CalL1 San Jose Giants

Blackburn Pitches Giants To Game One Victory

Published on September 6, 2012 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


SAN JOSE - Clayton Blackburn struck out nine and allowed just one run over seven innings as the San Jose Giants earned a 3-1 victory over the Modesto Nuts in Game One of the best-of-three North Mini-Series on Wednesday evening at Municipal Stadium. The Giants scored twice in the bottom of the first inning and never trailed en route to claiming their postseason opener.

Blackburn, who was promoted from Augusta (A) last Sunday, surrendered just three hits and issued only one walk during his stint on the mound to pick-up the win. The right-hander retired 21 out of the 27 batters that he faced.

Josh Osich (1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) stranded two runners in scoring position in the top of the eighth before Jose Valdez (1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save.

San Jose jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Shawn Payne hit the first pitch thrown by Nuts starter Christian Bergman over the fence in center for a leadoff solo home run. The first-inning rally continued when Joe Panik singled with one out before Ricky Oropesa's two-out single put runners on first and second. Alex Burg then stepped to the plate and blooped a double down the right field line to score Panik for a 2-0 lead. Bergman did limit the damage in the inning as the right-hander struck out the next batter, Jarrett Parker, to leave runners at second and third.

Blackburn pitched around a two-out error in the top of the first and a two-out single in the second inning to keep Modesto off the scoreboard over the first two frames. The Nuts though cut the Giants lead in half in the top of the third as Rafael Ortega connected for a solo homer to deep right field.

Blackburn recovered after surrendering the home run as he retired the next two batters to get out of the inning. He then struck out the first two hitters in the top of the fourth and then after issuing a walk to Jared Clark, induced Dustin Garneau to hit a grounder back to the mound for the third out.

In the top of the fifth with the Giants still leading by just one run, Blackburn needed only nine pitches to retire Modesto in order. The Nuts threatened in the sixth as Dallas Tarleton singled with one out before Brett Tanos was hit by a pitch. Juan Crousset followed by grounding into a fielder's choice as Tarleton, the potential tying run, moved to third and Tanos was forced at second. Blackburn though responded with a strikeout of Jared Clark to keep San Jose ahead.

Meanwhile, Bergman settled down after his rocky first inning to retire the Giants 1-2-3 in the second, third, fourth and fifth frames. He had set down 13 consecutive San Jose batters until Carter Jurica began the bottom of the sixth with a double off the fence in left. Panik followed with a bunt single and when Modesto third baseman Joey Wong threw wildly to first for an error, Jurica raced home with the third Giants run of the night.

Blackburn returned to the mound in the top of the seventh and promptly worked another 1-2-3 inning on just nine pitches. He threw 95 pitches during his seven-inning performance.

With San Jose leading 3-1, Osich was summoned from the bullpen to start the eighth. Ortega and Cleary, Jr. delivered back-to-back singles to begin the inning before Tarleton grounded out to put runners on second and third. Osich though, with the potential tying runs in scoring position, registered a swinging strikeout of Tanos before a looking strikeout of Crousset to end the inning.

In the top of the ninth, Clark led off with a bunt single against Valdez, but Garneau followed by grounding into a 4-6-3 double play. Wong then singled to again bring the tying run to the plate, however Valdez induced Cristhian Adames to groundout weakly to second base for the final out of the game.

Panik (2-for-4) was the only Giants player to finish with more than one hit. The Nuts out-hit San Jose by a 7-6 margin.

Bergman, the California League Pitcher of the Year, suffered the loss after yielding three runs (two earned) on six hits over seven innings. He walked one and struck out nine.

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California League Stories from September 6, 2012


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