CalL San Jose Giants

Cobb Shines In Rehab Start, Giants Win 7-1

Published on June 25, 2023 under California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


San Francisco Giants pitcher Alex Cobb dazzled in a rehab start for San Jose on Saturday night as the Giants earned a 7-1 victory against the host Stockton Ports at Banner Island Ballpark. Onil Perez hit a key three-run home run while Matt Higgins and Anthony Rodriguez also went deep to lead the way offensively en route to the convincing win. The triumph marked San Jose's (41-27 overall, 1-1 second half) first victory of the second half.

Cobb, who is returning from an oblique injury and last pitched in a major league game on June 13, struck out an impressive nine batters over 3 2/3 innings Saturday evening. The 12-year big league veteran surrendered only one run on three hits and did not issue a walk during his 66-pitch outing.

Cobb began his start with a pair of strikeouts in a scoreless bottom of the first as he worked around a one-out single. He then pitched a perfect second inning striking out the side in dominant fashion.

The Giants would breakthrough at the plate with three runs on one swing in the top of the third to take a 3-0 lead. Alexander Suarez led off the inning with a single before a two-out walk to Higgins. Perez was up next and the San Jose catcher blasted the first pitch of his at-bat over the fence in deep left center for a three-run homer. The 397-foot round-tripper was Perez's second home run of the season.

Cobb returned to the mound in the bottom of the third and notched two strikeouts as he pitched through a leadoff single. He then fanned two more hitters back-to-back to start the fourth. However with two down in the bottom of the fourth, Stockton's Tommy Stevenson connected for a solo home run to left off of Cobb to trim the Giants lead to 3-1. The longball was the final pitch thrown by Cobb in the contest as originally scheduled starter Daniel Blair entered from the bullpen and promptly recorded the third out to end the inning.

With the game still at 3-1, the Ports threatened in the bottom of the fifth against Blair as Carlos Franco led off with a single before Nelson Beltran singled with one out to put the potential tying run on base. Blair though would retire Colby Thomas on a lineout to shortstop before Rodriguez made a magnificent play at third on a slow grounder hit by Brennan Milone to end the inning.

San Jose then belted a pair of solo home runs in the top of the sixth to extend their lead. Higgins led off with a liner to right for his team-leading ninth homer of the season. Then with two down, a towering drive off the bat of Rodriguez to deep right center pushed the lead to 5-1. It was Rodriguez's second home run this year.

Blair would keep Stockton off the board for the remainder of his outing as he pitched around a pair of singles in a scoreless bottom of the sixth before needing only seven pitches to breeze through a 1-2-3 seventh inning. In the eighth, Milone led off with a single, but Blair came back to set down the next three hitters to retire the side.

The Giants added two more runs in the top of the ninth as Tanner O'Tremba was hit by a pitch to leadoff and Suarez singled with one out. Turner Hill then came up and laced a double to the fence in deep right that scored both runners as the San Jose advantage grew to 7-1.

Dylan Cumming then slammed the door with an eight-pitch 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.

Blair (6-1) picked-up his team-leading sixth win of the season after working 4 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. He gave up five hits - all singles - with no walks and five strikeouts. Cobb, Blair and Cumming combined for 15 strikeouts and no walks in the victory.

Hill (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI), Diego Velasquez (2-for-4, 2B) and Suarez (2-for-4) had multi-hit games for the Giants. San Jose out-hit Stockton 10-8.

The Giants will look to split the series in Stockton when the teams conclude their six-game set on Sunday afternoon. First pitch at Banner Island Ballpark is set for 2:09 PM. Gerelmi Maldonado is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher. The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com.

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California League Stories from June 25, 2023


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