CalL1 San Jose Giants

Hawkins Homers Twice, Giants Roll Past Rawhide 11-3

Published on August 14, 2019 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


The Giants opened a crucial three-game series at first-place Visalia with a convincing 11-3 win over the Rawhide on Tuesday night at Recreation Park. San Jose used a pair of four-run innings to race past Visalia while a trio of Giants pitchers combined to record 14 strikeouts in a dominant effort on the mound.

Courtney Hawkins homered twice and drove in four to lead the San Jose offensive attack. Diego Rincones and Heath Quinn added three hits apiece while Brandon Van Horn delivered a key two-out, three-run double.

Hawkins' first homer of the night was a line drive solo shot down the left field line to give the Giants an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second. However, a Hawkins throwing error in center field in the bottom of the frame allowed two runs to score putting Visalia in front. With runners on first and second and one out, Yoel Yanqui hit a fly ball that dropped into shallow left center for a single. Hawkins quickly picked-up the ball and made a hurried throw to third in an attempt to force out the lead runner, but skipped the throw past third and into the Rawhide dugout. Two runs were awarded to Visalia with the ball out of play to give the Rawhide a 2-1 lead.

San Jose though immediately answered with a four-run top of the third and never looked back. Three straight singles from Manuel Geraldo, Quinn and Rincones to start the inning produced the first run to tie the game. Then with one out, Hawkins stepped to the plate and launched a towering fly ball over the fence in left center for a go-ahead three-run homer. Hawkins' second home run of the game gave the Giants a 5-2 lead.

Listen to Hawkins' second round-tripper:

Visalia got a run back in the bottom of the third on an Alek Thomas solo homer, but the Rawhide would get no closer. San Jose erupted for their second four-run inning of the game with a long rally in the top of the fifth. Rincones led off with a single before consecutive one-out walks to Hawkins and Sandro Fabian loaded the bases. Combs then battled back from an 0-2 count to also work a walk bringing home Rincones for a 6-3 advantage. Following a Hamlet Marte strikeout for the second out of the inning, Van Horn came up and laced a double to the fence in right center. The clutch hit cleared the bases as Hawkins, Fabian and Combs all scored to make it 9-3 Giants.

Here is the highlight of Van Horn's three-run double:

Meanwhile, Aaron Phillips provided an excellent start for San Jose. The right-hander set down the Rawhide 1-2-3 in the fourth and fifth innings. He had retired nine straight Visalia hitters until giving up back-to-back two-out singles in the bottom of the sixth. John Gavin though entered and promptly recorded a strikeout to end the inning.

The Giants added single tallies in the seventh and ninth innings to complete the scoring on Tuesday. In the top of the seventh, Combs walked and Marte singled to put runners on the corners. A Geraldo sacrifice fly then brought home the 10th San Jose run of the night. In the ninth, Fabian led off with a triple off the fence in left center and scored on a Combs sacrifice fly to stretch the lead to 11-3.

Gavin and Camilo Doval combined to allow just one hit over the final three innings to close out the Rawhide.

GIANTS NOTES

Multi-Homer Game

Courtney Hawkins (2-for-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI) had his second multi-homer game of the season. He also hit two home runs on June 7 at Stockton. Hawkins' 12 home runs this season are one behind Heliot Ramos for the team lead.

Dazzling Debut

Diego Rincones went 3-for-5 with three singles and an RBI in his San Jose debut on Tuesday, Rincones started in left field and batted third in the order. The 20-year old was added to the Giants roster from Class-A Augusta on Monday. Rincones was leading the GreenJackets with a .295 batting average at the time of his promotion.

On The Mound

Aaron Phillips (7-7) picked-up the win after pitching 5 2/3 strong innings with one earned run allowed (three runs total). He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out seven. John Gavin fanned six over 2 1/3 scoreless innings before Camilo Doval (1 IP, 0 R, 1 SO) worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth.

Versus The Rawhide

The Giants are only 8-15 against Visalia this season, but have now won three of the last four meetings between the teams.

Roster Moves

Additional roster moves for the Giants included relief pitcher Patrick Ruotolo rejoining the club after completing a rehab assignment in the Arizona Rookie League. Ruotolo, who fashioned a 1.47 ERA and had six saves in 14 appearances with San Jose last season before a promotion to Double-A Richmond, is returning from Tommy John surgery. Pitcher Luis Amaya was placed on the injured list while catcher Matt Malkin returned to the Arizona Rookie League after playing only one game with the Giants.

Hitting Streaks

Sandro Fabian (1-for-4, 3B) extended his hitting streak to eight games with his ninth-inning triple. Dalton Combs' (0-for-2, 2 BB, RBI) saw his hitting streak snapped at nine games.

Playoff Race

The Giants (55-65) moved to within a 1/2 game of Stockton (55-64) for the second-best overall record in the North Division with 19 to play in the regular season.

On Deck

The Giants and Rawhide play the middle game of their series on Wednesday evening with first pitch at Recreation Park set for 7:00 PM. Matt Frisbee is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.

Check out the San Jose Giants Statistics

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