CalL1 San Jose Giants

Back-To-Back Homers Power Giants Past Ports

Published on May 22, 2012 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


STOCKTON - Ricky Oropesa and Luke Anders hit back-to-back home runs as part of a four-run seventh inning to propel the San Jose Giants to a 7-6 victory over the Stockton Ports on Monday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. San Jose went ahead for good on Oropesa's three-run blast before the Giants bullpen held off the Ports to earn a second straight win in the series.

Oropesa (1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI) and Anders (1-for-4, HR, RBI) hit their third and fourth home runs of the season respectively while Ryan Lollis (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) and Joe Panik (2-for-5, 3B, RBI) had two hits apiece to lead the San Jose offense. All nine Giants starters finished with at least one hit.

San Jose entered the top of the seventh trailing by a 5-3 margin when Lollis began the inning with a double into the right field corner. After Panik grounded out and Adam Duvall drew a walk, Oropesa stepped to the plate and belted a 2-1 pitch from Ports reliever Anthony Capra over the fence in deep right center field. The home run gave the Giants a 6-5 lead. Anders was up next and he launched a solo homer down the right field line to make it 7-5.

Reliever Chris Wilson (1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh for San Jose before running into trouble in the eighth. With one out in the eighth inning, Josh Whitaker connected for a solo home run to bring Stockton to within 7-6. Yordy Cabrera then singled before Nino Leyja drew a walk. New pitcher Jose Valdez (2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) then allowed a single to Chad Oberacker to load the bases. Valdez though would get out of the inning with the lead intact as he struck out the next two hitters, Dusty Robinson and Miles Head.

Seth Rosin (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO) pitched the bottom of the ninth for the Giants to pick-up his 10th save of the year. Rosin issued a leadoff walk to A.J. Kirby-Jones, however Max Stassi popped out before Tony Thompson grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Danny Sandbrink (1-0) was credited with the win out of the San Jose bullpen after tossing 2 1/3 scoreless innings. Sandbrink allowed one hit with no walks and two strikeouts during his stint on the mound. He retired the last six batters that he faced.

The Ports took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Oberacker drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on Robinson's groundout and scored when Kirby-Jones lined a two-out single to left. Giants starter Jack Snodgrass then allowed singles to Stassi and Thompson to load the bases, but induced the next hitter, Whitaker, to bounce into a fielder's choice to halt the rally.

San Jose responded with three runs in the top of the second inning as Devin Harris started the frame with a single before Jarrett Parker doubled into the right center field gap to put runners at second and third. Stockton starter Josh Bowman recovered with consecutive strikeouts of Dan Burkhart and Bobby Haney, but Lollis came through with a bloop single into shallow left plating both Harris and Parker to give the Giants the lead. Panik then ripped a triple into the right field corner to score Lollis for a 3-1 advantage.

Snodgrass breezed through the second and third innings for San Jose before struggling in the fourth. Stassi led off with a home run to left to cut the San Jose lead in half. Thompson followed by drawing a walk before Whitaker singled. After Cabrera flied out, Leyja hammered a triple into right center field scoring both runners to put Stockton back in front. Oberacker then grounded a single into right plating Leyja to make it 5-3.

Snodgrass lasted a season-low 3 2/3 innings with five runs (all earned) and nine hits allowed. He walked two and struck out two.

Bowman went the first five innings for the Ports yielding three runs (all earned) on seven hits. Capra then pitched a scoreless top of the sixth inning before allowing all four runs in the seventh. Capra (0-1) was charged with his first loss of the season.

Notes: Stockton out-hit San Jose by a 13-11 margin ... The Ports have knocked out 29 hits in the first two games of the series, but have lost both contests ... Lollis and Duvall (1-for-3) each extended hit streaks to 10 games ... Snodgrass had allowed a total of just five runs in his previous six starts ... The Giants are a perfect 5-0 against Stockton this season ... Oropesa leads San Jose with 30 RBI's ... He's collected 19 RBI's over his last 16 games ... The Giants improved their overall record to a season-high 13 games over .500 (29-16).

On Deck: The Giants will look for a sweep of the Ports when the teams conclude their three-game set on Tuesday morning at Banner Island Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 11:05 AM. Taylor Rogers (2-2, 3.38 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Blake Treinen (3-4, 4.14 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com.

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California League Stories from May 22, 2012


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