Giants Drop Second Straight to Blaze
September 6, 2015 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
BAKERSFIELD, CA - Blaze starting pitcher Ryan Yarbrough fired seven strong innings and Bakersfield slugger Tyler O'Neill hit his league-leading 32nd home run of the season in a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Giants on Saturday evening at Sam Lynn Ballpark. The Giants managed just four hits in the contest and only one after the third inning. The loss was San Jose's second straight to begin the series and dropped the Giants (42-26) into a tie with Visalia (42-26) for first place in the second half North Division race. Two games remain in the regular season.
Tyler Horan (1-for-3, HR, RBI) clubbed a solo home run while Aramis Garcia (2-for-3, 2B) produced two hits to lead San Jose offensively in defeat.
Horan gave the Giants an early 1-0 lead when he crushed a towering home run to right in the top of the third. The homer was Horan's 13th of the season - tied with Angel Villalona for the top mark on the club.
Christian Jones started on the mound for San Jose and breezed through three scoreless innings to begin his night. Jones retired nine out of the first ten Blaze batters he faced. The only Bakersfield hit over the first three innings was a two-out single from Rayder Ascanio in the bottom of the second.
The Blaze though pushed across a run in the bottom of the fourth against Jones to draw even. Nelson Ward led off the frame with a line drive single into center. O'Neill then hit a slow grounder to second that saw Brandon Bednar misplay the ball as he attempted to glove it and tag out Ward. The error put runners on first and second with none out. Kyle Petty followed with a single through the hole on the right side to plate Ward with the tying run. Jones did prevent further damage in the inning when Chantz Mack grounded out before Ascanio bounced into an inning-ending double play.
Bakersfield though kept the pressure on scoring a run in the fifth to move in front. A one-out walk to Justin Seager started the rally before Daniel Torres smacked a double off the wall in deep center to put runners on second and third. The hit ended Jones' night as Jarret Leverett was summoned from the bullpen. Aaron Barbosa was up next and he grounded out to shortstop as the runners held at their respective bases. But Ward followed with a ground ball single up the middle to score Seager with the go-ahead tally. Torres also attempted to score on the play, but was thrown out by center fielder Seth Harrison at the plate to end the inning.
O'Neill then extended the Blaze lead with an opposite field solo homer to right center in the bottom of the sixth. The home run, off of Leverett (1 2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO), pushed the Bakersfield advantage to 3-1.
Yarbrough settled in and had retired eight straight Giants hitters until Garcia laced a one-out double into the left field corner in the top of the seventh. A Brian Ragira groundout then advanced Garcia to third before Horan's grounder to first rolled through the legs of Petty for an error. The miscue allowed Garcia to score cutting the Blaze lead to 3-2. Yarbrough though was able to get out of the inning as the Bakersfield lefty retired the next hitter, Harrison, on a line out to left.
San Jose then didn't have another hitter reach base for the remainder of the game. Blaze reliever Ramon Morla struck out two in a 1-2-3 top of the eighth. Then in the ninth, Rafael Pineda struck out the side in a perfect inning to seal the Bakersfield victory.
Yarbrough (4-7) was credited with the win after surrendering two runs (one earned) over his seven innings pitched. He walked one and struck out eight. Pineda earned his eighth save of the year.
Jones (6-2) suffered the loss for the Giants. The left-hander was charged with two runs (one earned) on four hits over 4 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out three.
California League Stories from September 6, 2015
- Dominant Bostick Bests Mavericks - Lancaster JetHawks
- Giants Drop Second Straight to Blaze - San Jose Giants
- Yarbrough Deals, O'Neill Blasts Number 32, Blaze Win 3-2 - Bakersfield Blaze
- Nuts Cannot Overcome in 5-3 Loss - Modesto Nuts
- JetHawks Edged by Mavs to Seal Second Half - Lancaster JetHawks
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.
