CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Secure Series Win in Rancho with 4-2 Victory

Published on May 24, 2016 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA - Brandon Bednar hit a game-tying two-run single in the top of the sixth before a Steven Duggar sacrifice fly an inning later gave San Jose the lead for good en route to a 4-2 win over Rancho Cucamonga on Monday night at LoanMart Field. With the victory, the Giants (26-16) took three out of four games in the series from the South Division-leading Quakes.

Pat Young (2-0) earned the win out of the San Jose bullpen after holding Rancho Cucamonga scoreless in the sixth and seventh innings. Young, Reyes Moronta and Rodolfo Martinez combined on four shutout innings of relief with just one hit allowed to finish the game. Martinez, who pitched the bottom of the ninth, earned his league-leading 12th save of the season.

Chris Shaw (3-for-3, 2B, RBI) had three hits and reached base in all four of his plate appearances to lead the Giants offensively. Bednar (2-for-4, 2 RBI), C.J Hinojosa (2-for-5, 2B) and Jonah Arenado (2-for-4, 2B) also finished with two hits apiece.

San Jose trailed by a 2-0 margin until scoring a pair of runs against Quakes starter Andrew Sopko in the top of the sixth. With one out, Shaw drew a walk before Arenado clubbed a double off the fence in left center to put runners on second and third. Sopko bounced back to strikeout Jose Vizcaino, Jr. for the second out of the inning, but Bednar followed with a line drive single into center plating both Shaw and Arenado to tie the game 2-2.

After Young pitched around a one-out walk in a scoreless bottom of the sixth, the Giants kept the pressure on with two more runs in the seventh. Cristian Paulino led off by reaching on a throwing error committed by Rancho Cucamonga shortstop Erick Mejia. Paulino then stole second and advanced to third on the play when the throw from catcher Julian Leon bounced into center field. Quakes reliever Kyle Hooper struck out Ronnie Jebavy next, however Duggar then lifted a sacrifice fly into center bringing home Paulino with the go-ahead tally.

San Jose added a second run in the top of the seventh as Hinojosa followed the sacrifice fly with a double to deep right center. Shaw then grounded a single up the middle to plate Hinojosa for a 4-2 advantage.

Rancho Cucamonga threatened against Young in the bottom of the seventh, but the Giants reliever pitched out of trouble. With one out, Leon singled before Michael Ahmed's potential double play grounder to third was mishandled by Vizcaino for an error. However with runners on first and second, Young retired Mejia on a line out to left before striking out Johan Mieses on three pitches to end the inning.

Young struck out three with one hit allowed and one walk during his two scoreless innings of work.

Moronta (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) pitched the bottom of the eighth for San Jose and set down the Quakes in order on two fly outs and a groundout. In the bottom of the ninth, Martinez (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) went 1-2-3 on three consecutive groundouts to seal the victory. Martinez threw only nine pitches in his inning of work.

Hooper (1-1) suffered the loss out of the Rancho Cucamonga bullpen after surrendering both runs in the top of the seventh.

Martin Agosta started on the mound for the Giants and began his night with three hitless innings. After two quick outs to begin the bottom of the fourth, Agosta had retired 10 out of the first 12 Quakes hitters of the contest. Matt Beaty, Yusniel Diaz and Joey Curletta then produced three straight singles with two outs in the fourth to score a run for a 1-0 Rancho Cucamonga lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, Mieses launched a two-out solo homer to left to make it 2-0 Quakes. Agosta worked a season-high tying five innings in his start with two runs (both earned) and four hits allowed. He walked one and struck out five.

Sopko scattered six hits over five scoreless innings to begin his start before the Giants broke through in the top of the sixth.

Notes:

* The Giants handed Rancho Cucamonga their first series loss since the opening weekend of the season (April 7-10).

* Martinez is 12-for-13 in save opportunities this year. He lowered his ERA to 0.98 with Monday's scoreless inning of work.

* Moronta has not allowed a run in 10 straight relief appearances (10 innings) - the longest scoreless stretch by a San Jose reliever this season.

* The Giants out-hit the Quakes 11-5.

* Duggar (1-for-3, RBI) was named California League Offensive Player of the Week before the game Monday. Duggar hit .370 (10-for-27) with two home runs in seven games last week.

* Shaw finished the four-game series against Rancho Cucamonga 6-for-14 (.429) with three home runs and seven RBI's.

* San Jose is 13-3 in their last 16 road games.

* The Giants made several roster moves before the game Monday as catcher Andrew Susac was transferred back to Triple-A Sacramento while catcher Aramis Garcia (facial fracture) was placed on the disabled list. Catcher Ty Ross was added to the roster from Extended Spring Training and catcher Jared Deacon was activated from the disabled list.

* San Jose (26-16) is a season-high 10 games above .500 for the year. With Monday's win, the Giants remained one game behind Visalia (28-16) for the top spot in the first half North Division race.

On Deck: The Giants continue their road trip Tuesday evening with the opener of a pivotal three-game series in Visalia. First pitch against the Rawhide is scheduled for 6:00 PM. Sam Coonrod (3-1, 1.35 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Brad Keller (3-2, 3.55 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 5:30 PM.

Check out the San Jose Giants Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



California League Stories from May 24, 2016


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