Eighth-Inning Home Run Sinks Giants
Published on June 24, 2012 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
VISALIA - Visalia's Bobby Borchering hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the Rawhide to a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Giants on Saturday evening at Recreation Park. Visalia overcame a 3-1 deficit scoring twice in the fifth inning to tie the game before Borchering's go-ahead blast in the eighth. The loss snapped San Jose's three-game winning streak and dropped their overall record to 40-33.
Ryan Lollis (1-for-3, HR, RBI) hit his third home run of the season for the Giants in the loss. The Rawhide out-hit San Jose by an 8-6 margin. No Giants player finished the contest with more than one hit.
With the score tied 3-3, Visalia's Mike Freeman began the bottom of the eighth with a single up the middle against San Jose reliever Jose Valdez. Jon Griffin was up next and he struck out swinging, but on the strike-three pitch, Freeman stole second before taking third when catcher Andrew Susac's throw sailed into center field for an error. Borchering was up next and he hammered the first offering from Valdez over the fence in deep left center field to give the Rawhide the lead. The home run was Borchering's team-leading 13th of the season.
D.J. Johnson (1-0) was credited with the win out of the Visalia bullpen after a hitless top of the eighth. Johnson plunked Ricky Oropesa with one out in the frame, but recovered to strikeout the next two hitters, Susac and Jarrett Parker, to end the inning. Bo Schultz then worked a 1-2-3 top of the ninth for his 10th save of the year.
Valdez (4-3), one of six Giants pitchers in the game, suffered the loss. He allowed two runs (both earned) on three hits in 2/3 of an inning.
The Rawhide jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a single run in the bottom of the first against San Jose starter Justin Schumer. Garrett Weber started the rally with a one-out single before consecutive walks to Freeman and Griffin loaded the bases. Schumer then walked Borchering on a 3-2 pitch to force home the run. Keon Broxton was up next and he struck looking for the second out, but Schumer was then removed from the game in favor of Seth Rosin and the reliever fanned Gerson Montilla to end the inning.
Visalia starter Conrad Flynn fired two perfect inning to begin his night before the Giants plated a run in the top of the third. Bobby Haney led off with a double down the right field line before Luke Anders drew a walk. Lollis then walked with one out to load the bases before a two-out walk to Adam Duvall brought home the tying run.
San Jose took the lead in the top of the fourth as Susac started the inning with a double before moving to third when Parker singled. Haney followed by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play as Susac scored to put the Giants in front.
Lollis then extended the San Jose lead to 3-1 with a solo home run to begin the top of the fifth.
Rosin (3 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 SO) was dominant on the mound for the Giants setting down all 10 Rawhide batters that he faced. Rosin worked 1-2-3 second, third and fourth innings. His six strikeouts were a season-high and the most by a San Jose reliever in a game this season.
Mitchell Beacom (1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) relieved Rosin to begin the bottom of the fifth and promptly allowed back-to-back doubles to Raywilly Gomez and Raoul Torrez as Visalia cut the San Jose lead in half. A sacrifice bunt from Ender Inciarte then moved Torrez to third before Weber's RBI groundout made it 3-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, Beacom allowed a leadoff single to Griffin before issuing a walk to Borchering, however Drew Bowlin (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO) entered the game and quickly set down the next three hitters to keep the score tied.
The Giants had an opportunity to reclaim the lead in the seventh as Chris Lofton doubled with one out before taking third on a wild pitch, however Rawhide reliever Patrick Schuster struck out Lollis on a 3-2 pitch before Joe Panik grounded out to end the threat. Lofton's double was the only San Jose hit over the last four innings.
Bowlin returned to the mound in the bottom of the seventh and struck out the side in a perfect inning before Valdez was summoned to start the eighth.
Notes: The Giants have won two out of the first three games in the series ... The loss snapped San Jose's season-high four-game road winning streak ... Panik (0-for-4) saw his hitting streak end at 11 games ... Schumer's outing marked the shortest start of the year for a Giants pitcher ... He lasted just 2/3 of an inning with one run and one hit allowed, three walks and one strike out.
On Deck: The Giants and Rawhide conclude their four-game series on Sunday afternoon with first pitch at Recreation Park scheduled for 2:00 PM. Ryan Bradley (3-3, 3.87 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Anthony Meo (2-4, 4.12 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 1:30 PM.
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