CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Handle Quakes To Claim Series Victory

Published on August 10, 2009 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


Thomas Neal and Tyler Graham both hit home runs and the San Jose Giants rolled past the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes by an 11-4 score on Sunday evening at The Epicenter to take two out of three games in the series. The Giants jumped out to a 6-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings before withstanding a Quakes rally and then blowing the game open with a five-run top of the seventh. Nestor Rojas added a pair of doubles and three RBI's as San Jose improved their second half record to 32-12.

Rojas (2-for-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI), Graham (2-for-4, HR, RBI, SB), Darren Ford (2-for-5, 3B, 2 RBI), Nick Noonan (2-for-4, 2 SB) and Roger Kieschnick (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) each produced multi-hit games at the plate to lead the Giants offensively. San Jose out-hit Rancho Cucamonga by an 11-9 margin.

Clayton Tanner (9-6) was credited with the victory on the mound after working six innings and surrendering three runs (all earned) on six hits. The Giants starter struck out four and walked three.

San Jose scored two runs each in the second, third and fourth innings against Quakes starter Mike Kenney to take the early lead. In the top of the second, Kieschnick led off by drawing a walk before Rojas smacked an RBI double to the fence in deep right center field. Two batters later, Rojas scored on Brian Bocock's sacrifice fly to left.

In the third, the Giants used the long ball to add to their lead as Noonan singled with two outs, stole second and then Neal crushed a 2-1 pitch from Kenney over the fence in left center field for a two-run homer.

San Jose kept the pressure on in the fourth as Conor Gillaspie led off by drawing a walk and then Graham singled with two outs to put runners on the corners. After Graham stole second, Ford hit a sharp line drive to left that deflected off the glove of the diving Jake Rife and rolled several feet behind the left fielder. The hit easily scored both Gillaspie and Graham to make it 6-0 as Ford raced into third with his sixth triple of the season.

Tanner initially started strong facing just one batter over the minimum en route to tossing three scoreless innings. Rancho Cucamonga though broke through in the bottom of the fourth scoring three times on four hits to cut the Giants lead in half. Abel Nieves started the rally with an infield single before Efren Navarro blooped a double down the left field line to put runners on second and third with one out. Jay Brossman followed with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in right scoring one run and then after P.J. Phillips drew a walk, Clay Fuller lined a single into right center plating Navarro. Rife was up next and he grounded a ball to deep shortstop that was fielded by Bocock. The play scored Phillips to bring the Quakes to within 6-3 as Rife was safe at first on the infield single, however Bocock threw the ball to third and was able to retire Fuller, who had rounded the base too far.

Tanner recovered after his rocky fourth inning to keep Rancho Cucamonga off the scoreboard in the fifth and sixth frames before the Giants exploded in the seventh. Graham led off the inning with a deep home run down the left field line to give San Jose a 7-3 lead. Consecutive one-out walks to Noonan and Neal then put runners on first and second before Kieschnick hammered an RBI double off the fence in deep left center field. Rojas followed with a ground ball double down the left field line to score both Neal and Kieschnick while the fifth and final run of the inning came home when Bocock reached on a two-out error.

Trey Webb (2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) relieved Tanner to start the bottom of the seventh and pitched a scoreless frame before surrendering one run in the eighth. David Mixon (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO) then pitched around a two-out triple followed by a walk in the bottom of the ninth to seal the Giants victory.

Kenney (1-4) suffered the loss for the Quakes after yielding six runs (all earned) on six hits over four innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out one.

Notes: The Giants have lost only one series (July 28-30 at Stockton) since the first week of June ... San Jose won four out of six games against Rancho Cucamonga this season ... Neal's home run was his 18th of the season ... The Giants scored in double figures in both of their wins in the series (10-8 on Friday) ... Tanner, who won for the first time in four starts, has 19 career victories with the San Jose Giants over the last two seasons - tied for fourth in team history ... The Giants improved their overall record to 74-40.

On Deck: The Giants will enjoy a day off on Monday before continuing their road trip on Tuesday evening with the opener of a three-game series against the Bakersfield Blaze. First pitch at Sam Lynn Ballpark is scheduled for 7:30 PM. Paul Oseguera (3-5, 3.71 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Bakersfield is expected to counter with Kennil Gomez (4-9, 6.12 ERA). The game can be heard live on www.sjgiants.com.

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California League Stories from August 10, 2009


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