CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Drop 12-Inning Heartbreaker to 66ers

Published on July 19, 2011 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


SAN JOSE - Inland Empire's Michael Wing hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the top of the 12th inning as part of a two-run rally for the 66ers in a 6-4 victory over the San Jose Giants on Monday evening at Municipal Stadium. Ryan Cavan forced extra-innings with a dramatic two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, but San Jose still suffered the loss in the series rubber game. The defeat dropped the Giants' overall record to 64-30.

Tommy Joseph (3-for-5, 2 RBI) had three hits while Cavan (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) belted his seventh home run of the season to lead the San Jose offensive attack. However, the Giants left 14 runners on base in the contest, including 12 in the first five innings.

San Jose trailed by a 4-2 margin in the bottom of the ninth when Jarrett Parker drew a leadoff walk. After Joseph flied out, Cavan stepped to the plate and crushed a 1-0 pitch from 66ers reliever Matt Oye over the fence in right center field for a game-tying, two-run homer.

The Giants then had an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the 10th inning as they put a runner at third base with two outs, but failed to score. After Oye retired the first two batters of the frame, Gary Brown drew a walk, stole second and advanced to third when the throw from the catcher Jose Jimenez sailed into center field for an error. Ehire Adrianza then smoked a line drive that was caught at first base by a leaping Eric Oliver to end the inning and continue the game.

After neither team scored in the 11th, Inland Empire broke through with a pair of runs in the top of the 12th. Ari Ronick entered the game to begin the 12th inning and promptly walked Matt Long on four pitches. Wing was up next and he lined a double off the fence in left as Long raced home with the go-ahead tally. Two batters later, Oliver hit a sacrifice fly to center plating Wing to make it 6-4.

Kevin Nabors recorded his first save of the season for the 66ers with a scoreless bottom of the 12th. Nabors walked Alex Burg on four pitches to begin the frame, but recovered to strikeout Luke Anders, induce Jose Flores to fly out to shallow left and then strikeout pinch- hitter James Simmons.

Oye (4-3) was credited with the win despite surrendering Cavan's home run. He allowed just one hit in three innings of work, including a 1-2-3 bottom of the 11th to keep the game deadlocked.

Ronick (1-1) suffered his first loss of the season for the Giants after yielding both runs in the top of the 12th.

San Jose initially had a 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and fourth innings. In the bottom of the first, Brown led off with an infield single, advanced to second when Adrianza was hit by a pitch, took third on Parker's fielder's choice groundout and scored when Joseph singled up the middle.

In the bottom of the fourth, Parker doubled to deep left center with two outs and scored when the next batter, Joseph, blooped a single into shallow right center field.

The Giants though loaded the bases in the second and third innings, but were unable to score in each frame. San Jose also left two runners on base in the first, fourth and fifth innings.

Chris Heston started on the mound for the Giants and tossed 5 1/3 innings with four runs (one earned) and three hits allowed. Heston walked a career-high six batters and struck out seven. He fanned seven over four no-hit innings to begin his outing before running into trouble in the fifth. Jimenez led off by drawing a walk before Dwayne Bailey dropped down a bunt. On the play, Heston threw wildly to second for an error in an attempt to force out Jimenez as both runners were safe. Then with two outs, Long walked and Wing came through with an infield single - the first hit against Heston - to plate one run. Kole Calhoun followed with a single to right scoring both Bailey and Long to give the 66ers a 3-2 advantage.

Inland Empire extended their lead in the top of the sixth inning with a two-out, RBI double off the bat of Rian Kiniry.

Three 66ers relievers combined to set down 10 consecutive Giants hitters until Parker's walk to begin the bottom of the ninth.

Brown (2-for-5, SB) and Anders (2-for-5) also finished with multi-hit games for San Jose.

Notes: The Giants fell to 4-3 in extra-inning games this season ... They had won their last four extra-inning contests ... San Jose out-hit Inland Empire by a 10-7 margin ... The Giants were 3-for-15 (.200) with runners in scoring position ... Cavan hit his first home run since June 2 - a span of 152 at-bats and 39 games ... San Jose is 3-4 against Inland Empire this season - the only team they have a losing record against ... Tom Vessella (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) and Mitch Lively (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO) combined to throw five scoreless innings out of the bullpen from the 7th through the 11th ... The final game time was four hours and 29 minutes.

On Deck: After an off day, the Giants travel to Bakersfield on Wednesday to begin a three-game series against the Blaze. First pitch at Sam Lynn Ballpark is scheduled for 7:45 PM. Kelvin Marte (7-5, 3.20 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Bakersfield is expected to counter with Mark Serrano (2-5, 4.86 ERA). The game can be heard live on www.sjgiants.com.

Check out the San Jose Giants Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



California League Stories from July 19, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central