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CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Defeat Stockton In Season-Opener, 5-1

April 10, 2009 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


Angel Villalona and Thomas Neal homered and Tim Alderson tossed four scoreless innings to lead the San Jose Giants to a season-opening 5-1 victory over the Stockton Ports on Thursday night at Municipal Stadium. Playing under a steady rain most of the evening, the Giants collected nine hits and used stellar pitching to take a shutout into the ninth inning.

Neal scored the first run of the contest when he connected for an opposite field solo home run to lead off the bottom of the third inning. The Giants added another run in the frame when Brandon Crawford was hit by a pitch with one out before Nick Noonan clubbed an RBI triple into the right field corner.

Villalona extended the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when he crushed the first pitch of his at-bat well over the fence in left field for a solo homer. The blast gave San Jose a 3-0 advantage.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Giants capitalized on back-to-back walks to begin the inning to score two more runs. After consecutive free passes to Darren Ford and Crawford, Noonan reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Buster Posey followed by grounding into a fielder's choice plating Ford with the fourth run of the night before Conor Gillaspie lined an RBI single into left field for a 5-0 lead.

Alderson started on the mound for San Jose and scattered five hits with just one walk and two strikeouts. The right-hander, who led the California League in ERA last season (2.79), was removed from the game after reaching his pitch count limit.

Adam Cowart (1-0) earned the victory after working two scoreless innings and striking out two. Cowart began his outing in the top of the fifth and promptly retired six consecutive hitters before running into trouble in the top of the seventh. Matt Spencer led off the inning by reaching on an error before back-to-back singles loaded the bases with none out. David Mixon then was summoned from the bullpen and the right-hander needed just five pitchers to get out of the inning with no runs coming home.

Mixon quickly dispatched of Michael Richard on a three-pitch strikeout before Mike Affronti grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Mixon worked a scoreless top of the eighth inning pitching through a single, a walk and an error to preserve the shutout. In the ninth, Wilmin Rodriguez surrendered a one-out RBI single to Affronti, but set down the next two hitters to seal the victory.

Noonan (2-for-5, 3B, RBI) and Villalona (2-for-4, HR, RBI) both produced multiple-hit games at the plate for the Giants. Stockton out-hit San Jose by a 10-9 margin, but stranded 12 runners on base and finished just 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position.

Ports starting pitcher Tyson Ross (0-1) suffered the loss after yielding two runs (both earned) on three hits in four innings.

Notes: Villalona, who is only 18 years old, led Augusta in home runs last season (17) ... Stockton had baserunners in all four innings while facing Alderson, but failed to score in each frame ... Cowart (2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO), Mixon (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO) and Rodriguez (1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) each worked out of the Giants bullpen ... Ford (0-for-4) and Posey (0-for-5, RBI) were the only San Jose starters without a hit ... The announced attendance was 3,115 ... The game began with a 32-minute rain delay.

On Deck: The Giants and Ports continue this four-game series on Friday evening with first pitch at Municipal Stadium scheduled for 7:00 PM. It's a KFOX Family Friday at the ballpark with special ticket offers available at www.kfox.com. Madison Bumgarner (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is slated to make the start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Carlos Hernandez (0-0, 0.00 ERA). Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling (408)297-1435 or by visiting www.sjgiants.com.

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