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CalL1 San Jose Giants

Giants Sweep Nuts, Advance to Championship Series

September 14, 2010 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


The San Jose Giants erupted for five runs in the fifth inning and never looked back in an 8-2 victory over the Modesto Nuts on Monday evening at John Thurman Field to complete a sweep of the best-of-five North Division Series. San Jose will open the Championship Series on Thursday at Municipal Stadium against the Lake Elsinore Storm or Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.

The Giants collected 15 hits in the victory with Jose Flores (4-for-5) leading the offensive charge. Michael Sandoval (3-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) added three hits, including a solo home run while Ehire Adrianza (1- for-3, HR, RBI) also went deep. All nine San Jose starters finished with at least one hit.

Kyle Woodruff picked-up the win after surrendering two unearned runs on four hits over five innings of work. Woodruff walked one and struck out five. Ryan Verdugo, Eric Stolp, Hector Correa and Edwin Quirarte each tossed one scoreless inning out of the bullpen.

San Jose trailed by a 2-0 score until sending 10 batters to the plate in the top of the fifth inning. Brandon Crawford began the frame with a line drive single into center before advancing to second on Adrianza's sacrifice bunt. Sandoval then lined an RBI single into left to give the Giants their first run of the evening. James Simmons followed by drawing a walk and then Francisco Peguero singled into left center plating Sandoval to tie the game 2-2. Juan Perez kept the rally going with a single into shallow right to load the bases and when right fielder Jimmy Cesario mishandled the ball for an error, Simmons raced home with the go-ahead run.

Rhett Ballard was then summoned from the bullpen to replace starter Kenny Durst and was greeted by a single from Flores to load the bases. Johnny Monell was up next and he lifted a sacrifice fly to left center bringing home Peguero to make it 4-2. Charlie Culberson then capped the fifth-inning scoring with a ground ball RBI single into left. All seven hits during the five-run inning were singles.

The Giants added to their lead in the top of the sixth as Adrianza led off with a towering home run to deep right field.

In the seventh, consecutive one-out singles from Flores and Monell put runners on the corners with one out before Culberson grounded out to plate San Jose's seventh run.

Sandoval made the score 8-2 with a mammoth solo homer down the left field line in the top of the eighth inning.

Modesto jumped in front with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning against Woodruff. The Giants starter retired the first two batters of the frame before Michael Zuanich reached on a fielding error charged to the shortstop Adrianza. Ben Paulsen followed with a single and then Cesario belted a fly ball off the fence in right center field for a triple as both runners scored.

Woodruff settled down after the first inning tossing a 1-2-3 bottom of the second before working around a two-out double in the third. The Nuts threatened to add to their lead in the fourth as Cesario drew a leadoff walk and stole second. A wild pitch advanced Cesario to third with one out, but Woodruff recovered to strikeout David Christensen and induce Dustin Garneau to pop out.

Woodruff, Verdugo and Stolp combined to set down 11 consecutive Modesto hitters from the fourth through the seventh innings. After Woodruff fired a perfect bottom of the fifth, Verdugo (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) struck out a pair in the sixth. Stolp (1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) entered the game to begin the bottom of the seventh and pitched around a pair of two-out singles to keep the Nuts off the scoreboard.

Correa (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO) issued a walk to the first batter he faced in the eighth, but struck out the next two hitters before Cesario's pop out ended the inning. Quirarte (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) surrendered a one-out single in the ninth, but struck out Garneau and induced Joe Sanders to groundout to shortstop ending the game.

Durst suffered the loss for Modesto after yielding five runs (all earned) on six hits over 4 1/3 innings. The left-hander walked one and struck out three. Durst began his outing with just two singles allowed over four scoreless frames before running into trouble in the fifth.

Notes: The Giants have reached the Championship Series in consecutive years for the first time since 1998-99 ... San Jose last swept the Division Series in 2005 when they took three straight games from the Modesto Nuts ... The Giants out-hit the Nuts by a 15-7 margin ... Crawford (2-for-4) also finished with a multi-hit game ... San Jose was 6-for-8 with runners in scoring position ... Flores is batting .615 (8-for-13) during the postseason ... The Giants hit .346 as a team during the series ... Rancho Cucamonga owns a 2-1 lead over Lake Elsinore in the best-of-five South Division Series.

On Deck: The Giants begin the best-of-five Championship Series on Thursday evening with Game One at Municipal Stadium. First pitch against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes or Lake Elsinore Storm is scheduled for 7:00 PM. San Jose will also host Game Two of the series on Friday night at 7:00 PM. The South Division winner will host Games Three, Four and Five from Saturday through Monday. Tickets for both Championship Series home games can be purchased by calling (408) 297-1435 or by visiting www.sjgiants.com.

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