CalL1 San Jose Giants

Mavericks Stun Giants with Ninth-Inning Rally

Published on July 19, 2016 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


ADELANTO, CA - High Desert's Josh Morgan hit a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Mavericks to a stunning 7-6 victory over the Giants on Monday evening at Heritage Field. Trailing 6-5 and down to their last strike, Morgan grounded a single into right field to plate the tying and winning runs as High Desert earned their second walk-off win of the series. San Jose (48-47) has now lost eight games in a row.

Morgan also beat the Giants in Saturday's series opener with a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth.

Jose Vizcaino, Jr. (2-for-3, HR, RBI) and Ehire Adrianza (1-for-3, HR, RBI) each homered while Cristian Paulino (2-for-4, 3B, 3 RBI) had two hits and drove in three runs to lead San Jose offensively in defeat.

Monday's back-and-forth affair saw the Giants build a 4-0 lead before the Mavericks erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth to move in front. San Jose though rallied as Vizcaino led off the top of the eighth with a solo home run to left. The homer, Vizcaino's seventh of the season, tied the game 5-5.

The Giants then reclaimed the lead with a run in the top of the ninth. With one out, Ronnie Jebavy reached safely on a throwing error committed by Morgan at third. Richard Rodriguez followed by grounding out to advance Jebavy to second. Miguel Gomez then stepped to the plate and grounded a single through the hole on the right side to score Jebavy with the go-ahead tally.

With San Jose ahead 6-5, Tyler Cyr was summoned from the bullpen to begin the bottom of the ninth. Cyr quickly retired Jairo Beras on a groundout, but then walked Travis Demeritte on a 3-2 pitch. Demeritte promptly stole second before Jose Trevino also walked on a full-count pitch. A wild pitch then advanced the runners to second and third. Cyr recovered to strikeout Luke Tendler bringing the Giants to within one out of victory. Morgan was up next and on a 2-2 pitch, he grounded a ball past the diving Gomez at second base and into right field. The single scored both Demeritte and Trevino giving the Mavericks a 7-6 victory.

Felix Carvallo (6-1) was credited with the win out of the High Desert bullpen despite allowing two runs (one earned) in his two innings of work.

Cyr (1-1) was saddled with his first loss in the California League.

The Giants jumped out early as Adrianza smacked a solo home run to straightaway center in the top of the first inning for a 1-0 lead. In the second, T.J. Bennett singled with two outs and scored when the next batter, Paulino, laced a triple into the right field corner.

San Jose extended their lead to 4-0 with a two-run top of the sixth. Vizcaino drew a walk to start the inning before Daniel Carbonell singled. A wild pick-off throw then moved the runners to second and third. After Bennett grounded out, Paulino lined a single into left scoring both Vizcaino and Carbonell for a 4-0 cushion.

Mark Reyes started on the mound for the Giants and began his night with five scoreless innings. Reyes stranded two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the first before using double plays to work through the second and third frames. Reyes then needed just eight pitches in both the fourth and fifth innings to keep the Mavericks off the scoreboard.

High Desert though broke through in the bottom of the sixth sending 11 batters to the plate in the inning en route to scoring five runs. Jose Cardona drew a leadoff walk before Beras doubled to deep right putting runners on second and third. Demeritte followed with a single to left plating Cardona with the first Mavericks run. Beras stopped at third on the hit while Demeritte took second when Paulino's throw from left sailed all the way home. Trevino then grounded a single up the middle to bring home both runners cutting the San Jose lead to 4-3. The rally continued with a single from Tendler before Morgan was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Reyes recovered to strikeout David Lyon, but was then removed from the game. Jeff Soptic entered from the bullpen, but plunked Michael De Leon with his first pitch to force home the tying run. Scott Heineman followed by grounding into a fielder's choice to third as Tendler was forced out at home, however Soptic then walked Cardona on five pitches bringing home the fifth run of the inning to give High Desert a 5-4 lead.

All five runs in the top of the sixth were charged to Reyes. The left-hander pitched 5 1/3 innings with five runs (all earned) and eight hits allowed. He walked two and struck out six.

Both teams were retired quickly in the seventh before Vizcaino's home run tied the game in the eighth to set the stage for the ninth-inning dramatics.

Notes: * The Giants have lost the first three games of the series against High Desert and fell to 0-7 on their road trip. * Adrianza's home run was the fourth of his rehabilitation assignment with San Jose. In seven games, Adrianza is 9-for-24 (.375 AVG) with four home runs and seven RBI's. * Cyr allowed his first runs since joining the Giants from Augusta (13 innings). * The Mavericks out-hit San Jose 11-8. * The Giants had only one walk-off loss for the entire season entering this series. * With Monday's outing, Soptic set a San Jose Giants record for career appearances (128). The previous record was held by Gary Sharko (127 appearances from 1989-1992). * San Jose's eight-game skid is their longest losing streak since dropping 10 straight from May 27-June 5, 2012. * The Giants are only one game above .500 for the first time since May 4 (13-12).

On Deck: The Giants will look to avoid a four-game sweep against the Mavericks when the teams conclude their series on Tuesday morning. First pitch at Heritage Field is scheduled for 10:35 AM. Jason Forjet (8-7, 5.05 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while High Desert is expected to counter with Collin Wiles (2-4, 4.72 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com.

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California League Stories from July 19, 2016


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