Marte Masterful In 8-2 Win, Giants Complete Sweep
July 29, 2019 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
The Giants put the finishing touches on their best road trip of the season with an 8-2 victory over the Modesto Nuts on Sunday evening at John Thurman Field. Jose Marte had a masterful start on the mound tossing six scoreless innings while San Jose pounded out 13 hits at the plate in the convincing win. The Giants completed a sweep of the three-game series, went 5-1 on their road trip and have now won nine of their last 11 games overall.
Marte struck out a season-high eight and allowed just two hits with one walk during his outing to pick-up the win. He retired 16 of the 19 batters he faced.
Sunday's contest was scoreless through three innings until San Jose broke through with a four-run top of the fourth taking advantage of three Nuts errors in the frame. Manuel Geraldo started the inning with a grounder to third that was misplayed by Joe Rizzo for the first error. Geraldo then attempted to steal second, but was picked-off by pitcher Steven Moyers. However, first baseman Eugene Helder threw wildly down to second for another error allowing Geraldo to make it safely into third. Moments later, Heliot Ramos laced a double into the left field corner to plate Geraldo with the first run of the inning. After Ramos stole third with one out, David Villar hit a slow grounder to third that again was mishandled by Rizzo for an error. Ramos scored on the play while Villar was credited with an RBI. Three straight hits followed to extend the Giants lead. Courtney Hawkins singled to put runners on first and second before Sandro Fabian brought home another run with a single. Heath Quinn followed with an RBI single of his own to make it 4-0.
San Jose stretched their lead to 6-0 with two more runs in the top of the sixth. Joey Bart led off with a towering home run to left center - his 12th round-tripper of the year. Two batters later, Hawkins drilled a double into the left center gap and then scored on a Quinn two-out single.
Meanwhile, Marte cruised through his start keeping Modesto off the board over the first six innings. The Nuts had an opportunity to take the early lead in the bottom of the second when Jake Scheiner led off with a double, but Marte came back to strikeout the next three hitters. Marte worked a perfect bottom of the third and then pitched around a leadoff walk to Jarred Kelenic in the fourth when Bart threw out the runner at second attempting to steal. Marte struck out two more batters in a 1-2-3 fifth inning. In the sixth, Johnny Adams singled with one out - the Nuts' first hit since the second - but was erased when Joseph Rosa grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Modesto scratched across a single run in the bottom of the seventh without the benefit of a hit before the Giants scored single tallies in the eighth and ninth innings. In the top of the eighth, Villar walked with one out, moved to second on a wild pitch, took third on a Hawkins single and scored when Fabian hit a sacrifice fly to deep center. San Jose scored their eighth and final run of the night when Brandon Van Horn doubled with one out in the top of the ninth and came home on a Geraldo single.
The Nuts plated a run in the bottom of the ninth on a Scheiner two-out RBI triple to bring the final margin to 8-2.
Jose Marte fired six scoreless innings with two hits allowed and eight strikeouts in Sunday's win
GIANTS NOTES
Series Sweep
The Giants outscored Modesto 22-9 during the three-game sweep. San Jose didn't trail in a game at any point during the series. It was the Giants' first sweep since May 13-16 vs. Inland Empire and their first road sweep since April 8-10 at Stockton.
Marte Rolling
Jose Marte is 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA (3 ER/16.0 IP) over his last three starts.
Inside The Box Score
The Giants out-hit the Nuts 13-4. San Jose was 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position compared to 0-for-4 for Modesto. The Nuts committed four errors.
Hitting Leaders
Heath Quinn (3-for-4, 2 RBI) and Courtney Hawkins (3-for-4, 2B) had three hits apiece for the Giants. Quinn extended his hitting streak to nine games.
Bart's Bomb
Joey Bart (2-for-5, HR, RBI) has now hit six homers in his last 13 games. Bart's 12 home runs this season is tied with Heliot Ramos for the team lead.
Winning Ways
The Giants have won five straight series' posting an 11-4 record during the stretch. San Jose had been just 5-13 in their previous 18 road games prior to the just-completed 5-1 trip. The Giants (20-18) remained one game behind first-place Visalia (21-17) in the second half North Division race.
On Deck
Following an off day, the Giants return to Excite Ballpark on Tuesday night for a brief three-game homestand against the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres affiliate). Sean Hjelle is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher for the series opener (7:00 PM first pitch).
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California League Stories from July 29, 2019
- Marte Masterful In 8-2 Win, Giants Complete Sweep - San Jose Giants
- Inland Empire Opens Series at Lake Elsinore with Ten-Inning Loss - Inland Empire 66ers
- Sixers Play Third Consecutive Extra-Inning Game, Fall to Storm - Inland Empire 66ers
- 66ers Battle in Fourth Straight Extra-Inning Game, Get Swept by Storm - Inland Empire 66ers
- Toros Defeat El Viento de Lancaster 4-1 and Take the Three-Game Series - Visalia Rawhide
- Rawhide take rubber game, 4-1, at Recreation Ballpark - Lancaster JetHawks
- Nuts Swept with 8-2 Loss - Modesto Nuts
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