Giants Rally Past Storm for Series Win
July 20, 2017 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
LAKE ELSINORE, CA - Steven Duggar's three-RBI double highlighted a five-run top of the seventh inning for the Giants in a 6-5 comeback victory over the Lake Elsinore Storm on Tuesday evening at The Diamond. With the win, San Jose (41-55 overall, 11-15 second half) claimed two out of three games in the series and finished their Southern California road trip with a 3-4 record.
Duggar (2-for-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI) drove home four of the Giants' six runs to lead the 10-hit offensive attack. Aramis Garcia (2-for-4) and Dillon Dobson (2-for-4) also contributed two hits apiece.
Grant Watson (3-1) earned the win after tossing six innings with four runs (three earned) and eight hits allowed. Watson walked one and struck out five. Dylan Rheault gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth, but stranded the potential tying run at second base to end the game for his 13th save of the year.
San Jose trailed by a 4-1 margin before erupting in the top of the seventh against the Lake Elsinore bullpen. Facing Storm reliever Jose Castillo, the top of the seventh began with Dobson beating out a slow roller up the first base line for an infield single. A walk to Gio Brusa followed putting runners on first and second. Ronnie Jebavy then hit a grounder to third that was fielded by Carlos Belen. However, Belen's throw to second, in an attempt to force out Brusa, pulled second baseman Ruddy Giron off the base. The error loaded the bases for the Giants with none out. Jonah Arenado then greeted new pitcher Zech Lemond with a deep sacrifice fly to left plating Dobson to trim the Storm lead to 4-2. Brusa also advanced to third while Jebavy took second on the sac fly. Jalen Miller was up next and he hit a high pop up on the infield that saw the first baseman Kyle Overstreet and Lemond collide. The ball dropped to the ground for the second error of the inning as Miller reached first safely while the other two runners held at their spots. Duggar followed with a sharp grounder inside the first base bag and down the right field line for a double. The hit cleared the bases as Brusa, Jebavy and Miller all scored easily for a 5-4 San Jose lead. The rally then continued as Ryan Howard singled advancing Duggar to third before Bryan Reynolds grounded an RBI single through the hole on the right side to make it 6-4.
The Giants sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the seventh scoring five runs on four hits while also taking advantage of two Lake Elsinore errors.
Caleb Simpson relieved Watson to begin the bottom of the seventh and promptly walked Rod Boykin to start the inning. Simpson (1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO) bounced back to strikeout Giron before Austin Allen singled to put runners on first and second. Carlos Diaz (2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) though was summoned from the bullpen and he retired Edwin Moreno and Overstreet on consecutive fly outs to end the threat.
Will LaMarche (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) struck out two in a perfect bottom of the eighth to maintain the 6-4 lead before Rheault (1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO) took over in the ninth. Tyler Selesky led off for the Storm with a line drive single into right before a passed ball advanced the runner to second. Rheault followed with a strikeout of Boykin, but Giron then singled into center plating Selesky to bring Lake Elsinore to within 6-5. Allen was up next and his sharp grounder to second was handled by Miller, who threw out the runner at first. Giron, the potential tying run, advanced to second on the play. Moreno was up next and Rheault struck out the Storm clean-up hitter on the eighth pitch of the at-bat to end the game.
Lemond (2-3) was saddled with the loss after he was charged with two of the five runs in the decisive top of the seventh. Both runs allowed by Lemond were unearned.
San Jose initially enjoyed a 1-0 lead after scoring once in the top of the third against Lake Elsinore starter Jesse Scholtens. Miller singled with two outs and immediately scored when the next batter, Duggar, laced a double into the left center field gap.
Watson began his start with three scoreless innings facing just one batter over the minimum. The Storm though would breakthrough for three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. With one out, Allen singled before Moreno blasted an RBI triple off the right field fence to tie the game. Overstreet then doubled home Moreno giving Lake Elsinore the lead before Belen drove an RBI double off the right field wall - the fourth consecutive hit in the inning - to make it 3-1.
The Storm pushed their lead to 4-1 with an unearned run against Watson in the bottom of the sixth. Back-to-back one-out singles from Overstreet and Belen put runners on first and second. Chris Baker then hit a potential inning-ending double play grounder to shortstop that was thrown away by Howard for an error. The miscue allowed Overstreet to score stretching the Lake Elsinore lead to 4-1. Following the error, the Storm still had runners at second and third with one out, but Watson prevented further damage by retiring the next two hitters before the Giants rallied in the seventh.
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