Giants Top Ports in Front of Sellout Crowd
June 5, 2022 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release
The San Jose Giants raced out to an early five-run lead Saturday night and never looked back on their way to an 8-4 victory over the Stockton Ports. In front of a sellout crowd of 3,258 at Excite Ballpark, Vaun Brown smacked his team-leading 12th home run of the season and three Giants pitchers combined on 16 strikeouts. With the win, San Jose (29-21) has now taken three of the first five games in the series against Stockton this week.
Brown's blast in the bottom of the first inning gave the Giants a 2-0 advantage. After Aeverson Arteaga singled with one out, Brown stepped to the plate and crushed a 412-foot drive to deep left for a two-run home run.
San Jose then kept the pressure on with three more runs in the bottom of the second. Back-to-back singles from Najee Gaskins and Dilan Rosario started the rally before Max Wright worked a walk to load the bases. Alexander Suarez then grounded into a fielder's choice to plate a run as Wright was forced out at second, however Gaskins came home to make it 3-0. Grant McCray was up next and he hit a grounder to first that T.J. Schofield-Sam fielded, but then threw wildly to second in an attempt to force out Suarez. McCray was credited with an RBI on the play as Rosario scored while Suarez advanced to third thanks to the error. Arteaga followed with an RBI groundout as Suarez scored for a 5-0 cushion.
Meanwhile, Eric Silva started on the mound for the Giants and cruised through three scoreless innings to begin his outing. Silva struck out the side in a perfect top of the first before registering another punchout in a 1-2-3 second. He then pitched around a leadoff infield single in the third collecting two more strikeouts in the inning.
The Ports would scratch across a run in the top of the fourth against Silva without the benefit of a hit. Denzel Clarke drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, took third on a balk and scored when Max Muncy grounded out to make it 5-1.
San Jose though got the run right back in the bottom of the inning when McCray and Arteaga produced back-to-back two-out doubles into the left field corner.
Silva returned to the mound in the fifth and promptly struck out the first two batters - his eighth and ninth strikeouts of the night. Robert Puason then came up, however, and lined a solo home run to left to cut the Giants lead to 6-2. After Mariano Ricciardi singled, Clarke laced an RBI triple into the right center gap to bring Stockton to within 6-3. Silva then walked Muncy to bring the potential tying run to the plate, but prevented further damage when he retired Kevin Richards on a fly out to center ending the inning.
Sam Delaplane relieved Silva to begin the top of the sixth and would surrender one run in his lone inning of work. Schofield-Sam drew a leadoff walk and was eventually at third base with two down. Delaplane then struck out Jhoan Paulino, but the pitch bounced away allowing the hitter to reach first and Schofield-Sam to score trimming the San Jose lead to 6-4. A walk to Puason followed putting the tying run on base, but Delaplane came back to strikeout Ricciardi to finish the inning.
The Giants then responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth to reclaim the momentum in the contest. Wright led off with a ringing double off the center field wall. Then with two outs, Arteaga's sharp grounder to shortstop was misplayed by Muncy for an error allowing Wright to score. Brown followed with a line drive double into the left field corner plating Arteaga all the way from first to extend the lead to 8-4.
Manuel Mercedes would then pitch the final three innings for San Jose without allowing a run to notch his second save of the year. Mercedes escaped trouble in the top of the seventh as the Ports put runners on the corners with none out, but a fly out, a pop out and a strikeout of the next three hitters kept the lead at four runs. Mercedes then worked around a one-out single in the eighth before striking out two in a perfect top of the ninth to seal the victory.
Eric Silva struck out a career-high nine batters over his five-inning start on Saturday night.
GIANTS NOTES
Hitting Leaders: Vaun Brown finished 2-for-5 with a double, a home run and three RBI's to lead the way offensively for the Giants. Najee Gaskins was a perfect 3-for-3 with a double, a pair of singles and a walk. Grant McCray (2-for-5, 2B, RBI, SB) and Aeverson Arteaga (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI) also had multi-hit games.
Silva's Start: Eric Silva earned the win after striking out a career-high nine batters in his five innings. The right-hander allowed three runs (all earned) on five hits while issuing two walks. Silva is now tied with Landen Roupp for the team-lead in strikeouts (51).
Inside The Box Score: The Giants out-hit the Ports 11-6. San Jose hit five doubles. Stockton was 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Manuel Mercedes struck out four in his three scoreless innings with only one hit allowed.
Sellout Crowd: Saturday was San Jose's first sellout crowd of the season at Excite Ballpark.
First Half Race: The Giants (29-21) moved back to within three games of first-place Fresno (32-18) in the first half North Division race. 16 games remain in the half.
On Deck: The Giants and Ports conclude their six-game series on Sunday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 5:00 PM. Keaton Winn is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.
California League Stories from June 5, 2022
- Wright's Home Run Propels Giants to Series Victory - San Jose Giants
- Ports Drop Back-and-Forth Finale to Giants - Stockton Ports
- Brito, Fresno Settles for Series Split with Modesto - Fresno Grizzlies
- Quakes Win on "Kershaw Day" - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
- Fresno Grizzlies Game Notes at Modesto - Fresno Grizzlies
- Victor Juarez Shines, But Grizzlies Drop 4-3 Contest to Nuts - Fresno Grizzlies
- Giants Top Ports in Front of Sellout Crowd - San Jose Giants
- Comeback Falls Short, Ports Dropped in San Jose - Stockton Ports
- Storm Hang On, Take Three-Game Lead - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
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