Giants End Skid with 4-3 Victory Over Storm
August 31, 2023 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release
The San Jose Giants snapped their season-high seven-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the Lake Elsinore Storm on Wednesday evening at The Diamond. Alexander Suarez hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the top of the seventh while Giants hurlers Dylan Cumming and Luis Moreno combined to retire the final 13 Storm hitters of the contest. The win improved San Jose's overall record to 64-58 with 10 games remaining in the regular season.
Dilan Rosario (2-for-4, 2 RBI) had a pair of run-scoring singles while Suarez (2-for-5, 2B, RBI, SB), Quinn McDaniel (2-for-3, 3B) and Jack Payton (2-for-4) also produced multi-hit games to lead the way offensively for the Giants.
Cumming (7-2) fired 5 1/3 strong innings with only one run allowed to earn his seventh win of the season. The right-hander walked none and struck out four. Moreno fired two perfect innings to finish the game and struck out four of the six batters he faced to collect his third save of the year.
San Jose never trailed on Wednesday and withstood a pair of Lake Elsinore comebacks to secure the narrow victory. Four straight hits to begin the top of the second propelled the Giants to an early 2-0 lead. McDaniel began the inning with a towering fly ball off the fence in deep left center that went for his first triple in the California League. Javier Francisco, who had five RBI's in his previous game on Sunday, followed with a line drive single into right to score McDaniel with the first run of the game. After Payton singled to put runners on first and second, Rosario stepped to the plate and lined an RBI single into right center to make it 2-0.
Meanwhile, Joe Ross made his second rehab start for San Jose. The six-year major league veteran needed only nine pitches to work a scoreless bottom of the first. However in the bottom of the second, Charlis Aquino singled with two outs, stole second and scored the Storm's first run when the next hitter, Jose Sanabria, hit a double. The RBI hit ended Ross' night as Cumming entered from the bullpen. Wyatt Hoffman was up next and he hit a slow grounder back to Cumming that the Giants pitcher threw down the right field line. The error allowed Sanabria to score tying the game 2-2. Cumming did recover to strikeout the following hitter, Braedon Karpathios, to strand the go-ahead run at second.
San Jose then went back ahead with a single tally in the top of the fourth. McDaniel led off with a ringing single to left and took second on a wild pitch. Then with two outs, Rosario came through with his second RBI hit as a single to left brought home McDaniel for a 3-2 Giants advantage.
Once again, however, Lake Elsinore immediately answered in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. Nik McClaughry led off with a triple to the fence in deep left and scored the tying run when the next batter, Aquino, singled to left. Cumming though promptly picked-off Aquino at first and the Storm wouldn't score again for the remainder of the night.
Cumming used a double play to pitch around a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth before breezing through an eight-pitch 1-2-3 sixth inning. San Jose then reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh. Payton began the inning with a single before a passed ball advanced the go-ahead run into scoring position. A one-out single from Turner Hill then put runners on the corners. Suarez was up next and during his at-bat, Hill was thrown out at second attempting to steal for the second out. However moments later, Suarez blooped a double into shallow left center that easily scored Payton from third giving the Giants a 4-3 lead.
Cumming finished his outing with a perfect bottom of the seventh on 10 pitches. Cumming retired the last seven hitters he faced. With the lead still at a single run, Moreno came on in the bottom of the eighth and struck out the side in dominant fashion. Then in the ninth, Moreno once again made quick work of the Storm retiring Jay Beshears on a groundout, registering a strikeout of McClaughry and then throwing out Aquino at first on a bunt attempt to end the game.
San Jose out-hit Lake Elsinore by an 11-9 margin. The Giants were 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position compared to 2-for-8 for the Storm. San Jose pitching combined for eight strikeouts and no walks. The Giants improved to 6-2 against Lake Elsinore this season. The victory marked San Jose's first win in 10 days (August 20 at Stockton).
Alexander Suarez had two hits on Wednesday, including a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning
The Giants continue their series against the Storm on Thursday evening with first pitch at The Diamond set for 6:05 PM. Nomar Medina is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher. The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com.
California League Stories from August 31, 2023
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- Giants End Skid with 4-3 Victory Over Storm - San Jose Giants
- Lake Elsinore Storm Drop Second Game of Final Home Series - Lake Elsinore Storm
- Ports Use Rivera's Strong Start To Snap Skid Against Quakes - Stockton Ports
- Ports Blank Quakes on Wednesday - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
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