CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Rally For 7-6 Victory Over Bakersfield

August 2, 2005 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


Pat Dobson¹s tie-breaking eighth inning single led the San Jose Giants to a 7-6 victory over the Bakersfield Blaze on Monday night in front of 2,845 fans at Municipal Stadium. The Giants rallied from a 5-0 deficit with six runs in the bottom of the sixth before Dobson¹s eventual single in the eighth. Armando Benitez fired a hitless top of the first inning in a rehab start while Joe Bateman worked a perfect ninth inning for the save.

Benitez, a two-time Major League All-Star closer, is recovering from a torn right hamstring suffered on April 26th in San Francisco. The 32-year old right-hander owns 248 career saves over his 12 seasons in the major leagues. Benitez worked the first inning against the Blaze allowing no hits or runs. He walked Anthony Webster with one out, but quickly got out of the inning when the next hitter, Kevin Mahar, grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Benitez threw a total of 14 pitches ­ ten for strikes.

Juan Serrato struggled during his long relief stint allowing five runs on six hits in four-plus innings. The Giants trailed 5-0 before their mammoth bottom of the sixth. John Bowker led off with a single and then moved to third on Eddy Martinez-Esteve¹s sharp double down the right field line. Nate Schierholtz then stepped to the plate and lined a triple into the right field corner to score both runners cutting the deficit down to 5-2. Anthony Contreras then followed with an RBI double down the left field line before Brian Buscher tripled to deep center field making the score 5-4.

Then with two outs and Buscher still at third base, Jake Wald connected for a two-run home run to left field giving San Jose their first lead of the game, 6-5. For Wald, it was his 11th home run of the season.

Bakersfield quickly tied the score in the top of the seventh inning when Nate Gold blasted a solo home run down the left field line tying the contest at 6-6. It was Gold¹s second home run of the night and 18th of the season.

San Jose went back in front for good with a single tally in the bottom of the eighth inning against Blaze relief pitcher Chris Marini. With one out, Guillermo Rodriguez drew a walk before moving to second on a wild pitch. Dobson then stepped to the plate and on a 3-2 pitch, lined a single into right field. Rodriguez raced home and scored ahead of the throw from the right fielder Cleveland to give the Giants a 7-6 lead.

Jon Coutlangus was credited with the victory after throwing a perfect eighth inning. Coutlangus, who improved to 4-0 on the year, struck out a pair of Bakersfield hitters. Bateman then fired a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 14th save of the season. Bateman struck out Mahar on a ten-pitch at-bat with a 94 M.P.H. fastball to end the contest.

Offensively for the Giants, Schierholtz led the way with a perfect 3-for-3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI night at the plate. Martinez-Esteve (2-for-4, 2 2B) and Dobson (2-for-4, RBI) also had multi-hit games.

San Jose (63-44) moved back into a virtual tie with the idle Modesto Nuts (62-43) for the top overall record in the North Division.

Bakersfield 0 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 - 6 8 1

San Jose 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 1 x - 7 12 0

WP: Jon Coutlangus (4-0)

LP: Chris Marini (1-3)

S: Joe Bateman (14)

HR: San Jose ­ Jake Wald (11); Bakersfield ­ Nate Gold 2 (17, 18), Dustin Smith (3)

Records: San Jose (63-44), Bakersfield (50-57)

* The Giants open a three-game series with the Lake Elsinore Storm on Tuesday evening at Municipal Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. Tickets are available by calling (408)297-1435 or visiting sjgiants.com. Garrett Broshuis (8-9, 5.04 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Lake Elsinore is expected to counter with Clark Girardeau (3-4, 5.72 ERA). You can listen to all of the action on sjgiants.com beginning at 6:40 P.M.

Check out the San Jose Giants Statistics



California League Stories from August 2, 2005


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.

OurSports Central