CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Roll to Fourth Straight Win, End Drought in Visalia

Published on August 23, 2018 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


VISALIA, CA - The San Jose Giants clinched their first series win at Visalia's Recreation Park in five years with a 13-3 rout of the Rawhide on Wednesday evening. Heath Quinn blasted a grand slam as part of a six-RBI performance at the plate to lead the Giants to the blowout victory. The win was San Jose's (56-72 overall, 22-36 second half) second straight to open the series and season-high tying fourth in a row overall.

Quinn (2-for-4, HR, 6 RBI) connected for the Giants' first grand slam of the season - an eighth-inning round-tripper that capped the scoring for the night. Johneshwy Fargas (3-for-5, 2B, RBI, SB) added three hits while Gio Brusa (1-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI) delivered a key three-run double.

John Gavin (1-2) earned his first California League win with a solid five-inning start. Gavin surrendered two runs (one earned) and four hits during his outing. The left-hander struck out seven and did not issue a walk.

Wednesday's contest was scoreless through three innings. Visalia starter Cole Stapler retired the first nine San Jose batters of the game before Jacob Heyward led off the top of the fourth with a double to left. Quinn was up next and he singled sharply into center to plate Heyward with the first run of the game. Quinn later moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on Wander Franco's two-out single to make it 2-0.

The Rawhide got one run back in the bottom of the fourth with an unearned tally against Gavin. A two-base fielding error committed by Jalen Miller on a grounder hit by Daulton Varsho started the frame. Drew Ellis followed with a fly out to right advancing Varsho to third before Pavin Smith produced an RBI groundout to bring Visalia to within 2-1.

The Giants then erupted for five runs in the top of the fifth to take control of the game. Fargas led off with a double before Brandon Van Horn drew a walk. With Chris Corbett at the plate, Fargas was then picked off at second by the catcher Varsho, but after a rundown, was able to safely make it into third when second baseman Adam Walton dropped the ball for an error. A walk to Corbett followed to load the bases with none out before Heyward came through with an RBI single to make it 3-1. Quinn then hit a sacrifice fly to score Van Horn with the second run of the inning. Miller followed with a potential double play grounder to shortstop that was misplayed by Jazz Chisholm for another error. The miscue again loaded the bases and San Jose took advantage as the next batter, Brusa, hammered a double off the fence in deep right center scoring Corbett, Heyward and Miller for a 7-1 advantage.

Visalia chipped away with single runs in the bottom of the fifth and seventh innings to make it 7-3, but would get no closer in the game. Walton drilled a solo home run to left off of Gavin in the bottom of the fifth. After Rodolfo Martinez (1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) threw a scoreless sixth inning, the Rawhide scratched across a run in the seventh against Sandro Cabrera (1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO) on a Jose Vinicio sacrifice fly.

San Jose then produced their second big inning of the night scoring six times in the top of the eighth to break the game open. Bryce Johnson led off with a ringing triple into the right center field gap and immediately scored when the next batter, Fargas, singled to right. Van Horn then drew a walk before Corbett reached on a Chisholm error at shortstop. A walk to Heyward followed to load the bases and Quinn then stepped to the plate and launched a 1-0 pitch from Visalia reliever Mason McCullough over the fence in deep right for an opposite field grand slam. The home run stretched the Giants lead to a commanding 13-3.

Sam Coonrod (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO) and Dylan Rheault (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) worked scoreless bottom of the eighth and ninth innings respectively to seal the San Jose victory.

Stapler (0-6) was saddled with the loss after yielding seven runs (three earned) over 4 1/3 innings. He gave up six hits, walked two and struck out six.

Notes

* San Jose's last regular season series win in Visalia was April 4-7, 2013. Prior to the current match-up, the Giants played 20 consecutive winless series' at Recreation Park (21-49 record).

* San Jose has won four in a row overall for the first time since April 20-23.

* The Giants' 13 runs scored was their highest output of the second half and most since a 16-5 win at Modesto on June 10.

* Quinn's grand slam was the first by a San Jose player since Steven Duggar on July 20, 2017.

* The Giants out-hit the Rawhide 10-8. San Jose was 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position compared to 0-for-8 for Visalia.

* The Giants have allowed a total of just six runs during their current four-game win streak. San Jose starting pitchers have thrown 22 innings with three earned runs surrendered (1.23 ERA), one walk and 25 strikeouts.

* The Giants (22-36) pulled to within four games of first-place Stockton (26-32) and Visalia (26-32) in the second half North Division race with 12 to play in the regular season.

On Deck

The Giants conclude their three-game series at Visalia on Thursday evening with first pitch at Recreation Park scheduled for 7:00 PM. Domenic Mazza (3-3, 4.11 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while the Rawhide are expected to counter with Riley Smith (7-5, 3.49 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:40 PM.

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