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CalL1 San Jose Giants

Fitzgerald Fantastic in 7-4 Victory Over Rawhide

August 21, 2010 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


Justin Fitzgerald struck out a career-high 11 and allowed just one run over six dominant innings in San Jose's 7-4 win over the Visalia Rawhide on Friday evening at Recreation Park. Fitzgerald took a no- hitter into the sixth inning while Drew Biery hit a key two-out, two- run homer in the top of the fourth as the Giants earned a split of the four-game series. The win improves San Jose's overall record to 67-56.

Fitzgerald (9-5) picked-up his ninth victory of the season after limiting the Rawhide to a single run and two hits during his stint on the mound. The Giants starter, who at one point retired 12 straight Visalia hitters, walked only one and threw 97 pitches.

Jose Flores (2-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI) was the only San Jose player to finish with a multi-hit game. Eight Giants starters recorded at least one hit in the balanced offensive attack. San Jose out-hit the Rawhide by a 10-6 margin.

The Giants never trailed in the contest scoring a single run in the top of the third to take the lead. Biery began the frame by drawing a walk before Joel Weeks singled to put runners on first and second. Visalia starter Charles Brewer then set down the next two hitters before Flores lined an RBI single into right to give San Jose a 1-0 lead.

The Giants then struck for three runs in the top of the fourth as Monell led off with a double into the right center field gap. After Charlie Culberson singled to advance Monell to third, Wendell Fairley delivered an RBI groundout to make it 2-0. Two batters later, Biery belted a 1-0 pitch from Brewer well over the fence in left center field for a two-run homer. The home run, Biery's 14th of the season, extended the San Jose lead to 4-0.

Fitzgerald allowed only one baserunner over the first five innings - a walk to Paul Goldschmidt leading off the bottom of the second. Fitzgerald struck out the side in a perfect first inning before logging two more strikeouts in a 1-2-3 third frame. He punched out another in the fourth and struck out the side again in the fifth. Gerson Montilla finally broke up the no-hitter with a line drive single into center field leading off the bottom of the sixth before Alberto Diaz doubled to deep right putting runners on second and third with one out. Alfredo Marte followed with a groundout to third plating Montilla bringing the Rawhide to within 4-1.

San Jose increased their lead to 7-1 with three runs in the top of the seventh against Visalia reliever Ryan Robowski. Ehire Adrianza led off with a bloop double down the left field line and scored on Michael Sandoval's pinch-hit double off the fence in deep right center. Then with two outs, Juan Perez grounded an RBI single up the middle before Flores lined a triple into the right center field gap to bring home another run.

Scott Nestor (1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) relieved Fitzgerald to begin the bottom of the seventh and surrendered two runs as the Rawhide moved to within 7-3. Goldschmidt led off the inning with a single, advanced to second when Matt Davidson walked, moved to third on a wild pitch and came home on Rossmel Perez's groundout. A second run in the inning scored when with two outs, Niko Gallego hit a soft ground ball to the mound that was thrown away by Nestor for an error.

Edwin Quirarte (2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO) tossed the last two innings to finish the game. Quirarte needed only seven pitches to work a scoreless bottom of the eighth before yielding a single run in the ninth. Montilla delivered a one-out, RBI double to make it 7-4, but Quirarte recovered to strikeout pinch-hitter Kyle Greene before Diaz lined out to third as the potential tying run was stranded in the on-deck circle.

Brewer (5-3) suffered the loss for the Rawhide despite recording 12 strikeouts over six innings. Brewer surrendered four runs (all earned) on six hits and issued just one walk. Brewer and Robowski (3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO) combined to strikeout 15 Giants hitters in the loss.

Notes: San Jose has won two straight after a season-high six-game losing streak ... Fitzgerald's previous career-high in strikeouts was eight (accomplished three times this season) ... Flores is hitting .458 (22-for-48) with 15 RBI's in his last 12 games ... Biery was hitless in 13 consecutive at-bats before his home run ... Friday concluded a stretch in which the Giants played 16 out of 22 games on the road (10-12 record) ... San Jose will play 13 out of their final 17 regular season games at home ... The Giants maintained a three-game lead over the Modesto Nuts (64-59) and Stockton Ports (64-59) for the top overall record in the North Division.

On Deck: The Giants return home on Saturday evening to begin a three- game series against the Stockton Ports. The Ports have won their last 13 games. First pitch at Municipal Stadium is scheduled for 6:00 PM. Andrew Romo (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Ian Krol (0-0, 0.00 ERA). The San Jose Giants have partnered with the Sons of Sicily for the third annual Italian Night on Saturday. The entire night will be a celebration of Italian culture with raffles, Italian music and food, vendor booths and giveaways. There will be a silent auction for the special Italian themed, game worn, player jerseys and many fun activities for the whole family. In addition, the first 1,000 Italian Night fans in attendance will receive dry-fit t-shirts, sponsored by Country Club Villa Properties & Battaglia Ranch Tree Farm. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling (408) 297-1435 or by visiting www.sjgiants.com.

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