Giants Cruise to 8-2 Victory over Storm
May 28, 2021 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release
Marco Luciano homered as part of a perfect night at the plate and Giants pitchers collected 14 strikeouts in an 8-2 victory over the Lake Elsinore Storm on Thursday evening at Excite Ballpark. Harrison Freed added a key three-run homer as San Jose (12-9) earned their first win of the series after consecutive losses to Lake Elsinore the last two nights.
The Giants never trailed on Thursday plating two runs in the bottom of the first to take an early lead. Brett Auerbach continued his hot hitting during the series with a leadoff single before Casey Schmitt's one-out single put runners on the corners. A wild pitch then brought home Auerbach with the first run while Luciano's two-out line drive single into center plated Schmitt for a 2-0 advantage.
Prelander Berroa started on the mound for San Jose and used an explosive fastball and sharp curve to keep the Storm off the board over the first three innings. Berroa allowed only one hit - a first-inning single - during his three-inning outing. He struck out three batters in a row after a leadoff walk in the top of the second before notching two more punchouts in the third to work around a pair of walks.
The Giants extended their lead to 3-0 when Luciano stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third and launched an opposite field 407-foot solo homer to deep right center. The home run was Luciano's fourth of the season.
Ivan Armstrong relieved Berroa to begin the top of the fourth and gave up a single run in his first inning of work as Joshua Mears tripled with one out and eventually came home on a wild pitch. Armstrong though followed with back-to-back scoreless frames to keep the lead at 3-1. In the top of the sixth, Lake Elsinore put runners on the corners with two outs, but Armstrong induced Matthew Acosta to groundout to first to end the threat.
San Jose then used Freed's longball in the bottom of the sixth to stretch the lead to 6-1. Consecutive walks to Luciano and Alex Canario to start the inning set the table for the Giants. Freed was up next and he belted a towering drive over the wall in left for a three-run home run. The round-tripper was Freed's second of the season.
San Jose scored their final two runs of the night in the bottom of the seventh. Ricardo Genoves led off with a single before Luciano's third hit of the night - a ringing double into the left field corner - put runners on second and third. Canario followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Genoves before Luciano later came home on a wild pitch to make it 8-1.
Lake Elsinore pushed across a single run in the top of the ninth on Robert Hassell's two-out RBI single, but Clay Helvey would slam the door to seal the Giants victory.
GIANTS NOTES
Luciano's Big Night
Marco Luciano (3-for-3) reached base in all four of his plate appearances on Thursday and was a part of all four Giants run-scoring rallies. The top prospect singled, doubled, homered and walked. Luciano scored three times and collected a pair of RBI's.
At The Plate
The Giants out-hit the Storm by a 10-6 margin. Jimmy Glowenke (2-for-4, 3B) also finished with a multi-hit game for San Jose. Brett Auerbach singled and walked twice from the leadoff spot and is now 6-for-11 in the series.
Berroa's Start
Prelander Berroa, who hit 99 MPH with his fastball in the top of the first, struck out five over his three scoreless innings. Berroa gave up one hit, worked around three walks and lowered his ERA to 2.13 through five starts this season.
In The 'Pen
Ivan Armstrong (3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) was credited with the win out of the Giants bullpen. Austin Reich also had an effective outing as he struck out four in two scoreless innings over the seventh and eighth.
Roster Moves
The Giants placed outfielder Armani Smith (back) on the injured list before the game on Thursday. Smith hasn't played since May 13. In a corresponding roster move, pitcher Haydn King was added to the roster from Extended Spring Training. King attended high school at Mitty in San Jose.
On Deck
The Giants and Storm play the fourth game of their six-game series on Friday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 6:30 PM. Carson Ragsdale is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.
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