Giants Flirt With No-Hitter In 4-1 Victory Over Blaze
April 17, 2010 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
The San Jose Giants took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before settling for a 4-1 victory over the Bakersfield Blaze on Saturday evening at Municipal Stadium. Justin Fitzgerald worked six innings without allowing a hit in his first career professional start before Bakersfield's David Paisano broke up the no-hitter with a leadoff double in the top of the eighth against reliever Oliver Odle. Fitzgerald, Odle and Jason Stoffel combined to two-hit the Blaze as San Jose has taken two out of the first three games in the series. The victory improves the Giants record to 6-3.
Fitzgerald (1-0) faced the minimum 18 hitters during his stint on the mound as the right-hander walked one, hit one batter and struck out four. Odle (2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO) kept the no-hitter intact during the seventh inning before yielding a single run in the eighth while Stoffel (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) struck out a pair in the ninth to earn the save.
Ehire Adrianza (2-for-5, RBI), Drew Biery (2-for-3) and James Simmons (2-for-3, 3B) each produced multi-hit games at the plate to lead the Giants offensively. Johnny Monell (1-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI) added a key two-run double as San Jose out-hit Bakersfield by a 10-2 margin.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning as Simmons started a rally with a two-out triple down the left field line against Blaze starting pitcher Kennil Gomez. Adrianza was up next and he blooped the first pitch of his at-bat into shallow center field for a single to bring home Simmons with the first run of the contest.
The Giants then extended their lead with three runs in the sixth inning to make it 4-0. Back-to-back singles from Brandon Belt and Juan Perez started the frame before Monell stepped to the plate and grounded a double down the right field line to score both runners. After the next batter, Biery, drew a walk, Gomez was removed from the game in favor of Tim Murphy.
Wendell Fairley was up next and he dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third before Simmons grounded into a fielder's choice to shortstop as Monell was tagged out at home. Then with Adrianza at the plate, a wild pick-off throw to first base from Murphy allowed Biery to score from third with San Jose's fourth run of the night.
Fitzgerald began the game by issuing a walk to Engel Beltre, but the baserunner was immediately erased when the next hitter, Davis Stoneburner grounded into a double play. Fitzgerald then struck out two in a perfect second inning before setting down the Blaze 1-2-3 in the third.
Beltre was hit by a pitch to leadoff the fourth, but was promptly thrown out at second base attempting to steal. Fitzgerald then retired eight consecutive hitters to finish his outing.
Odle relieved Fitzgerald to begin the top of the seventh and worked around a two-out error to keep the no-hitter and shutout intact. In the eighth though, Paisano led off with a bounding ball over the head of Biery at third base and down the line for a double. Jared Bolden then grounded a single into right to put runners on first and third, but Odle recovered inducing Jose Felix to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play. Paisano did score to make it 4-1, but Odle then struck out Andres James to end the inning.
Stoffel struck out the first two batters he faced in the ninth before Stoneburner grounded out to shortstop to end the game.
Gomez (0-1) suffered the loss for the Blaze after yielding four runs (three earned) on seven hits over five-plus innings of work. The right-hander walked four and struck out three.
California League Stories from April 17, 2010
- Giants Flirt With No-Hitter In 4-1 Victory Over Blaze - San Jose Giants
- Ports Drop Second Straight to Rawhide, 3-2 - Stockton Ports
- Bakersfield Blasts Giants To Even Series - San Jose Giants
- JetHawks Bats Go Quiet in 9-1 loss - Lancaster JetHawks
- Quakes Win Second Straight - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
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