CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Complete Sweep of Ports with 11-Inning Win

Published on April 28, 2016 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


SAN JOSE, CA - The San Jose Giants completed a three-game sweep of Stockton with a 3-2, 11-inning victory over the Ports on Thursday afternoon at Municipal Stadium. After the Giants tied the game with a run in the bottom of the 10th, Stockton right fielder Seth Brown misplayed a Jonah Arenado fly ball in the 11th allowing the winning run to come home. San Jose (10-8) has now won a season-high four games in a row.

C.J Hinojosa (3-for-5, HR, RBI) had three hits, including a game-tying solo home run in the seventh inning, to lead the Giants offensively. Hinojosa led off the bottom of the 11th with a single and eventually scored the game-winning run.

San Jose starting pitcher Andrew Suarez struck out a career-high 10 batters over a dominant 6 2/3 innings to begin the contest. Suarez allowed just one run and five hits with no walks during his 91-pitch performance. Rodolfo Martinez (1-1) was credited with the win out of the bullpen after tossing a scoreless top of the 11th.

The only run against Suarez came in the top of the fourth when Stockton's Tyler Marincov connected for a two-out solo homer to left center. The home run, Marincov's team-leading sixth of the season, gave the Ports their first lead of the series at 1-0. Suarez had retired the first 11 Stockton hitters of the game, five of which came via the strikeout, before Marincov's round-tripper.

Suarez then pitched around a leadoff single in the top of the fifth and a pair of one-out singles in the sixth to keep the deficit at a run. He was removed from the game with two outs in the top of the seventh after collecting his 10th strikeout of the afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Giants managed only one hit - a Chris Shaw single in the bottom of the second - over the first six innings against Stockton starter Zack Erwin. Finally with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Hinojosa launched a fly ball to deep left center that carried over the fence for a tying solo home run. The homer was Hinojosa's first of the season.

Jose Reyes (3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO), who relieved Suarez in the seventh, kept the Ports off the scoreboard in the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the 1-1 tie. The Ports though reclaimed the lead with a run in the top of the 10th against Reyes. A walk to Jose Brizuela started the frame before James Harris singled with one out to put runners on first and second. Melvin Mercedes then grounded into a fielder's choice with Harris forced out at second as Brizuela advanced to third. Marincov was up next and he hit a slow chopper to third that was barehanded by Vizcaino, Jr., but his hurried throw to first skipped past Arenado and into foul territory. Marincov was credited with an infield hit on the play as Brizuela came home to make it 2-1 Stockton. Reyes then plunked Brown to load the bases, but recovered to strikeout Joe Bennie to end the inning.

The Giants then rallied in the bottom of the 10th. Facing reliever Cody Stull, Arenado led off with a single up the middle. After Aramis Garcia's sacrifice bunt moved Arenado to second, Stull uncorked a wild pitch advancing the runner to third. One pitch later, Brandon Bednar lifted a sacrifice fly to right to plate Arenado with the tying tally.

Martinez (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO) entered from the bullpen to begin the top of the 11th and quickly set down the first two Stockton hitters. Brizuela then drew a walk, but Martinez followed with a strikeout of Argenis Raga to retire the side.

San Jose's game-winning rally in the bottom of the 11th began with a line drive single to right from Hinojosa - his third hit of the day. Following a Shaw strikeout, Vizcaino, Jr. worked a full-count walk to put runners on first and second. Steven Duggar was up next, but he struck out swinging for the second out of the inning. Arenado then hit a high fly ball into the right field corner that saw Brown sprint over, but drop the ball as he attempted to make a running catch. The play was ruled an error as Hinojosa easily scored from second to give the Giants a walk-off victory.

Stull (0-1), who blew the save in the 10th for the Ports, was saddled with the loss. He was charged with two runs (one earned) on three hits over 1 2/3 innings of relief. Erwin pitched the first 6 2/3 innings and yielded just one run on two hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

Notes:

* Thursday was San Jose's first walk-off win of the season. It was also their first extra-inning game this year.

* The Giants earned the first series sweep of the season.

* Hinojosa increased his season batting average to .354 - fourth in the California League.

* Over his last two starts, Suarez has struck out 19 batters with no walks in 13 2/3 innings (two runs allowed). Suarez leads the league with 30 strikeouts this season.

* Stockton out-hit San Jose 8-7. The teams were a combined 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position (Ports 1-for-10, Giants 0-for-5).

* Stockton has lost a season-high five games in a row.

* The first pitch time of 11:30 AM is the earliest start for a San Jose home game this season.

On Deck: The Giants next embark on a seven-game road trip to Visalia (three games) and Stockton (four games). The series against the Rawhide begins on Friday night with first pitch at Recreation Park scheduled for 7:00 PM. Sam Coonrod (0-1, 0.00 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while the Rawhide are expected to counter with Wei-Chieh Huang (0-0, 7.36 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:30 PM.

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California League Stories from April 28, 2016


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