Giants Power Past Ports to Secure Series Win
May 8, 2022 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release
Aeverson Arteaga and Vaun Brown both homered during a key seventh-inning rally in San Jose's 7-3 win over the Stockton Ports on Sunday afternoon at Banner Island Ballpark. With the victory, the Giants (16-11) secured a series win in Stockton taking four out of six games from the Ports. Including their two round-trippers on Sunday, San Jose slugged 13 home runs during the series.
The Giants jumped out early in the contest scoring twice in the top of the first on a pair of two-out run-scoring hits. Arteaga's one-out single started the rally for San Jose. A wild pitch then moved Arteaga to second before Brown's two-out RBI single brought home the first run of the day. Brown then stole second and scored when Victor Bericoto delivered an RBI double into the right center gap.
Will Bednar started on the mound for the Giants and worked three innings during his outing with one run and three hits allowed. Stockton's lone tally against Bednar came in the bottom of the third when three straight one-out hits from Max Muncy, Kevin Richards and Junior Perez produced a run and cut the San Jose lead to 2-1. Bednar though would induce a double play to limit the damage in the inning. The Giants right-hander then worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second. In the third, two hit batters and a walk loaded the bases with two outs, but Bednar escaped when he retired T.J. Schofield-Sam on a fly out to end the threat. Bednar walked two, hit two batters and struck out two during his start.
Seth Lonsway relieved Bednar to begin the bottom of the fourth and immediately ran into trouble. Jhoan Paulino led off with a single before a walk to Mariano Ricciardi put runners on first and second. After Cooper Uhl's sacrifice bunt, Denzel Clarke hit a sacrifice fly to right plating Paulino to tie the game 2-2. Lonsway though would manage to strand the potential go-ahead run at second base and then worked back-to-back scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth to keep the contest deadlocked.
The Giants would come to the plate in the top of the seventh with the score still at 2-2 and used a pair of home runs in the inning to take the lead for good. Alexander Suarez started the frame with a double to deep left. After Grant McCray struck out, Arteaga stepped to the plate and launched a two-run home run to left center. The homer was Arteaga's fourth of the year and it gave San Jose back the lead at 4-2. Then with two down in the inning, Brown came up and belted a 432-foot solo homer to left center - his team-leading sixth home run of the season - to stretch the Giants advantage to 5-2.
The Ports got one run back in the bottom of the seventh, but would get no closer in the late innings on Sunday. Lonsway issued a leadoff walk in the inning and would depart with a runner at second base and two outs. Mat Olsen entered from the bullpen, but promptly allowed an RBI single to Danny Bautista as the Ports closed to within 5-3. A Schofield-Sam single then put the potential tying run on base, but Olsen settled down to retire Paulino on a pop out ending the inning.
Olsen returned to the mound in the bottom of the eighth and fanned two in a dominant 1-2-3 frame to preserve the two-run cushion before San Jose added to their lead in the top of the ninth. With two outs, Adrian Sugastey walked, Brown reached on an infield single - his fourth hit of the game - before Bericoto came through with his second clutch two-out RBI hit of the day as he laced a double to deep right center field. The hit scored both Sugastey and Brown to make it a 7-3 game.
Olsen then slammed the door with a scoreless bottom of the ninth pitching around a two-out double to send the Giants to victory.
Vaun Brown had four hits, including his team-leading sixth home run of the season, in Sunday's win over Stockton
GIANTS NOTES
Offensive Surge: The Giants scored 37 runs (6.2 per game) and hit .307 as a team during the six-game series. San Jose had hit only 15 home runs all season (in 21 games) prior to going deep 13 times during the series in Stockton.
Hitting Leaders: With his four hits on Sunday, Vaun Brown raised his season batting average to a team-high .317. Aeverson Arteaga (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI), Victor Bericoto (2-for-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI) and Alexander Suarez (2-for-4, 2B) also finished with multi-hit games. Grant McCray (1-for-5) extended his hitting streak to seven games with a ninth-inning single. The Giants out-hit the Ports 12-8.
Mound Morsels: Seth Lonsway picked-up the win on Sunday to improve his record to 4-0. Lonsway pitched 3 2/3 innings of long relief and allowed two runs (both earned) and two hits. He walked four and struck out four. Mat Olsen earned his second save of the year (both in this series) with 2 1/3 scoreless innings to finish the game. Olsen struck out four.
Standings Update: The Giants (16-11) remained in a first-place tie with the Fresno Grizzlies (16-11) in the North Division standings. San Jose improved to 11-4 on the road this season.
On Deck: Following an off day, the Giants return to Excite Ballpark for a six-game set against the Lake Elsinore Storm. Tuesday's series opener is a 6:30 PM first pitch. Visit sjgiants.com for information on upcoming promotions and to purchase tickets.
California League Stories from May 8, 2022
- Giants Power Past Ports to Secure Series Win - San Jose Giants
- Ports Drop Series Finale to Giants with 7-3 Final - Stockton Ports
- Ports Drop Series Finale to Giants with 7-3 Final - Stockton Ports
- Quakes Hold on for 11-7 Win - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
- Mason Green's masterful start on Mother's Day provides Grizzlies a 3-2 victory over Nuts - Fresno Grizzlies
- Giants Bring the Fireworks, Down the Ports on Saturday Night - Stockton Ports
- Fresno Grizzlies Game Notes vs Modesto - Fresno Grizzlies
- Rawhide Defeats Inland Empire 4-1 - Visalia Rawhide
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
