CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Fall 7-5, Drop Series to Rawhide

Published on August 16, 2019 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


The Giants bid for a series win at first-place Visalia fell short on Thursday night with a 7-5 loss to the Rawhide at Recreation Park. Visalia used a pair of three-run innings to build a lead before holding off San Jose's ninth-inning comeback effort to secure the series victory. Manuel Geraldo, David Villar and Courtney Hawkins each homered for the Giants in defeat.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Johnny Cueto made a rehab start for San Jose on Thursday and impressed on the mound. The 11-year major league veteran worked 2 2/3 innings with one run allowed on a solo homer. Cueto struck out two, did not issue a walk and threw 49 pitches in his third rehab appearance (first with San Jose) as he continues his comeback from Tommy John surgery.

Cueto began his start with two scoreless innings. In the bottom of the second, Visalia's Geraldo Perdomo was at third with two down and was unsuccessful in his attempt to steal home which ended the inning.

The Giants took a 1-0 lead when Geraldo began the top of the third with a towering home run to right. The homer was Geraldo's fourth of the season. The Rawhide, however, immediately answered in the bottom half when Jorge Perez led off with a line drive homer to right off Cueto to tie the game 1-1. Cueto recovered to set down the next two hitters and was then lifted from the game after reaching his pitch limit.

With Jose Marte on the mound in his first relief appearance of the season, Visalia then struck for three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-1 lead. Marte walked the first two batters of the inning before a two-out walk to Jose Herrera loaded the bases. With Yoel Yanqui at the plate, Marte then uncorked a wild pitch allowing the go-ahead run to score. Moments later, Yanqui lined a single into center plating two more for a 4-1 advantage. Yanqui's two-run single was the only Rawhide hit during the three-run inning.

San Jose answered with a pair of solo homers in the top of the sixth as Villar and Hawkins went back-to-back to bring the Giants to within 4-3. An inning later, San Jose loaded the bases with two outs, however Villar struck out looking to end the threat.

Visalia then produced their second three-run inning of the game with a rally in the bottom of the seventh. Olbis Parra was on the mound for the Giants and quickly retired the first batter of the frame. Alek Thomas then singled before a wild pick-off throw from Parra advanced the runner to second. After Luis Basabe walked, Herrera hit a line drive to right that was dropped by Dalton Combs for an error. The costly miscue allowed Thomas to score the first run of the inning with Basabe advancing to third and Herrera moving into second. Yanqui followed with a ringing double to deep right plating both runners for a 7-3 Rawhide cushion.

Down by four runs, the Giants staged a comeback bid in the ninth, but ultimately fell short. Consecutive full-count walks to Hamlet Marte and Geraldo started the inning before Combs was hit by a pitch with one out to load the bases. Diego Rincones was up next and he worked a full count walk forcing home Marte to cut the deficit to 7-4. Visalia then summoned closer Breckin Williams into the game to face Villar with the potential tying run at first. In a bid for a clutch extra-base hit, Villar would loft a high fly ball to deep center that was caught by Thomas on the warning track for the second out of the inning. Geraldo tagged from third and easily scored on the play to make it 7-5. With the tying run still at first, Hawkins came up, but flied out to center ending the game.

GIANTS NOTES

Recent Struggles

The Giants have now dropped 10 of their last 14 games (after winning 10 of 12).

Long Balls

David Villar and Courtney Hawkins both smacked their 13th home runs of the season - tied with Heliot Ramos for the team lead. Villar has hit four homers in his last six games. Hawkins has now hit five home runs in his last eight games.

Trouble With The Rawhide

The Giants fell to 8-17 against Visalia this season. 13 of the 17 losses have come by one or two runs.

Inside The Box Score

Both teams finished with nine hits. The Rawhide were 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position compared to 0-for-6 for the Giants. Geraldo was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with two doubles, a home run and a walk.

Playoff Race

The Giants (55-67) fell 1 1/2 games behind Stockton (56-65) in the North Division wild card race with 17 to play in the regular season.

On Deck

The Giants are back home on Friday night for a three-game series against the Inland Empire 66ers (Angels affiliate). Casey Meisner returns from Triple-A to make the start on the mound for San Jose. First pitch at Excite Ballpark is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

Check out the San Jose Giants Statistics

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California League Stories from August 16, 2019


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