CalL San Jose Giants

Giants Fall in Extras, Split Series with Stockton

Published on July 5, 2021 under California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


Stockton's Lawrence Butler hit a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Ports to a 3-2 victory over the Giants on the Fourth of July. With the walkoff defeat, San Jose (36-18) settles for a split of the six-game series at Banner Island Ballpark.

The Giants were attempting to win their eighth consecutive series and enjoyed an early 2-0 lead after 1 1/2 innings on Sunday night. Back-to-back two-out walks to Casey Schmitt and Marco Luciano in the top of the first preceded a Luis Matos RBI single as San Jose immediately jumped in front. An inning later, Carter Williams laced a leadoff double to deep right and advanced to third when Luis Toribio reached on an error. After Rodolfo Bone struck out, Jimmy Glowenke hit a grounder to third. Williams broke for the plate on the ground ball and narrowly beat third baseman T.J. Schofield-Sam's throw home to make it 2-0 Giants.

San Jose though would not score again for the remainder of the night and managed only three hits after the second inning.

Meanwhile, Wil Jensen started on the mound for the Giants and delivered another effective outing. The right-hander tossed five strong innings and allowed only one run and four hits. Stockton's lone run against Jensen came in the bottom of the second as Joshwan Wright led off with a single, moved to third on a Schofield-Sam's double and scored when Danny Bautista hit a sacrifice fly.

Jensen pitched perfect first and third innings for San Jose and worked around back-to-back one-out singles in the fourth. In the fifth, Jensen issued a leadoff walk - the only free pass of his start - but promptly retired the next three hitters to end the inning.

The Ports tied the game 2-2 when Wright connected for a solo home run off of reliever Juan Sanchez in the bottom of the sixth. The home run was Wright's first of the season.

Ty Weber relieved Sanchez to begin the bottom of the seventh and kept Stockton off the scoreboard over the next two innings to maintain the 2-2 tie. In the seventh, the Ports put runners on second and third with two outs, but Weber set down Butler on a groundout to second to retire the side. Weber then breezed through an eight-pitch 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth.

Unfortunately, the Giants were set down in order in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings by the Ports bullpen. Clay Helvey then struck out two in a perfect bottom of the ninth for San Jose to send the game into extra innings.

The Giants were unable to take advantage of their free runner at second base in the top of the 10th as the game remained tied. Bone started the inning by striking out. Glowenke then reached first safely on an infield single when he hit a slow grounder to deep shortstop. Pinch-runner Alex Canario remained at second base on the play. Both runners were then stranded as Abdiel Layer struck out and Schmitt grounded out to end the inning.

Ivan Armstrong was summoned from the bullpen to begin the bottom of the 10th and was one strike away from escaping the inning and sending the game to the 11th before Butler's walk-off hit. Brito led off with a sacrifice bunt attempt, but was thrown out at first by the catcher Bone with the automatic runner, Cooper Uhl, holding at second. Armstrong then retired Buelvas on a fly out to left for the second out. Butler was up next and on a 3-2 pitch, hit a soft liner into shallow left that dropped in front of the left fielder Williams for a hit. Uhl raced around third on the single and slid across home ahead of the throw with the game-winning tally to spark a wild walk-off celebration for the Ports.

GIANTS NOTES

Series Review

The Giants split the six-game series in Stockton winning 9-2 on Tuesday, 6-2 on Thursday and 9-0 on Saturday. Stockton's three victories came on Wednesday (4-2), Friday (4-3) and Sunday's extra-inning triumph. San Jose had won their previous seven series' dating back to mid-May. The Giants have still not lost a series in 2021.

First Extra-Inning Loss

With Sunday's defeat, the Giants fell to 1-1 in extra-inning games this season. San Jose previously won a 5-4, 10-inning game at Fresno on May 22.

Inside The Box Score

Stockton out-hit San Jose 8-5. The Ports were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position - the only hit was Butler's game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th. San Jose finished the game 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. The Giants' only hit after the fifth inning was Glowenke's infield single in the top of the 10th. Carter Williams (2-for-4, 2B) had two of San Jose's five hits to lead the way offensively.

Hitting Streak Snapped

Jairo Pomares (0-for-2) saw his 10-game hitting streak snapped. Pomares entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the top of the sixth and struck out and flied out in his two at-bats. The hitting streak was the second-longest by a Giants player this season (Luis Matos, 16 games).

ERA Leader

Will Jensen (5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 SO) improved his ERA to 2.81 - lowest among qualifying pitchers in Low-A West.

Banner Island Ballpark Finale

Sunday marked San Jose's 18th and final game this season at Stockton's Banner Island Ballpark. The Giants finished with a 12-6 record at Banner Island securing two series wins and one series split. San Jose hit a whopping 43 home runs in the 18 games.

Standings Update

The Giants (36-18) remained two games ahead of the Fresno Grizzlies (34-20) for the best record in Low-A West.

On Deck

Following an off day, the Giants return to Excite Ballpark for a six-game set against the Fresno Grizzlies. Tuesday's series opener is a 6:30 PM first pitch. Kyle Harrison is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.

Check out the San Jose Giants Statistics

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California League Stories from July 5, 2021


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