CalL San Jose Giants

Giants Outlast Quakes for Third Straight Win

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


The San Jose Giants remained one of the hottest teams in baseball with a 10-8 comeback victory over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on Thursday evening at Excite Ballpark. In another back-and-forth contest between Low-A West division leaders, the Giants used a three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning to take the lead for good. The win was San Jose's (31-14) third in a row to open the series and their 14th in the last 17 games overall.

Rancho Cucamonga hit a pair of three-run home runs to build a 6-2 lead on Thursday before the Giants mounted their first comeback of the night. Eddys Leonard followed a single and a dropped fly ball in the outfield with a three-run blast in the top of the third off Kyle Harrison to give the Quakes a 3-1 advantage. San Jose trimmed the deficit to a single run in the bottom of the fifth as Garrett Frechette and Carter Williams delivered consecutive singles before a Brett Auerbach sacrifice fly. Rancho Cucamonga though came right back in the sixth with Jorge Labrador on the mound as Brandon Lewis connected for a two-out, three-run homer - his team-leading 10th round-tripper of the season - to push the Quakes lead to 6-2.

The Giants then hit a three-run homer of their own to get right back into the game. A leadoff walk to Ricardo Genoves and a one-out walk to Alex Canario put runners on first and second in the bottom of the sixth. Jairo Pomares was up next and he crushed an 0-2 pitch over the fence in deep center for a three-run home run. The homer, Pomares' third in eight games with San Jose this season, cut the Rancho Cucamonga lead to 6-5.

After Juan Sanchez worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, the Giants scratched across two runs in the bottom of the inning to move ahead. Williams led off the frame by drawing a walk. Auerbach then blooped a single into shallow right along the foul line. On the play, Quakes right fielder Jonny DeLuca made a hurried throw to second base in an effort to force out Williams, but skipped the throw past shortstop Alex De Jesus and down the left field line. As the ball rolled into foul territory, Williams raced around third and easily scored the tying run with Auerbach ending up at second. The rally continued when Luis Matos reached on an error before a walk to Genoves loaded the bases. Marco Luciano was up next and he struck out swinging, but a passed ball on the strike three pitch from catcher Wladimir Chalo allowed Auerbach to score for a 7-6 San Jose advantage.

The Giants lead, however, would be short-lived. Rancho Cucamonga came right back with two runs in the top of the eighth to seesaw back in front. Sanchez issued a leadoff walk to Sam McWilliams before Leonard grounded out to advance the runner to second. Brooks Crawford was then summoned from the bullpen and he promptly uncorked a wild pitch to move McWilliams to third. Then the ball four pitch to Lewis also got away from the catcher Genoves as a second wild pitch in the inning allowed McWilliams to score tying the game 7-7. Two batters later, Jorbit Vivas was hit by a pitch and then De Jesus delivered a two-out RBI single into right center to give the Quakes an 8-7 lead.

As they've done all series though, San Jose once again had an answer. Consecutive hit batters of Jimmy Glowenke and Frechette started the bottom of the eighth to put runners on first and second. Williams then came up and laced a double down the left field line to plate Glowenke with the tying run. Auerbach followed with another double as he also lined a ball into the left field corner that plated pinch-runner Abdiel Layer and Williams for a 10-8 Giants lead.

Randy Rodriguez, who had recorded the final out of the top of the eighth, returned to mound in the ninth and quickly set down Rancho Cucamonga in order on a strikeout, a groundout and another strikeout to seal the San Jose victory.

GIANTS NOTES

Comeback Wins

The Giants have won the first three games of their series against Rancho Cucamonga with comeback efforts in each contest. San Jose overcame three deficits in Tuesday's 9-5 win. On Wednesday, the Giants rallied from a late three-run hole to post a 9-6 victory before twice coming back on Thursday for another win. San Jose has scored a total of 28 runs over the first three games in the series.

Hitting Leaders

Carter Williams (3-for-4, 2B, RBI) and Brett Auerbach (2-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI) combined for five hits and four RBI's from the top two spots in the lineup on Thursday. Jairo Pomares (2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI) also had a multi-hit game and is 7-for-13 in the series. Both teams finished with 10 hits.

Matos Extends Hit Streak

Luis Matos (1-for-5, 2B) extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a third-inning double. Matos leads the Giants with 13 doubles this season.

On The Mound

Kyle Harrison worked four innings in his start with three runs (two earned) allowed. Harrison gave up five hits, walked three and struck out six during his 88-pitch outing. Randy Rodriguez, who retired all four batters he faced to finish the game, earned the win out of the bullpen.

Rolling At Home

The Giants have now won five games in a row and 11 out of their last 13 at Excite Ballpark.

Standings Update

The Giants (31-14) remained three games ahead of the Fresno Grizzlies (28-17) for first place in the North Division standings.

On Deck

The Giants and Quakes continue their series on Friday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 6:30 PM. Prelander Berroa is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.

Check out the San Jose Giants Statistics

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California League Stories from June 25, 2021


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