CalL San Jose Giants

Giants Open Lake Elsinore Series with 8-5 Win

Published on August 25, 2021 under California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


The Giants knocked out 15 hits, including home runs from Harrison Freed and Yorlis Rodriguez, in a come-from-behind 8-5 victory over the Lake Elsinore Storm on Tuesday night at The Diamond. In the opener of a six-game series, San Jose overcame an early three-run deficit before Giants pitching combined to retire the final 12 Storm hitters of the contest. With the win, San Jose (61-36) has now claimed six of the first seven games on their Southern California road trip.

Tuesday's match-up began with a Lake Elsinore three-run home run as the Giants fell behind early. With Carson Ragsdale on the mound, the bottom of the first started with a single from Matthew Acosta. Following a sacrifice bunt and a deep fly out, Ragsdale issued a walk to Brandon Valenzuela to put runners on first and second. Joshua Mears was up next for the Storm and he belted an 0-2 pitch from Ragsdale over the fence in deep left. The homer was Mears' team-leading 16th of the season and it put Lake Elsinore in front by a 3-0 margin.

San Jose though would come right back with two runs in the top of the second. A leadoff single from Patrick Bailey and a one-out single off the bat of Freed put a pair of runners on base. Grant McCray then lined a single into left plating Bailey with the first Giants run of the night. Edison Mora was up next and he blasted a double off the top of the fence down the left field line to score Freed bringing San Jose to within 3-2.

The Storm hit their second homer of the game when Robert Hassell connected for a solo shot in the bottom of the third to make it 4-2. The Giants, however, scored in each of the next four innings and never looked back. In the top of the fourth, Freed led off with a line drive solo homer to left center - his seventh round-tripper of the year - to cut the deficit to 4-3. An inning later, Luis Matos singled with two outs and immediately scored the tying run when the next hitter, Bailey, doubled into the right center gap.

With the score tied 4-4, the sixth-inning rally began when Freed led off with a single. After McCray moved Freed to second with a sacrifice bunt, Mora grounded an RBI single into center to give San Jose their first lead of the night. Two batters later, Rodriguez came up with two outs and launched a towering two-run home run to left center. The homer was Rodriguez's first with the club and it extended the Giants lead to 7-4.

Meanwhile, Ragsdale had settled down to toss back-to-back scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth. He then allowed an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth as Lake Elsinore closed to within 7-5. Mears drew a leadoff walk, stole second, took third when the throw bounced into center for an error and scored on a wild pitch. The walk though would turn out to be the Storm's final baserunner of the game. Ragsdale completed the sixth inning with three consecutive strikeouts and the San Jose bullpen would then take over.

The Giants first added another run in the top of the seventh as Bailey hit a one-out double off the fence in right. Then with two outs, Freed singled into shallow center plating Bailey to make it 8-5. It was Freed's fourth hit of the game.

San Jose's bullpen was perfect in the series opener as Juan Sanchez needed only four pitches to work a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh. McCray made a fantastic sliding catch of a fly ball in the left field corner to highlight the inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Brooks Crawford struck out two in a perfect inning. Cole Waites then took over in the ninth with a three-run lead and induced a groundout before registering back-to-back strikeouts to seal the victory.

GIANTS NOTES

Road Warriors

Tuesday's victory was the Giants' 14th win in their last 19 road games. San Jose boasts a league-best 34-15 road record this season.

Freed's Perfect Night

Harrison Freed was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate in the series-opening win to lead the offensive attack. Freed had three singles, a home run, scored three runs and drove in two. He's hit two homers now on the road trip.

Other Hitting Standouts

Patrick Bailey (3-for-5, 2 2B, RBI) doubled twice as part of a three-hit night at the plate. Edison Mora (3-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) also had three hits and drove in two runs. Yorlis Rodriguez (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) added a multi-hit game and is batting .391 (9-for-23) on the road trip. The Giants out-hit the Storm 15-5.

Ragsdale's Seventh Win

Carson Ragsdale (7-4) earned his team-leading seventh win of the season. He is currently second in Low-A West in wins. Ragsdale pitched six innings and allowed five runs (four earned). He gave up five hits, walked three and struck out seven. Ragsdale retired 10 of the final 13 batters he faced.

Bullpen Shines

Juan Sanchez (1 IP, 0 R), Brooks Crawford (1 IP, 0 R, 2 SO) and Cole Waites (1 IP, 0 R, 2 SO) combined to retire nine hitters in a row over the final three innings. Waites, who was making his third relief appearance since joining San Jose last week, notched his first career save.

Playoff Race

The Giants (61-36) extended their lead in the playoff race following Tuesday's win. San Jose is 7 1/2 games ahead of Rancho Cucamonga (53-43) and eight games in front of Modesto (53-44) with 23 to play in the regular season.

On Deck

The Giants and Storm continue their series on Wednesday evening with first pitch at The Diamond set for 6:35 PM. Nick Swiney is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.

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