Howell Sparks Giants To Second Straight Win Over Modesto
May 25, 2023 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release
Carter Howell hit a go-ahead three-run double and later added a solo homer to lead the San Jose Giants to a 6-5 win over the Modesto Nuts on Wednesday night at John Thurman Field. The Giants leadoff hitter drove in four of the club's six runs before San Jose held off Modesto late to secure their second straight victory to open the series. The Giants (26-15) have now won four out of their last last five games overall.
Howell (3-for-5, 2B, 4 RBI) finished a triple shy of the cycle and was the only San Jose player with a multi-hit game on Wednesday. With three hits, Howell raised his season batting average to a team-leading .335. The Giants bullpen also continued to shine in the series as relievers Dylan Cumming and Nomar Medina maintained the lead over the middle and late innings with excellent work on the mound.
San Jose trailed early in the contest as the Nuts struck for a pair of runs in the bottom of the second against Giants starter Hayden Wynja. A Wynja error allowed the leadoff hitter in the frame to reach safely before an Andrew Miller single and a balk put runners on second and third. Milkar Perez then hit a sacrifice fly to bring home the first run of the night. After Freuddy Batista worked a walk and Miguel Perez singled to load the bases, Edryn Rodriguez produced an RBI single to make it 2-0. Wynja though would settle down and prevent further damage as he registered consecutive strikeouts of the next two hitters, top Mariners prospects Cole Young and Gabriel Gonzalez, to end the inning.
San Jose then erupted for four runs in the top of the third, highlighted by Howell's first big hit of the game, to take the lead. A walk to Tanner O'Tremba started the rally before back-to-back singles from Dilan Rosario and P.J. Hilson loaded the bases with none out. Howell was up next and he smacked a double to left that cleared the bases as O'Tremba, Rosario and Hilson all scored to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. Diego Velasquez followed with a sacrifice fly to plate the fourth run of the inning.
Modesto immediately got one run back in the bottom of the third when Gabe Moncada led off with a solo homer to right before Wynja set down the next three hitters. Wynja pitched three innings in his start yielding three runs (two earned) on five hits. He walked two and struck out five.
Cumming entered from the bullpen to begin the bottom of the fourth and tossed two hitless innings to maintain the one-run lead. Cumming pitched around two walks while picking-up one strikeout during his relief stint.
After Medina breezed through a quick bottom of the sixth, San Jose extended their lead with two runs in the seventh. The first tally of the inning came when Howell launched a one-out solo home run to left. It was his third round-tripper of the season and second of the current road trip. Velasquez then singled, stole second and scored on an Onil Perez two-out double to make it 6-3.
Medina would then pitch around leadoff singles in both the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings before returning to the mound in the ninth. With the lead still at three runs, the inning began with a triple from Miguel Perez before Rodriguez drew a walk. Young was up next and his groundout to shortstop plated Perez to bring the Nuts within 6-4. Gonzalez followed with an RBI single as the Giants advantage was trimmed to 6-5. However with the potential tying run at first base, Medina settled back in and set down Moncada on a fly out to center and Josh Hood on a groundout to shortstop to seal the San Jose victory.
Cumming (3-1) was credited with the win for the Giants with Medina notching his second save of the year after pitching the final four innings. Medina surrendered two runs during his piggyback relief appearance with one walk and three strikeouts.
Modesto out-hit San Jose 10-7. With the win, the Giants improved to 10-4 against the Nuts this season, including an impressive 6-2 mark at John Thurman Field.
2022 San Francisco Giants first round pick Reggie Crawford made his San Jose debut on Wednesday. Crawford, a two-way player, started at DH and went 0-for-3.
The first-place Giants are now five games ahead of Fresno and six games in front of Modesto in the first half North Division race.
The Giants and Nuts continue their series on Thursday evening with first pitch at John Thurman Field set for 7:05 PM. Hayden Birdsong is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.
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