CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Power Past Rawhide in Series Opener, 12-2

Published on May 25, 2016 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


VISALIA, CA - The San Jose Giants matched a season-high with four home runs in a 12-2 rout of the Visalia Rawhide on Tuesday evening at Recreation Park. C.J Hinojosa homered twice while Steven Duggar and Ronnie Jebavy also each went deep as the Giants (27-16) claimed the opener of the three-game series and moved back into a tie for first with Visalia (28-17) in the first half North Division race.

Duggar (1-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) and Hinojosa (2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 RBI) went back-to-back during a four-run top of the first inning as San Jose jumped out to the early lead. Hinojosa added a solo shot in the third for the Giants while Jebavy (3-for-5, 2B, HR, RBI) smacked a solo homer to jumpstart a key four-run rally in the top of the seventh.

Chris Shaw (3-for-5, 2B, RBI) and Jonah Arenado (3-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) also contributed three hits apiece for San Jose.

Sam Coonrod (4-1) earned the win after tossing 5 2/3 innings with just one run allowed. Coonrod, who took a shutout into the sixth, surrendered four hits, walked four and struck out two during his 103-pitch outing.

San Jose raced out early against Rawhide started Brad Keller scoring four runs before an out was recorded in the game. Jebavy started the contest by drawing a walk before Duggar stepped to the plate and launched a towering two-run home run to straightaway center. The homer was Duggar's seventh of the year. Hinojosa was up next and he also went deep crushing a fly ball to left for a solo home run. Shaw then doubled into the right center field gap before Arenado delivered an RBI double down the left field line to make it 4-0.

Coonrod had to escape a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the second to maintain the four-run advantage. With two outs, Dawal Lugo walked before Grant Heyman singled. Oscar Hernandez was then hit by a pitch to load the bases, but Coonrod came back with a strikeout of Victor Reyes to end the inning.

Hinojosa then led off the top of the third with his second home run of the night - a solo shot down the left field line -to extend the lead to 5-0. Hinojosa entered the game with two home runs this year and doubled his season total.

Coonrod cruised the next two innings working around a two-out walk in the bottom of the third before tossing a 1-2-3 fourth inning. In the fifth, Reyes walked with one out before Chuck Taylor singled to put runners on first and second. Coonrod though got Marty Herum to fly out and Domingo Leyba to line out to shortstop retiring the side and keeping the score at 5-0.

Coonrod returned to the mound in the bottom of the sixth and issued a one-out walk to Henry Castillo. He then set down Lugo on a pop out, but was removed from the game after reaching his pitch limit. Dusten Knight (1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) was summoned from the bullpen and he promptly gave up a first-pitch two-run homer to Heyman. The home run trimmed the Giants lead to 5-2.

San Jose though immediately answered with their second four-run inning of the night. Jebavy launched the first pitch of the top of the seventh over the fence in left for a solo homer and a 6-2 advantage. A one-out walk to Hinojosa restarted the rally before Shaw blooped a single into shallow left. Arenado then grounded a single through the hole on the left side to plate Hinojosa with the second run of the inning. After a Jose Vizcaino, Jr. fly out to deep center advanced the runners to second and third, Brandon Bednar singled sharply up the middle to score two more for a 9-2 cushion.

After Knight worked a scoreless bottom of the seventh, the Giants pushed across three more runs in the top of the eighth. With one out, Jebavy singled before consecutive walks to Duggar and Hinojosa loaded the bases. Shaw then lined an RBI single into center before a wild pitch scored Duggar with the second run of the frame. Two batters later, Vizcaino's RBI groundout pushed the lead to 12-2 and capped the scoring for the night.

Jeff Soptic (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) retired all six batters he faced over the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings to seal the San Jose victory.

Keller (3-3) was saddled with the loss after yielding five runs (all earned) on seven hits over the first five innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

Notes:

* San Jose established a new season-high for largest margin of victory.

* The Giants have won seven out of their last eight games and are now 7-3 on their road trip.

* San Jose's 12 runs scored was one off of their season-high (13 runs on May 3 at Stockton).

* The four homers matched a single-game season-high (April 23 vs. Modesto).

* The top three spots in the lineup - Jebavy, Duggar and Hinojosa - combined to go 6-for-13 with four home runs, nine runs scored and five RBI's.

* The Giants out-hit the Rawhide 16-5.

* Hinojosa became the third San Jose player to homer twice in a game this season (Duggar - April 17 at Inland Empire, Shaw - May 22 at Rancho Cucamonga).

* Coonrod has won his last four starts combining for 24 2/3 innings pitched with just two runs allowed (0.73 ERA).

* Prior to Tuesday's win, San Jose had lost 18 out of their previous 20 regular season games at Recreation Park dating back to the 2014 season.

* Before the game Tuesday, outfielder Johneshwy Fargas was transferred to Class-A Augusta. Outfielder Daniel Carbonell was added to the roster from the Double-A Richmond disabled list.

On Deck: The Giants and Rawhide continue their three-game series on Wednesday evening with first pitch at Recreation Park scheduled for 6:00 PM. D.J. Snelten (2-3, 4.08 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Ethan Elias (2-3, 5.83 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 5:30 PM.

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California League Stories from May 25, 2016


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