hit four home runs and took control of the contest with an eight-run eighth inning to earn a split of the four-game series. The Giants finish the season with a 73-67 overall record.
Ryan Lollis (3-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI), Shawn Payne (2-for-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI), Brian Ragira (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) and Tyler Horan (2-for-5, HR, RBI) each homered as part of multi-hit games at the plate to lead the San Jose offensive attack.
Matt Lujan (6-2) picked-up the win after tossing seven effective innings with three runs (all earned) and seven hits allowed. The left-hander, who didn't allow a run after the second inning, walked three and struck out six.
High Desert took an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Bryan Brito connected for a three-run home run off of Lujan. The Mavericks though wouldn't score again as the Giants reeled off 12 unanswered runs en route to the victory.
In the top of the fourth, Lollis connected for a one-out solo homer to deep right to trim the lead to 3-1. Three straight singles from Ragira, Horan and Ben Turner then produced a second run in the frame to bring San Jose to within 3-2.
Meanwhile, Lujan retired 10 straight High Desert hitters until allowing a two-out double to Zach Shank in the bottom of the fifth. Lujan stranded two runners in the fifth before working a perfect sixth inning to keep the score at 3-2.
The Giants then took the lead with two runs in the top of the seventh. Sam Mende started the rally with a one-out triple to deep left before Payne stepped to the plate with two outs and belted an opposite field two-run homer to right center. The home run, Payne's fifth of the season, put San Jose in front by a 4-3 margin.
Lujan returned to the mound in the bottom of the seventh and allowed a leadoff single to Brito as the Mavericks put the tying run on base. Brito though was promptly thrown out at second attempting to steal before Lujan registered consecutive strikeouts of Dominic Blanco and Jamal Austin to end the inning.
The Giants then exploded in the top of the eighth sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs to blow the game open. A walk to Lollis started the frame before Ragira launched a two-run home run to deep left center. Horan was up next and he also homered driving a fly ball over the batter's eye in center to make it 7-3. The rally continued with a single from Turner before a two-out walk to Ydwin Villegas. Payne then laced a double into the right field corner plating Turner with the fourth run of the inning. Brandon Bednar followed with a grounder to shortstop that was misplayed by Tim Lopes for an error as Villegas scored for a 9-3 advantage. Lollis then singled sharply into right bringing home another run as the lead increased to 10-3. After Ragira walked to load the bases, Horan then struck out on a pitch in the dirt, but reached base when the catcher Blanco threw the ball away to first. The error allowed both Bednar and Lollis to score as San Jose pushed their lead to 12-3.
Ray Black (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO) struck out two in a scoreless bottom of the eighth out of the bullpen before Jeff Soptic (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) worked a scoreless ninth inning to seal the victory. The Giants' season ended with Soptic striking out Brito for the final out of the bottom of the ninth.
Matt Anderson (3-3) suffered the loss out of the Mavericks bullpen after surrendering Payne's go-ahead home run in the seventh. Anderson was charged with two runs (both earned) on two hits over 3 1/3 innings of long relief.
Turner (2-for-5, RBI) and Mende (2-for-4, 3B) also collected two hits apiece for San Jose.
Notes: The Giants finished their season-ending Southern California road trip with a 4-3 record ... San Jose's eight-run top of the eighth matched their highest scoring inning of the season ... The Giants also scored eight runs in an inning against High Desert on June 4 at Municipal Stadium ... Ragira ends the year with team-leading totals of 20 home runs and 82 RBI's ... Horan hit three home runs in his last four games ... San Jose's four homers on Monday was one off of their season-high ... The Giants out-hit the Mavericks 13-7 ... High Desert's three runs in the bottom of the second snapped Lujan's scoreless inning streak at 14 - the longest by a San Jose starting pitcher this season ... Lujan compiled a 1.64 ERA (6 ER/33.0 IP) over his last five starts ... The Giants finished the second half with a 39-31 record - tied for second in the North Division ... At 73-67 overall, San Jose ends the year two games out of a playoff spot.
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