CalL San Jose Giants

Giants Blanked by Grizzlies, Suffer First Series Loss

Published on July 11, 2021 under California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


The Giants were shutout at home for the first time this season with Saturday's 5-0 loss to the Fresno Grizzlies. In front of a season-high crowd of 2,502 at Excite Ballpark, San Jose was held to just four hits and fell out of first place in the Low-A West standings for the first time in a month. The defeat also sent the Giants (37-22) to their first series loss of 2021.

Grizzlies starting pitcher Sam Weatherly, a top 20 prospect in the Colorado Rockies farm system, twirled a gem on Saturday with six scoreless innings and only two hits allowed. Weatherly, who at one point in his start retired 15 of 16 San Jose hitters, walked one and struck out seven en route to picking-up the win.

San Francisco Giants right-hander Aaron Sanchez started for San Jose on a rehabilitation assignment. Sanchez, who is recovering from a bicep injury and a blister issue on his pitching hand, became the first SF Giant to make a rehab appearance in San Jose this year.

Sanchez began his start with three scoreless innings and retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced. He needed only seven pitches to work a 1-2-3 top of the first before throwing eight pitches in a scoreless second inning. Fresno's Bladimir Restituyo singled with two outs in the third and stole second, but was stranded in scoring position when Sanchez induced leadoff batter Eddy Diaz to groundout ending the inning.

The Grizzlies though would breakthrough in the top of the fourth when Ezequiel Tovar connected for a one-out solo homer to left center off of Sanchez. The homer, Tovar's team-leading ninth of the season, put Fresno ahead by a 1-0 margin.

The Grizzles then rallied for three runs in the top of the fifth to stretch their lead to 4-0. Mateo Gil led off with a double down the left field line before Colin Simpson popped out. Julio Carreras then reached on an infield single advancing Gil to third. Restituyo was up next and his slow grounder to third was misplayed by Casey Schmitt for an error. Gil remained at third on the play as the bases were loaded with still only one out. Haydn King was then summoned from the bullpen to replace Sanchez, and the Giants reliever promptly gave up a two-RBI single to Diaz as Gil and Carreras both scored. Two batters later, Tovar hit a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 4-0.

Meanwhile, San Jose managed only four baserunners during Weatherly's six innings on the mound. The Giants threatened in the bottom of the first when Jimmy Glowenke led off with a single before Abdiel Layer walked, but Weatherly retired the next three hitters to work out of the jam. In the third, Glowenke reached on a one-out error, but Layer followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play. San Jose then didn't have another batter reach base until Glowenke's one-out double in the bottom of the sixth, but he was ultimately stranded at second.

Down 4-0, the Giants threatened in the seventh and eighth innings against the Fresno bullpen, but came away empty-handed. In the bottom of the seventh, Alex Canario drew a two-out walk and Harrison Freed singled, but Tyler Wyatt grounded out to end the inning. Then in the eighth, Glowenke singled with one out - his third hit of the game. A walk to Layer followed to bring the potential tying run into the on-deck circle, however Jairo Pomares and Luis Matos both flied out.

The Grizzlies capped the scoring when Simpson launched a solo home run down the right field line in the top of ninth to make it 5-0. In the bottom half, Schmitt worked a leadoff walk, but Canario flied out and Freed grounded into a game-ending double play.

GIANTS NOTES

First Series Loss

With Saturday's defeat, the Giants have now dropped four of the first five games in the series to Fresno. San Jose had avoided a series loss the entire season prior to this week. The Giants had won seven series' and split two others prior to the current match-up against the Grizzlies.

Inside The Box Score

Fresno out-hit San Jose 8-4. The Giants were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Wil Jensen, the originally scheduled starting pitcher for San Jose, tossed four innings of long relief with one run allowed. Jensen walked none, struck out five and lowered his ERA to a league-best 2.77.

Glowenke Surging

Jimmy Glowenke (3-for-4, 2B) had three of the Giants' four hits on Saturday. Over his last eight games, Glowenke is batting .423 (11-for-26) with two home runs.

Sanchez's Rehab Start

Aaron Sanchez worked 4 1/3 innings in his rehab start and was charged with four runs (three earned). Three of the four runs Sanchez allowed scored after he left the game. Sanchez surrendered four hits, walked none and struck out two. He threw 38 of his 55 pitches for strikes. Sanchez last appeared in a major league game on May 4.

Dropped Out Of First

Saturday's setback dropped the Giants (37-22) one game behind Fresno (38-21) for first place in Low-A West. It marks the first time in exactly one month (June 10) that San Jose has not had at least a share of the top spot in the standings.

On Deck

The Giants and Grizzlies conclude their six-game series on Sunday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 5:00 PM. Kyle Harrison is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.

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