CalL1 San Jose Giants

Downs Drives In Five Leading Giants To 10-7 Victory

Published on August 19, 2008 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


Matt Downs homered and collected five RBI's to lead the San Jose Giants to a 10-7 victory over the Visalia Oaks on Monday night at Recreation Park. Downs, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, was 3-for-6 at the plate as part of a 15-hit Giants offensive attack. Mike McBryde added four hits in five at-bats while Taylor Wilding earned his first win of the season with three effective innings of relief. With the victory, San Jose improves their second half record to 34-23 and now leads the Modesto Nuts (29-27) by 4 1/2 games in the North Division race.

In addition to Downs and McBryde, Brad Boyer (2-for-4, 2B, RBI, SB) and Bobby Felmy (2-for-5, RBI, 2 SB) contributed multiple-hit performances at the plate. The Giants scored three runs without an out being recorded in the top of the first inning and never trailed en route to evening the series at a game apiece.

Wilding (1-6), who entered the game to begin the bottom of the fourth, was credited with the victory after surrendered just one run and two hits during his stint on the mound. The right-hander struck out two and walked none. Dan Otero notched his 13th save with the Giants after retiring all three batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Boyer and Brock Bond began the contest with back-to-back walks for San Jose before Downs stepped to the plate and lined a double into the left center field gap to score both runners. After Brett Pill was hit by a pitch, Felmy singled sharply into right field to bring home Downs with the third run of the frame.

San Jose plated a run in the second inning when Boyer singled with one out, stole second base and scored on Downs' two-out single.

Giants starting pitcher Waldis Joaquin, who was on a strict pitch count, worked three innings. Joaquin yielded two runs (both earned) on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks. The right-hander allowed single runs in the first and second innings. In the bottom of the first, Pete Clifford delivered a one-out, RBI single before Greg Thomson connected for a solo homer in the second. Joaquin stranded a runner at third base in his final frame, striking out Clifford and Ed Easley to end the threat.

Leading 4-2, Downs began the top of the fifth inning with a solo homer to deep left center field. The home run was Downs' team-leading 16th of the season.

Two batters later, Felmy singled before advancing to second base on a wild pick-off throw from relief pitcher Jorge Perez. Felmy then stole third base and scored on McBryde's infield single.

After Visalia scored a run against Wilding in the bottom of the fifth, the Giants hitters kept the pressure on with two runs each in the sixth and seventh innings. In the top of the sixth, Jackson Williams led off with an infield single before taking second base when shortstop Mark Hallberg threw the ball away for an error. After a one-out infield single from Bond, Williams scored when Downs grounded out sharply back to the mound. Pill followed with an RBI single into left field extending the San Jose lead to 8-3.

In the seventh, Andy D'Alessio began the rally with a double off the fence in center field. After McBryde singled, Tyler Graham reached on a fielder's choice ground out to bring home a run. Then with two outs, Boyer lined an RBI double into the right center field gap for a 10-3 Giants advantage.

Juan Trinidad (2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO) worked a perfect bottom of the seventh before allowing a single run in the eighth. Craig Whitaker (0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) began the final inning, but did not retire any of the four batters he faced. Mike Mee led off with a single before Ricardo Sosa belted a two-run homer to deep left center field bringing the Oaks to within 10-6. Whitaker followed by issuing a walk to Greg Thomson and then Konrad Schmidt singled sharply into center field. On the play, the runners moved up to second and third when McBryde bobbled the ball in center field for an error.

Otero was then summoned from the bullpen and he promptly struck out Evan Frey looking before Hallberg lifted a sacrifice fly to right field. Otero followed by striking out Pedro Ciriaco swinging to end the contest and strand the potential tying run in the on-deck circle.

Notes: The Giants out-hit the Oaks by a 15-11 margin ... San Jose hasn't lost consecutive games since dropping three in a row from July 21-23 ... McBryde, who raised his batting average to .299, is 7-for-8 in the series ... McBryde is batting .488 (21-for-43) in 13 games at Recreation Park this season ... Wilding's victory came in his team-leading 42nd relief appearance ... Downs homered for the first time since returning to San Jose from Fresno (AAA) on July 19 ... Every Giants starter with the exception of Graham (0-for-4, RBI) had at least one hit ... Otero is tied for second in all of minor league base in saves (31) ... He is 13-for-15 in save opportunities with the Giants ... Joaquin was making his second start and seventh overall appearance since joining San Jose from Augusta (Low-A) on July 28 ... Joaquin was filling in for Tim Alderson (rest) in the starting rotation ... The Giants improved their overall record to 77-50.

On Deck: The Giants and Oaks play the rubber game of this three-game series on Tuesday night with first pitch at Recreation Park scheduled for 7:05 P.M. Daryl Maday (1-0, 1.50 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Wes Roemer (7-10, 4.45 ERA). The game can be heard live on www.sjgiants.com.

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California League Stories from August 19, 2008


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