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CalL1 San Jose Giants

Late Home Run Lifts Giants to 4-3 Victory

September 5, 2010 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


Johnny Monell hit a tiebreaking solo home run leading off the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the San Jose Giants to a 4-3 win over the Visalia Rawhide on Sunday evening at Municipal Stadium. The victory improves San Jose's overall record to 75-64 with one game remaining in the regular season and clinches home field advantage in the North Division Series. The Giants will host Games One, Two and Five (if necessary) of the best-of-five North Division Series beginning on Saturday.

Monell (3-for-3, 3B, HR, 2 RBI) finished a double shy of the cycle and reached base in all four plate appearances to lead a 10-hit Giants offensive attack. Francisco Peguero (3-for-4, 2B, 3B) also extended his hitting streak to 19 games - the longest for a San Jose player this season.

Ryan Verdugo (4-0) picked-up the win after tossing two scoreless innings to finish the game. Verdugo stranded the potential go-ahead run in scoring position in the eighth before working a 1-2-3 ninth to seal the victory. The left-hander allowed two hits with no walks and four strikeouts.

The Giants owned a 3-1 lead after five innings before Visalia rallied with single runs in the sixth and seventh against reliever Ben Wilshire (2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO). In the top of the sixth, Marc Krauss led off with a double to deep left before Paul Goldschmidt singled. Josh Ford then bounced into a 6-4-3 double play as Krauss came home to cut the San Jose lead in half.

In the seventh, Wilshire quickly set down the first two hitters before Gerson Montilla singled to center and Niko Gallego blooped a single down the right field line to put runners at first and third. Then with Alfredo Marte at the plate, Wilshire slipped on the pitcher's mound during his delivery and was called for a balk as Montilla scored the tying run. Wilshire recovered to retire Marte on a pop out ending the inning.

Verdugo entered the contest to begin the top of the eighth and surrendered consecutive one-out singles to Goldschmidt and Ford as the Rawhide put runners on first and second. However, Verdugo responded with back-to-back strikeouts of Kyle Greene and Matt Davidson to keep the score tied.

In the bottom of the eighth, Monell led off for the Giants and hammered a 2-0 pitch from Visalia reliever Billy Spottiswood over the fence in deep left center field for a solo homer.

Verdugo returned to the mound in the ninth and struck out pinch-hitter Brent Greer before Montilla popped out to first and Gallego flied out to center.

Spottiswood (6-6) allowed only one run in three innings, but suffered the loss out of the Rawhide bullpen.

San Jose took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Peguero smacked the first pitch of the inning to deep right center field for a triple. Two batters later, Peguero scored on Jose Flores' groundout.

The Giants moved in front by a 2-0 margin in the bottom of the third as Flores singled with two outs before Monell clubbed a triple to the gap in right center.

Goldschmidt cut the San Jose advantage to 2-1 with a towering solo homer to left center in the top of the fourth before the Giants moved back in front by two runs in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Juan Perez doubled off the fence in left center, advanced to third on Flores' groundout and then scored on a wild pitch.

Justin Fitzgerald started on the mound for San Jose and tossed five effective innings with one run and four hits allowed. Fitzgerald struck out four and walked three during his 74-pitch performance. He induced inning-ending double plays in the second and third frames before pitching around a pair of one-out singles in the fifth.

Notes: The Giants will finish with the best overall record in the North Division for the third consecutive season and fifth time in the last six years ... Peguero's 19-game hitting streak is tied for the fourth longest in team history (Tim Garland - 1996, Todd Jennings - 2005, Nate Schierholtz - 2005) ... He's batting .636 (14-for-22) over his last five games ... Verdugo lowered his ERA to 1.47 ... He's struck out 44 over 30 2/3 innings with San Jose ... Monell has homered in back- to-back games since returning from Triple-A Fresno ... Both clubs finished with 10 hits ... Visalia (72-67) is tied with the Modesto Nuts (72-67) for the wild card lead in the North Division ... Sunday's attendance was 3,047 increasing San Jose's season total to 199,285 (second in the California League).

On Deck: The Giants conclude the regular season on Monday afternoon with the finale of their four-game series against the Visalia Rawhide. First pitch at Municipal Stadium is scheduled for 2:00 PM. Jorge Bucardo (2-2, 4.41 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Pat Corbin (5-4, 3.13 ERA). Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling (408) 297-1435 or by visiting www.sjgiants.com.

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