Bakersfield Blaze at San Jose Giants, July 19-21
Published on July 19, 2009 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
Bakersfield Blaze (47-46) at San Jose Giants (60-33)
At Municipal Stadium
- Sunday, July 19th at 5:00 PM
- Monday, July 20th at 7:00 PM
- Tuesday, July 21st at 7:00 PM
Pitching Match Ups
- Sunday - Tim Murphy (6-7, 6.89) at Oliver Odle (5-7, 5.37)
- Monday - Kennil Gomez (3-7, 4.96) at Clayton Tanner (7-4, 3.33)
- Tuesday - Richard Bleier (5-6, 4.48) at Paul Oseguera (2-4, 4.50)
THE SAN JOSE GIANTS... continue their homestand Sunday evening with the opener of a three-game series against the Bakersfield Blaze at Municipal Stadium. San Jose split a four-game set with the visiting Modesto Nuts in their most recent series. After suffering 6-4 and 3-1 losses in the first two contests, the Giants rebounded to post victories of 17-7 and 1-0 on Friday and Saturday respectively. Last night, Scott Barnes worked a career-high eight innings and allowed just four hits with no walks and four strikeouts to earn his league-leading 11th victory. Dan Runzler was credited with the save after firing a perfect top of the ninth while C.J. Ziegler brought home San Jose's only run of the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning.
Third-Best Record In Minor League Baseball... San Jose (60-33, .645) currently owns the third-best overall record among full-season teams in all of minor league baseball. The Giants trail only the Low-A Fort Wayne TinCaps (63-29, .685) and the Double-A Birmingham Barons (62-31, .667).
Offensive Outbursts... The Giants have scored 17 runs in a game twice in the past week, defeating Visalia 17-1 last Monday before a 17-7 triumph over Modesto two nights ago. San Jose has reached double figures in runs seven times over the last 18 games with the 17-run outbursts matching their largest run-scoring outputs of the season. The Giants are second in the California League in runs scored and are averaging 7.2 runs per game in July.
San Jose's Series Unbeaten Streak Reaches 13... The Giants extended their series unbeaten streak to 13 with victories the past two nights against Modesto. San Jose is 11-0-2 in their past 13 series' dating back to the first week of June. The Giants' last series loss occurred when they dropped three out of four games at Visalia from May 27-30.
League-Leading Pitching And Defense... The Giants enter tonight's game first in the California League in team ERA (3.16) and team fielding percentage (.973). San Jose is attempting to lead the league in pitching for the sixth consecutive season while they currently boast three out of the top seven hurlers individually in ERA: Scott Barnes (2nd - 2.81), Craig Clark (5th - 3.20) and Clayton Tanner (7th - 3.33). The Giants have shown improvement in their team ERA every month (April - 3,81, May - 3.51, June - 2.83, July - 2.31) with yesterday marking their league-leading eighth shutout of the season. San Jose has also committed the fewest errors of any team in the California League (96).
Graham Torches Blaze Pitching... Tyler Graham has feasted against Bakersfield pitching this season as the Giants outfielder owns a .406 batting average (13-for-32) with nine RBI's and eight stolen bases in seven games versus the Blaze. Graham has also hit four of his five home runs against Bakersfield.
Bullpen Excellence... The Giants bullpen has been spectacular in July compiling a 0.89 ERA (5 ER/50.2 IP) in 17 games this month. Individually, Dan Runzler still boasts a perfect 0.00 ERA (15.2 IP) since joining the club on June 8 from Augusta. Wilmin Rodriguez has gone 16 straight appearances without allowing a run (18 IP) while David Mixon owns a 0.86 ERA (2 ER/21.0 IP) in his last 13 outings since June 4. T.J. Brewer has fanned 23 over 15 innings spanning his last seven games (2 ER, 1.20 ERA) and Daniel Turpen has been impressive all season with a 1.33 ERA in 31 appearances. San Jose relievers own a sparkling 0.94 ERA (13 ER/124.0 IP) in the last 41 games (32-9 record) beginning with their contest on June 3.
Media Coverage... The entire series can be heard live on www.sjgiants.com with Joe Ritzo calling all of the action. All 140 games this season will be aired on the club's official website.
Bakersfield Blaze... The Bakersfield Blaze, an affiliate of the Texas Rangers, enter tonight's match-up with a 47-46 overall record and a 13-10 mark in the second half - five games behind the Giants for the top spot. Bakersfield is currently two games ahead of Visalia (45-48) for the final wild card berth in the North Division. The Blaze are seventh in the league in batting average (.262), tied for second in home runs (87) and fourth in ERA (4.07). Mauro Gomez (.280, 17 HR, 60 RBI), Ian Gac (.236, 16 HR, 41 RBI) and Jonathan Greene (.259, 13 HR, 50 RBI) have each reached double figures in home runs while Matthew Lawson and Joey Butler have hit nine home runs each. Left-hander Tim Murphy is slated to start on the mound tonight. A former third round draft pick out of UCLA, Murphy is 2-2 with a 7.71 ERA in four starts against San Jose.
California League Stories from July 19, 2009
- Storm Slugs Past Sixers, Wins 8-5 In 10 Innings - Inland Empire 66ers
- Giants Offense Continues To Shine In 14-5 Victory - San Jose Giants
- Quakes Blast Mavs 10-3 - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
- Quakes Begin Homestand Sunday - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
- Bakersfield Blaze at San Jose Giants, July 19-21 - San Jose Giants
- Early Innings Decisive as Mavericks Beat JetHawks 7-4 - Lancaster JetHawks
- 66ers Drop Series Finale to Quakes - Inland Empire 66ers
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