Late Rally Falls Short, Giants Lose 2-1
September 4, 2016 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
Visalia's Markus Solbach twirled seven shutout innings and the Rawhide held off a late Giants rally to earn a 2-1 victory over San Jose on Saturday evening at Municipal Stadium. The Giants scored once in the bottom of the eighth and had the potential tying run in scoring position in the ninth, but fell short in their comeback effort. The teams have now split the first two games of the series.
Solbach (5-2) allowed just three hits during his spectacular start to earn the win. The Visalia right-hander walked three and struck out five.
Rando Moreno (2-for-4, RBI) and Heath Quinn (2-for-4, 2B) had two hits apiece to lead San Jose in defeat. Robbie Garvey (1-for-1, 3B) added a triple and scored the Giants' only run of the contest.
The game was scoreless through the first four innings as San Jose starter Mark Reyes and Solbach matched zeros. Reyes escaped a bases loaded, two-out jam in the top of the fourth to keep the Rawhide off the board while Solbach surrendered just one hit - a Quinn single in the bottom of the fourth - over the first four frames.
Visalia finally broke through in the top of the fifth with an unearned run against Reyes. With one out, Colin Bray reached safely on a fielding error committed by T.J. Bennett at second base. Victor Reyes then grounded out advancing Bray to second. Trevor Mitsui was up next and he singled sharply down the right field line plating Bray with the first run of the evening.
Reyes finished his start with a scoreless top of the sixth pitching around a pair of singles, but Solbach continued to cruise for the Rawhide. Moreno led off the bottom of the sixth with a single, but Jonah Arenado flied out to right and Dylan Davis grounded into a double play to quickly end the inning.
Visalia then added to their lead with a run in the top of the seventh against reliever Wilson Santos (2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO). Bray was hit by a pitch to start the inning before Reyes reached on a bunt single. Mitsui's deep fly out to center then advanced Bray to third before Austin Byler grounded into a force out to second plating the run for a 2-0 Rawhide advantage.
Solbach returned to the mound in the bottom of the seventh and pitched around a two-out single from Aramis Garcia to maintain the two-run Visalia cushion.
The Giants though would breakup the shutout against Rawhide reliever Nick Baker in the bottom of the eighth. Garvey led off with a towering fly ball off the fence in right for a triple. After Ronnie Jebavy grounded out back to the mound, Moreno lined an RBI single into right to cut the Visalia lead in half. Baker though prevented further damage in the inning as he set down Arenado and Davis on consecutive pop outs.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Rawhide turned to their closer Gabriel Moya. Quinn led off for San Jose and drove the eighth pitch of his at-bat off the fence in deep right center for a double as the Giants put the potential tying run into scoring position. Miguel Gomez then tried to move Quinn to third, but his bunt attempt was fielded quickly by Byler at first base, who fired a perfect throw to third to cut down the lead runner. Gomez was safe at first on the fielder's choice and was removed from the game in favor of pinch-runner Cristian Paulino. Garcia was up next, but he struck out swinging on a pitch in the dirt. Paulino attempted to advance to second on the pitch, but catcher Michael Perez threw him out at second for a game-ending double play.
Moya was credited with his fifth save of the season.
Reyes (9-9) took the loss despite not allowing an earned run over six innings. The left-hander surrendered seven hits and one unearned run while issuing two walks and striking out two.
Notes - * The loss ensures the Giants (68-70) will not finish with a winning record this season. San Jose had posted a league-record 12 consecutive winning seasons dating back to 2004. * The Giants now need victories in their final two games to finish at .500 and avoid their first losing season since 2003. * Visalia out-hit San Jose 10-6 on Saturday. The Rawhide won despite going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and leaving 12 on base. * Quinn is 3-for-8 (.375 AVG) with a double in his first two games for San Jose. * Gomez's (0-for-4) hitting streak was snapped at eight games. * The Giants fell to 18-18 in one-run games this season (Visalia league-best 28-16).
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