Giants Fall in Road Finale, Drop Series to Rawhide
August 29, 2016 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
VISALIA, CA - The San Jose Giants suffered a 10-3 loss to the host Visalia Rawhide on Sunday evening in their final road game of the regular season. Visalia erupted for five runs in the bottom of the third inning and never looked back en route to the convincing win. With the loss, San Jose (67-66) drops two out of three games in the series to the Rawhide and finishes with a 2-4 record during their final road trip.
Ronnie Jebavy (2-for-5, 2B) was the only Giants player with more than one hit.
Visalia jumped out early against San Jose starter Cory Taylor scoring once in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Leadoff batter Robelys Reyes drew a walk before stealing second with two down. Austin Byler then singled sharply into right plating Reyes with the first run of the night.
The Rawhide then broke the game open in the third. Consecutive singles from Cody Regis and Victor Reyes to start the inning put runners on the corners with none out. A walk to Byler followed loading the bases. Trevor Mitsui was up next and he blasted a Taylor offering to the fence in deep right center for a double. The hit scored both Regis and Reyes for a 3-0 Visalia lead. Henry Castillo then stepped to the plate and laced a double down the right field line plating two more to make it 5-0. Following a Joey Armstrong groundout, Michael Perez produced the third run-scoring double of the inning as he smacked a fly ball to deep left center bringing home Castillo for a 6-0 cushion.
Taylor (1-1) was saddled with his first loss in the California League after he was charged with six runs (all earned) on eight hits over 2 1/3 innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out two.
The Rawhide extended their lead to 7-0 when Mitsui connected for a solo home run to right off of reliever Jeff Soptic (3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO).
Meanwhile, Visalia starter Markus Solbach began his outing with four scoreless innings. Solbach surrendered just two singles over the first four frames before the Giants finally broke through in the top of the fifth. Three straight one-out singles from Cristian Paulino, Robbie Garvey and Jebavy loaded the bases. Rando Moreno then lined a single into center - San Jose's fourth straight hit - plating Paulino. Solbach recovered to strikeout Dylan Davis, but then hit Jonah Arenado with a pitch to force home a second run in the inning. Miguel Gomez was up next with the bases loaded, but he grounded out to second to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Rawhide took advantage of two fly balls lost in the lights to score once. Perez led off with a fly ball to deep center that was lost in the lights by Jebavy. The play resulted in a triple. Galli Cribbs then hit a fly ball to deep left that Garvey was unable to locate as it dropped in for an RBI double and an 8-2 Visalia lead.
The Giants' final run of the contest came in the top of the seventh. A walk to Garvey started the inning before Jebavy doubled. After Moreno struck out, Davis hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center bringing home Garvey to cut the Rawhide advantage to 8-3.
Visalia though came right back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. Facing Pat Young (2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO), Armstrong led off with a single before Perez doubled down the left field line putting runners on second and third. Robelys Reyes and Regis then produced back-to-back one-out RBI singles stretching the Rawhide lead to 10-3.
Solbach (4-2) earned the win after tossing seven innings with three runs (all earned) and seven hits allowed. He walked three and struck out six. Kirby Bellow and Nick Baker each worked a hitless inning of relief to seal the Visalia victory.
Notes - * The Giants finished the regular season with a 33-37 road record (20-15 first half, 13-22 second half). * With Sunday's loss, San Jose still has not won a regular season series at Recreation Park since April 4-7, 2013. The Giants have gone 12-33 in Visalia since that series win. * Visalia out-hit San Jose 15-7 on Sunday. * Taylor was making his second start with the Giants. * San Jose starting pitchers had a 12.91 ERA (33 ER/23.0 IP) during the six-game road trip. * The Giants will need to go at least 4-3 during their final homestand to finish the year with a winning record. San Jose owns a league-record streak of 12 consecutive winning seasons (2004-2015).
On Deck: Following an off day, the Giants return to Municipal Stadium for a seven-game homestand to close out the regular season. San Jose will host Bakersfield for three games before a four-game set against Visalia over Labor Day Weekend. Tuesday's opener against the Blaze is a 7:00 PM first pitch at Municipal Stadium. Jordan Johnson (8-9, 5.53 ERA) is slated to make the start on the mound for the Giants while Bakersfield is expected to counter with Tyler Pike (6-5, 4.19 ERA). For tickets, call (408) 297-1435 or visit sjgiants.com.
California League Stories from August 29, 2016
- Ferguson Ends JTF's 2016 Chapter in Style - Modesto Nuts
- Late Ports Rally Comes up Short in 11-8 Loss - Stockton Ports
- Blaze Win 11-8 - Bakersfield Blaze
- Giants Fall in Road Finale, Drop Series to Rawhide - San Jose Giants
- Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
- Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
- Weekly Sports League & Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
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.
