CalL San Jose Giants

Murphy Flirts with No-No in 9â€Â"0 Rout of Ports

July 4, 2021 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


Ryan Murphy took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning and the San Jose Giants blasted four home runs on their way to a 9-0 victory over the Stockton Ports on Saturday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. Murphy struck out a career-high 12 batters during his dominant seven-inning start as the Giants posted their league-leading fifth shutout of the season. With the win, San Jose (36-17) has now claimed three of the first five games in the series against the Ports.

The Giants wasted no time jumping out to the early lead on Saturday as Carter Williams lined the first pitch of the game over the fence in deep right center for a home run.

San Jose though wasn't done in the opening frame as Casey Schmitt singled with one out before Marco Luciano stepped to the plate and launched a towering two-run home run to left. The 422-foot blast was Luciano's league-leading 14th home run of the season and it extended the lead to 3-0.

Then with two outs, Alex Canario joined the party as he belted a 434-foot solo home run to left. The homer was Canario's seventh of the year and it gave the Giants a 4-0 lead.

The early offensive support would be more than enough for Murphy, who was locked in on the mound from the beginning of his outing. The right-hander retired the first six batters he faced, including three via the strikeout. A full-count walk to Cooper Uhl opened the bottom of the third, but Murphy induced the next batter, Sahid Valenzuela, to ground into a double play.

San Jose then produced their second four-run rally of the game with Williams capping the top of the fourth with another big fly. The inning began with a Canario infield single. After Canario stole second, Fabian Pena was hit by a pitch. Then with one out, Jimmy Glowenke laced a double into the left center field gap to bring home Canario with the first run of the inning. Williams was up next and he lined a three-run home run to right - his second round-tripper of the game - to make it 8-0.

The only inning in which the Ports put a runner into scoring position against Murphy came in the bottom of the fourth. Brayan Buelvas led off by reaching second on a throwing error committed by Abdiel Layer at shortstop. Stockton though was unable to advance Buelvas as Murphy responded with three straight strikeouts of rehabbing major leaguer Stephen Piscotty, Lawrence Butler and Joshwan Wright to end the inning.

Murphy continued to cruise with a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth before striking out the side in a perfect sixth inning as the Ports remained without a hit.

The Giants scored their final run of the contest in the top of the seventh as Schmitt doubled to deep left with one out and scored on a Luciano single to stretch the lead to 9-0.

Murphy returned to the mound in the bottom of the seventh and promptly struck out Piscotty for the second time before Butler flied out to right. The no-hitter bid, however, would come to an end when Wright lined a single into shallow right that just eluded the diving Jairo Pomares. Murphy came right back to retire the next hitter, T.J. Schofield-Sam, on a groundout to end the inning and complete his outing.

Haydn King kept the Ports off the board in the eighth and ninth innings working around a single and a walk to seal the shutout. King fanned Butler with a runner at second - San Jose's 14th strikeout of the night - to finish the game.

GIANTS NOTES

Murphy's Gem

The seven innings pitched by Ryan Murphy on Saturday marked the longest start by a Giants hurler this season. His 12 strikeouts matched the most by a San Jose pitcher in 2021 (Carson Ragsdale - 12 strikeouts on May 28 vs. Lake Elsinore). Murphy, who allowed only one hit and issued one walk during his outing, retired 20 of the 23 batters he faced. Murphy is now second in Low-A West with 72 strikeouts this season (behind only Ragsdale's 82).

Williams Smacks Two Homers

Carter Williams (2-for-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI) had the first multi-homer game of his professional career to lead the offensive attack. Williams has now hit four home runs in three games played during the series in Stockton this week. He's batting .317 overall with San Jose this season (nine games). The first-inning blast was the Giants' second leadoff homer of the year (Abdiel Layer, May 22 at Fresno).

Hitting Standouts

In addition to Williams, Marco Luciano (2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI) and Alex Canario (2-for-4, HR, RBI) each homered as part of multi-hit games. Luciano has hit five home runs in his last six games. Casey Schmitt (2-for-5, 2B) and Jimmy Glowenke (2-for-3, 2B, RBI) also had multi-hit games. Jairo Pomares (1-for-4, 2B) extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a fifth-inning double. The Giants out-hit the Ports 11-2.

Banner Island Bash

With four more long balls on Saturday, the Giants have now hit 43 home runs in 17 games at Banner Island Ballpark this season (12-5 record).

Five Shutouts

The Giants' five shutouts this season are one more than the Modesto Nuts for the league lead. Two teams in the league (Stockton and Visalia) are still without a shutout this year.

On Deck

The Giants will go for the series victory in Stockton when the teams conclude their six-game set on Sunday evening. First pitch at Banner Island Ballpark is set for 6:30 PM. Wil Jensen is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.

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