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CalL San Jose Giants

Ninth-Inning Rally Propels Giants to Comeback Win

May 26, 2022 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


The San Jose Giants scored three runs in a dramatic ninth-inning rally Wednesday night on their way to a come-from-behind 7-6 victory over the Modesto Nuts at John Thurman Field. Victor Bericoto hit a game-tying RBI double with San Jose down to their final out before Grant McCray's pinch-hit RBI triple gave the Giants their first lead of the contest. The win snapped San Jose's (25-16) three-game skid and was their first victory this season when trailing after eight innings.

Wednesday's game actually saw the Giants rally twice as the club came back from 4-0 down to tie the game before the ninth-inning comeback put San Jose over the top.

Modesto scored twice in both the second and fourth innings to build a 4-0 cushion. Three straight singles from Robert Perez Jr., Ben Ramirez and Walking Cabrera off of Giants starter Keaton Winn produced the first run of the evening. Brett Rodriguez's two-out RBI single then made it 2-0. Two innings later, a leadoff HBP, a one-out single from Cabrera and then an RBI groundout off the bat of Randy Bednar extended the lead to 3-0. Then with reliever Evan Gates on the mound, a wild pitch with a runner at third base stretched the Nuts lead to 4-0.

Modesto starting pitcher Michael Morales began his outing with 4 2/3 scoreless innings before San Jose would breakthrough in the top of the fifth. After the first two batters of the inning were retired, Alexander Suarez beat out a grounder to third for an infield single. Vaun Brown then hit a sharp liner into center that eluded the diving Jonatan Clase. As the ball rolled towards the warning track, Suarez raced around third and scored the first Giants run with Brown moving into third with an RBI triple.

San Jose pulled to within 4-2 when Adrian Sugastey led off the top of the sixth with a home run to deep left center. The 418-foot blast was Sugastey's third homer of the season.

The Giants then tied the game with a two-run rally in the top of the seventh. With one out, Brown singled and then stole second. Aeverson Arteaga was up next and he blooped a single into shallow right advancing Brown to third. It was San Jose's first hit in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position on the night. Sugastey followed with an RBI single into center as Brown scored to trim the deficit to 4-3. Riley Mahan, who was making his Giants debut on Wednesday, then grounded a single through the hole on the right side plating Arteaga to tie the game 4-4.

Meanwhile, Esmerlin Vinicio worked in long relief for San Jose and put up quick zeros in the sixth and seventh innings on a total of only 14 pitches. With the score still tied, Vinicio set down the first two batters of the bottom of the eighth. However, a walk to Perez Jr. kept the inning alive for Modesto and Ramirez followed with a line drive two-run home run down the right field line. The blast was Ramirez's fourth homer of the year and it gave the Nuts back the lead at 6-4.

Needing to rally again, the Giants were up to the challenge in the top of the ninth. A full-count walk to Brown started the decisive ninth inning. Arteaga then stepped to the plate and blasted a triple into the left center field gap as Brown scored to bring San Jose to within 6-5. With the potential tying run at third base, Modesto reliever Andrew Moore recovered to strikeout Sugastey on three pitches before Mahan also fanned for the second out. Bericoto though was next and on a 2-1 pitch, he hammered a deep fly ball off the fence in right for a double as Arteaga scored to dramatically tie the game 6-6. McCray was then summoned to pinch-hit and he followed with a sharp grounder down the right field line for a triple as Bericoto easily scored from second giving the Giants their first lead of the night at 7-6. All three San Jose hits in the top of the ninth inning went for extra bases and drove in runs: one double and two triples.

Jose Cruz then entered from the bullpen to begin the bottom of the ninth and made quick work of Modesto tossing a 1-2-3 frame for the save. Cruz struck out Bednar to start the inning, retired Rodriguez on a fly out to right and then struck out pinch-hitter Ty Duvall ending the game.

GIANTS NOTES

Ninth-Inning Comeback: The Giants had been 0-13 this season when trailing after eight innings prior to Wednesday's come-from-behind victory.

Triple X3: San Jose's three triples were a season-high. Grant McCray's triple was his fifth of the season - tied for the California League lead.

Hitting Leaders: Vaun Brown (3-for-4, 2B, 3B, RBI, SB) finished a home run shy of the cycle and also stole his team-leading 14th base of the season. Adrian Sugastey (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI) extended his hitting streak to nine games. Victor Bericoto (2-for-3, 2 2B, RBI) and Aeverson Arteaga (2-for-5, 3B, RBI) also produced multi-hit games.

Mahan Debuts: Riley Mahan was added to San Jose's roster before the game on Wednesday after signing with San Francisco last week out of the independent Atlantic League. Mahan is a former third round pick of the Marlins and played in the Miami farm system from 2017-21. He started at second base and hit fourth on Wednesday in his Giants organization debut and went 2-for-5 with a pair of singles, an RBI and a stolen base.

On The Mound: Keaton Winn was charged with four runs (all earned) on six hits over 3 2/3 innings in his start. He walked one and struck out three. Evan Gates pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings of relief before Esmerlin Vinicio worked the next three innings with two runs surrendered. The only hit allowed by Vinicio was the eighth-inning two-run homer. Jose Cruz was credited with his second save of the year. Cruz has now struck out 12 of the last 13 batters he's faced spanning his last four relief appearances.

Road Trip Update: The Giants improved to 4-4 on their current road trip (3-3 at Inland Empire, 1-1 at Modesto).

On Deck: The Giants and Nuts play the third game of their series on Thursday evening with first pitch at John Thurman Field set for 7:05 PM. Will Bednar is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.

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