CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants hold off late Modesto rally to post 9-7 victory

Published on August 26, 2005 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


The San Jose Giants held off a late rally Modesto rally to post a 9-7 victory in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday night. In front of 2,714 fans at John Thurman Field, Travis Ishikawa rapped out three hits including his team-leading 20th home run of the season as the Giants jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. Joe Bateman surrendered two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but finished the contest with consecutive strike outs of Simon Ferrer and Rick Guarno to leave the tying run at first base. With the victory, San Jose (34-26) moved to within 2 _ games of the idle Stockton Ports (36-23) for first place in the Second Half North Division race.

Leading 1-0, the Giants erupted for five runs in the top of the third inning to take a six-run lead. Pat Dobson led off the rally with a double to right field before Clay Timpner reached on an infield single. After Jake Wald struck out and Eddy Martinez-Esteve walked, Nate Schierholtz stepped to the plate and lined a two-run double into the left field corner.

Brian Buscher followed the Schierholtz double with a fly out before Ishikawa crushed a 3-1 pitch from Larry Robles over the fence in right field. The three-run home run gave San Jose a 6-0 lead.

The Giants added a single run in the top of the fourth inning when Timpner doubled with one out and later scored on a Wald sacrifice fly to center.

A fifth-inning run on a Guillermo Rodriguez sacrifice fly extended the lead to 8-1 before the Nuts mounted a rally. Modesto scored runs in four out of their final five innings before eventually falling short.

In the bottom of the ninth, consecutive one-out singles from Christian Colonel and Kyle Wilson cut the Giants advantage down to 9-7. But with runners on first and second, Bateman responded with back-to-back strike outs to seal the victory for the Giants.

Mitch Walk was credited with the victory out of the bullpen after allowing two runs in 1 1/3 innings in relief of starter Jason Waddell. Waddell went the first 4 1/3 innings with two runs surrendered on just three hits. The left-hander walked three and struck out five. Waddell, who was making his first start of the season after 22 relief appearances with the Giants, was pulled from the contest in the bottom of the fifth inning after reaching his pitch count limit with San Jose leading 8-1.

Jon Coutlangus (2 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) and Bateman (1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) combined to finish the game for the Giants.

Ishikawa finished the night 3-for-5 with four RBI. The first baseman was a double short of the cycle. Other multi-hit games came from Schierholtz (3-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI), Dobson (2-for-3, 2B), and Timpner (2-for-5, 2B). Timpner also stole his league-leading 34th base of the season. Martinez-Esteve (illness), the 2005 San Jose Giants Offensive Player of the Year, returned to starting lineup for the first time since Sunday and went 1-for-4 with a single and an RBI.

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California League Stories from August 26, 2005


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