CalL San Jose Giants

Giants Bats Silenced in 3-1 Loss

August 8, 2021 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


One night after their thrilling ninth-inning comeback win, the San Jose Giants bats were silenced by Fresno pitching in a 3-1 loss to the Grizzlies on Saturday evening at Chukchansi Park. Two Fresno hurlers - Anderson Amarista and Blair Calvo - combined to record 13 strikeouts in the contest with San Jose's only run coming on a Jairo Pomares solo homer. The defeat dropped the Giants (53-30) two games behind the Grizzlies (55-28) for the best record in the league.

San Jose had several opportunities with runners in scoring position over the first four innings on Saturday, but were unable to take advantage. In the top of the first, Carter Williams started the game with a double before Casey Schmitt worked a one-out walk. Luis Matos followed with a grounder that deflected off the glove of the pitcher Amarista and went for an infield single to load the bases. The Matos single would turn out to be the Giants' only hit of the game with a runner in scoring position. Pomares was up next and he fouled out to third before Patrick Bailey struck out swinging on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning.

Fresno took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Zac Veen connected for a two-out solo homer to right off of San Jose starter Ty Weber. The homer was Veen's team-leading 13th of the season.

Still down by a run, the Giants threatened again in the third putting a runner at third base with one out, but failed to score. Luis Toribio doubled down the right field line with one out before moving to third on a wild pitch. Schmitt followed by drawing a walk. Matos then hit a sharp grounder that was handled by a sliding Julio Carreras at short, who would start a spectacular double play to get the Grizzlies out of the inning.

San Jose tied the game in the top of the fourth when Pomares led off with a towering solo home run to deep center. It was Pomares' 12th round-tripper of the season.

The Giants then had an opportunity to add on in the fourth inning as Bailey followed the homer by drawing a walk before Jimmy Glowenke was hit by a pitch. Amarista though came back to retire the next three hitters as Harrison Freed struck out and both Abdiel Layer and Williams grounded out to keep the game tied.

Meanwhile, Weber tossed three straight scoreless innings from the second through the fourth working around two singles and a walk. He returned to the mound in the bottom of the fifth with the game still tied and allowed a leadoff double to AJ Lewis. Bryant Quijada then blooped a single into shallow right advancing Lewis to third and prompting a pitching change. Juan Sanchez was summoned from the bullpen and he retired Jack Yalowitz on a shallow fly ball to left for the first out, but Eddy Diaz followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center plating Lewis to give Fresno back the lead at 2-1.

Amarista finished his outing with a scoreless top of the sixth pitching around a Pomares leadoff single before the Grizzlies added to their lead with a single tally in the bottom of the frame. With Sanchez still on the mound, Carreras led off with a single before Veen hit a bouncer over the head of the first baseman Toribio and down the right field line for a double. With runners at second and third, Sanchez set down Warming Bernabel on a pop out to shortstop for the first out. Mateo Gil then hit a grounder to third that Schmitt fielded and easily threw out Carreras at the plate for the second out. Fresno though still managed to push across a run in the inning. Veen had taken third on the play at the plate while Gil was safe at first on the fielder's choice. Then with Trevor Boone at the plate, the Grizzlies successfully executed a double steal with Gil swiping second and Veen stealing home to make it 3-1.

Calvo pitched the final three innings for Fresno and allowed only one hit with one walk and five strikeouts. He fanned two batters in a 1-2-3 top of the seventh. In the eighth, Schmitt led off with a single, but Matos grounded into his second double play of the game before Pomares struck out to end the inning. Then in the ninth, Bailey drew a leadoff walk to again bring the potential tying run to the plate. However, Glowenke struck out looking, Freed bounced out and Layer struck out swinging to finish the game.

GIANTS NOTES

Series Update

Fresno has now won three of the first five games in the series. The clubs have alternated wins with the Grizzlies taking games one, three and five while the Giants won games two and four. Four of the five games have been decided by one or two runs.

Pomares At The Plate

Jairo Pomares (2-for-4, HR, RBI) was the only Giants player to finish with more than one hit on Saturday. He's batting at a .443 clip (31-for-70) over his last 18 games.

Inside The Box Score

Fresno out-hit San Jose by a 9-6 margin. The Giants were only 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base (six over the first four innings). Anderson Amarista (6 IP, 1 R, 3 BB, 8 SO) earned the win for the Grizzlies while Blair Calvo (3 IP, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 SO) notched his second save of the year.

On The Mound

Ty Weber (3-3) was saddled with the loss in his second start of the season. Weber pitched four-plus innings with two runs (both earned) and six hits allowed. He walked one and struck out three. Weber issued his first walk since June 27. Juan Sanchez (4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 SO) was the only Giants reliever who appeared in the game.

On Deck

The Giants and Grizzlies conclude their six-game series on Sunday evening with first pitch at Chukchansi Park set for 5:05 PM. Wil Jensen is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.

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