CalL1 San Jose Giants

Big Innings Carry Giants To 17-7 Victory Over Modesto

Published on May 23, 2008 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


The San Jose Giants batted around in three separate innings on Thursday night in a convincing 17-7 victory over the Modesto Nuts at John Thurman Field. San Jose plated six runs in the top of the first inning to take an early lead before also scoring five times each in the sixth and eighth frames. Every Giants starter recorded at least one hit while Kevin Pucetas earned the win on the mound to maintain his perfect record this season. With the victory, San Jose improves to 30-17 and moves back into a first place tie with the Stockton Ports in the North Division race.

Matt Downs (3-for-5, 2B, RBI) led the 17-hit Giants offensive attack while Mike Mooney (2-for-4, 2B, 3B, 4 RBI) and Brett Pill (2-for-5, 2B, 3 RBI) each drove home multiple runs.

San Jose knocked around Nuts starting pitcher Chaz Roe for seven consecutive hits to begin the contest on Thursday. Three straight singles from Bobby Felmy, Downs and Pablo Sandoval produced a run to start the game. Ryan Rohlinger then lined a single into left field plating Downs for a 2-0 lead. After Andy D'Alessio singled to load the bases, Pill stepped to the plate and belted a two-run double into the left field corner. Mooney followed by driving an 0-2 pitch from Roe off the fence in deep center field to score two more runs. On the play, Mooney raced into third base for a triple as two more runs scored to extend the lead to 6-0.

The Giants added another run against Roe in the top of the second inning when Downs led off with a double before scoring on D'Alessio's two-out double.

Pucetas (6-0) was credited with the victory despite allowing a season-high five runs over his 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander surrendered seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Pucetas retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced before Modesto rallied for a two-out run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Then in the fifth, Daniel Mayora drove home two more runs with a clutch two-out single to bring the Nuts within 7-3.

The Giants though would respond by sending 11 batters to the plate in the top of the sixth. San Jose scored five runs in the frame on just two hits as they took advantage of four Modesto errors. Sharlon Schoop started the rally by reaching on a one-out throwing error committed by the shortstop Mayora. Mike McBryde followed with a bloop single into shallow center field to put runners on the corners. Felmy then grounded a ball to second base that could have resulted in an inning-ending double play, however Geoff Strickland mishandled the ball for an error allowing Schoop to score.

Downs kept the rally going with an RBI single into left field for a 9-3 advantage before Sandoval flied out to center. Rohlinger then reached on a Strickland fielding error to score San Jose's tenth run of the game. D'Alessio followed by reaching on another Mayora error to plate a run. Two batters later, Mooney was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score the fifth and final run of the inning.

Roe (0-1), who was making his 2008 debut, was saddled with the loss after yielding 12 runs (seven earned) on 11 hits over 5 2/3 innings. All five runs scored in the top of the sixth inning by the Giants were unearned against Roe.

Modesto cut into the San Jose lead with three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning to knock Pucetas out of the game. With two outs, Jay Cox doubled home a run to force a pitching change. Steve Edlefsen was summoned from the bullpen and he promptly allowed a two-run homer to Strickland to make the score 12-6.

Edlefsen surrendered another run in the bottom of the seventh when Cox delivered a two-out RBI single bringing the Nuts to within 12-7.

But the Giants would come back with another big inning as nine hitters batted during their five-run top of the eighth. Pill scored the first run of the frame with an RBI single before Mooney stepped to the plate and doubled into the right field corner to plate another run. Schoop followed with an RBI single into center field and a second run scored on the play when Anthony Jackson bobbled the ball in center for an error. San Jose's 17th run of the night would score when Juan Ciriaco connected for an RBI single.

Felmy (2-for-6, RBI), Rohlinger (2-for-5, RBI) and D'Alessio (2-for-6, 2B, RBI) also produced multiple-hit games for the Giants. San Jose out-hit Modesto by a 17-13 margin as all nine Nuts starters also finished with at least one hit.

Wilmin Rodriguez (1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO) and Taylor Wilding (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) would combine to hold Modesto scoreless over the final 2 1/3 innings.

Notes: The 17 runs scored was a season-high for the Giants surpassing their previous mark of 14 from earlier in the road trip (May 18 at Stockton) ... San Jose is 3-3 on their current eight-game road trip having scored 44 runs in the three victories ... Mooney was in a 3-for-28 slump before Thursday's game ... Pucetas, whose ERA climbed to 2.81, matched a season-high with six strikeouts ... He is now tied with teammates Tim Alderson and Jesse English, along with Visalia's Cesar Valdez, for the league-lead in victories ... Modesto committed a season-high six errors ... The Giants won their first game this season at John Thurman Field in five attempts ... The home team had won the first eight games of the Giants-Nuts season-series before Thursday's result ... San Jose continues to lead the California League in batting average (.293) and runs scored (6.1 per game) ... Roe, a supplemental first round draft pick in 2005 and a member of the Nuts for all of last season, had not yet pitched this year due to a knee injury sustained in spring training ... The Giants moved into a tie with Stockton (30-17) atop the North Division after the Ports lost a 6-3 decision at Lancaster on Thursday afternoon.

On Deck: The Giants and Nuts continue this four-game series on Friday night with first pitch at John Thurman Field scheduled for 7:05 P.M. Ben Snyder (5-1, 1.74 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Modesto is expected to counter with Aneury Rodriguez (4-3, 2.87 ERA). The game can be heard live on www.sjgiants.com.

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California League Stories from May 23, 2008


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