Giants Drop 15-Inning Marathon to Storm
August 7, 2015 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
LAKE ELSINORE, CA - Lake Elsinore's Gabriel Quintana delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 15th inning to cap a two-run rally and lift the Storm to a come-from-behind 8-7 victory over the San Jose Giants on Thursday evening at The Diamond. In the opener of a four-game series, San Jose (55-55) scored once in the top of the 15th to take the lead only to see the Storm plate two runs in the bottom of the frame for the dramatic walk-off win.
Lake Elsinore twice rallied from three-run deficits and didn't take their first lead of the night until Quintana's game-winning single. Quintana, who finished the contest with five RBI's, also hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth that tied the game 6-6. The score remained deadlocked until the Giants broke through in the top of the 15th.
Ty Ross (5-for-6, 2B, 3 RBI) tied a San Jose Giants single-game record with five hits in the loss. Ross singled four times, doubled and temporarily gave San Jose the lead with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 15th. Tyler Horan (3-for-7, SB), Brandon Bednar (2-for-7, RBI, SB) and Christian Arroyo (2-for-7) also finished with multi-hit games.
With the game tied 6-6, Lake Elsinore sent back-up infielder Ricardo Valenzuela into pitch to start the top of the 15th. Horan led off with a single into center before Seth Harrison executed a sacrifice bunt. John Polonius was up next and he hit a line drive to right that was dropped by Nick Torres for an error. The miscue allowed Horan to advance to third while Polonius was safe at first. Ross followed with a sacrifice fly to center plating Horan with the go-ahead run.
Dan Slania took over on the mound for the bottom of the 15th, but immediately ran into trouble as Nick Schulz led off with a single into center. A wild pitch moved Schulz to second before a deep fly out to left from Torres advanced the runner to third. Marcus Davis was up next and he blasted a triple to the fence in deep center scoring Schulz to tie the game. With the winning run at third, Slania recovered to strikeout Ryan Miller before issuing a four-pitch walk to Fernando Perez. That brought Quintana to the plate and he ripped a Slania pitch past the diving Bednar at third and down the left field line for the game-winning single.
Valenzuela (1-0), who was making his fourth appearance of the season on the mound, was credited with the win for the Storm. The run allowed by Valenzuela was unearned. Prior to Valenzuela entering the game, five Lake Elsinore relievers combined for 10 scoreless innings of work.
Slania (3-5) suffered the loss after surrendering two runs (both earned) on three hits over 2/3 of an inning.
The Giants jumped out early on Storm starter Zech Lemond scoring one run in the top of the first and two runs in the second to take a 3-0 lead. The game began with Bednar getting hit by a pitch before Arroyo lined a single into right. Daniel Carbonell followed with a sacrifice bunt advancing Bednar to third, who then scored when Angel Villalona grounded out.
In the second, Horan led off with a single and stole second. With one out, Polonius walked before Ross laced a two-RBI double into the left center field gap to make it 3-0.
Jake Dunning started on the mound for San Jose and began his night by retiring the first four Lake Elsinore hitters. The Storm then rallied to tie the game in the bottom of the second. Back-to-back one-out singles from Miller and Perez put runners on first and second. Quintana then hammered a double into the left field corner to score both cutting the lead to 3-2. Quintana took third on the play when the left fielder Carbonell mishandled the ball for an error and then scored when the next batter, Chase Jensen, grounded out.
The Giants though immediately answered with three runs of their own in the top of the third. A leadoff single from Villalona and a two-out walk to Harrison put runners on first and second. Polonius then grounded a double down the left field line scoring both Villalona and Harrison for a 5-3 lead. After Ross reached on an infield single, Bednar lined an RBI single into center to make it 6-3. San Jose scored six runs on eight hits over the first three innings against Lemond, but would then be held without a run until the top of the 15th.
Meanwhile, Lake Elsinore scored once in the bottom of the third as Schulz doubled with one out and came home when the next batter, Torres, singled. Dunning eventually stranded two runners in the third before tossing 1-2-3 fourth and fifth innings. He had retired 10 straight hitters until Perez reached on a fielding error committed by Dunning to extend the bottom of the sixth. Quintana was up next and he lined a game-tying two-run homer to left. The home run was Quintana's 10th of the season.
Dunning was charged with six runs (three earned) on seven hits over six innings. He struck out six and did not issue a walk.
The Giants managed only two hits from the fourth through the ninth innings before threatening in the top of the 10th. Horan and Harrison produced consecutive two-out singles in the 10th, but were stranded when Polonius struck out. In the 11th, Ross led off with a single and Carbonell was hit by a pitch with two outs, however Villalona then struck out. Then in the top of the 13th, Ross and Bednar both singled with one out, but Arroyo followed by grounding into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Christian Jones (3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) kept the Storm off the scoreboard from the seventh through the ninth innings. The left-hander faced just one batter over the minimum and did not allow a runner to advance past first base. Ian Gardeck (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO) then breezed through the bottom of the 10th and 11th frames setting down all six batters he faced on just 19 total pitches.
Lake Elsinore threatened to win the game in the bottom of the 12th with Ray Black (1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) on the mound. Jensen led off with a single before a Donovan Tate bunt single put runners on first and second with none out. Auston Bousfield followed with a sacrifice bunt advancing the potential winning run to third, however Black induced Schulz to foul out to the catcher before Torres flied out to left to end the inning.
Jake Smith (2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO) then struck out five batters over the 13th and 14th innings before the Giants reclaimed the lead in the 15th.
Notes:
* The 15 innings played marked San Jose's longest game of the season (previous high: 14 innings on July 8 vs. Bakersfield - 2-1 win)
* The Giants have now played in a league-high 18 extra-inning games this season (9-9 record). San Jose has lost their last three extra-inning contests.
* Both teams finished with 16 hits on Thursday.
* The Giants fell to 0-5 against the Storm this season. The five losses have come by a total of just six runs.
* Ross became the 35th player in the 28-year history of the San Jose Giants to record five hits in a game. Christian Arroyo also accomplished the feat this season (June 30 at Stockton, 5-for-5).
* Giants pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts and just one walk.
* Thursday's defeat snapped San Jose's streak of 19 consecutive wins when scoring first. The Giants last lost a game when scoring first on July 3 at Stockton.
* San Jose (25-15) is one game behind Modesto (26-14) and Visalia (26-14) in the second half North Division race. The Giants (55-55) are tied with Stockton (55-55) for the Wild Card lead. 30 games remain in the regular season.
On Deck: The Giants and Storm continue their four-game series on Friday evening with first pitch at The Diamond scheduled for 7:00 PM. Chase Johnson (7-3, 2.72 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Lake Elsinore is expected to counter with Kyle Lloyd (5-8, 4.97 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:30 PM.
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