Giants Suffer 8-3 Loss To Blaze Davis and Garcia homer in defeat, Arenado hit streak extended to 14
August 18, 2016 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
BAKERSFIELD, CA - Bakersfield ace Zack Littell fired seven scoreless innings as the Blaze rolled to an 8-3 victory over the Giants on Wednesday evening at Sam Lynn Ballpark. Bakersfield scored in five different innings and knocked out 11 hits en route to the convincing win. Despite the loss, San Jose (63-60) has still won two out of the first three games in the series.
Littell (7-1) surrendered just four singles and did not issue a walk during his seven-inning performance to pick-up the win. The right-hander, who lowered his California League ERA to 1.77, struck out seven and did allow a Giants baserunner to advance past first.
Dylan Davis (1-for-4, HR, RBI) and Aramis Garcia (1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) both smacked home runs in the top of the ninth for San Jose to account for all of the Giants offense in defeat. Jonah Arenado (2-for-4) also extended his hitting streak to 14 games.
The Blaze jumped out early with two runs in the bottom of the first against Giants starter Dan Slania to take a 2-0 lead. Consecutive one-out singles from Gianfranco Wawoe and Chantz Mack put runners on first and second. Jay Baum then grounded a double down the left field line to plate Wawoe with the first run of the contest. Kyle Petty followed with a groundout to shortstop that scored Mack to make it 2-0.
Slania settled down to work scoreless bottom of the second and third innings and had retired seven out of the last eight Bakersfield hitters until running into trouble in the fourth. A walk to Baum started the frame. Baum then stole second before Slania registered back-to-back swinging strikeouts of Petty and Joe DeCarlo. Austin Wilson though lined a single into right center plating Baum to push the Blaze lead to 3-0. Wilson advanced to second on the throw home and immediately scored when the next batter, Jordan Cowan, singled to left. The second RBI hit extended the Bakersfield advantage to 4-0.
Meanwhile, Littell faced just one batter over the minimum during the first six innings. A leadoff single to Arenado in the top of the second was eventually erased on a double play. In the third, T.J. Bennett singled with one out, but the next two batters were quickly retired. Following a 1-2-3 top of the fourth, Miguel Gomez led off the fifth with a single, but Littell induced another double play. The Blaze starter then set down the Giants in order in the sixth.
Bakersfield added to their lead with a single run in the bottom of the sixth against Slania. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with none out. Following a strikeout of Wilson, Cowan delivered a sacrifice fly to left to make it 5-0.
Slania (2-1) took his first loss with San Jose after yielding five runs (all earned) on seven hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out five.
Carlos Diaz (2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) was the only Giants reliever to appear in the game. The Blaze scored twice in the bottom of the seventh against Diaz as Wawoe belted a solo home run to left before a two-out RBI double from Petty later in the inning stretched the lead to 7-0. Then in the eighth, Wawoe produced an RBI double for an 8-0 cushion.
Davis broke up the shutout in the top of the ninth when he launched a one-out solo home run to right center field. Then with two down, Gomez walked before Garcia crushed a towering two-run home run to left. The second homer of the inning trimmed the Bakersfield lead to 8-3. Blaze reliever Ramon Morla though came back and retired the next hitter, Mitch Delfino, to end the game.
California League Stories from August 18, 2016
- Ruxer's Arm, Hermosillo's Bat Lead Sixers Over Storm - Inland Empire 66ers
- Giants Suffer 8-3 Loss To Blaze Davis and Garcia homer in defeat, Arenado hit streak extended to 14 - San Jose Giants
- Markus Solbach Allows One Run in Eight-Plus Innings - Visalia Rawhide
- Smash and Grab Lead Nuts to 4-3 Win - Modesto Nuts
- Bakersfield Blaze Game Recap 0: Littell Brilliant, Blaze - Bakersfield Blaze
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