CalL San Jose Giants

Playoff Bound: Giants Roll To 11-4 Victory, Clinch First Half North Division

June 16, 2023 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release


The San Jose Giants clinched the first half North Division title with an 11-4 victory over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on Thursday evening at Excite Ballpark. The Giants improved their record to a league-best 39-21 and have secured a berth in the postseason this September. San Jose earned a first half division crown for the first time since 2013 and have reached the playoffs in a fourth consecutive season.

The Giants will open the postseason on the road Tuesday, September 12 with Game 1 of best-of-three North Division Series against an opponent to be determined. San Jose is scheduled to host Games 2 and 3 of the playoff series on Thursday, September 14 and Friday, September 15 respectively (Game 3 if necessary). The winner of the North Division Series advances to the California League Championship Series.

In the clinching win, Thomas Gavello (1-for-2, HR, 2 RBI, 2 SB) hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth while Diego Velasquez (3-for-5, RBI) knocked out three hits to lead the way offensively. The Giants finished the night with 13 hits and overcame an early three-run deficit en route to the convincing victory. San Jose is now 13-4 in their last 17 contests and own a seven-game lead over Fresno in the North Division standings with only six to play in the first half.

The Giants trailed early on Thursday as Rancho Cucamonga rallied for three runs in the top of the first inning against Manuel Mercedes. Kyle Nevin started the game with a bloop single over first and advanced to second on the play when first baseman Zach Morgan mishandled the ball in shallow right for an error. Josue De Paula followed with a line drive RBI single into right center as Nevin scored the first run of the game. After a one-out walk to Thayron Liranzo and a wild pitch to advance the runners to second and third, Jorge Puerta hit a grounder to shortstop. On the play, De Paula broke for home and made it in safely ahead of the throw from shortstop Jose Ramos to make it 2-0. Rayne Doncon then extended the Quakes lead to 3-0 with an RBI groundout.

San Jose though immediately answered with two runs in the bottom of the first. With one out, Velasquez singled to start the rally. Onil Perez then grounded a single into left advancing Velasquez to second. Moments later as the play was ending, Rancho Cucamonga starting pitcher Jared Karros tossed the ball into the dugout before an umpire had a chance to signal "time out." The play resulted in a two-base throwing error, which allowed Velasquez to score while Perez was awarded third. Matt Higgins then came through with an RBI groundout plating Perez to bring the Giants within 3-2.

San Jose tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the third as Turner Hill and Velasquez each singled to put runners on the corners with none out before Perez hit a sacrifice fly to right.

Meanwhile, Mercedes settled in to throw three straight scoreless innings after the Quakes' three-run top of the first. Mercedes pitched four innings in his start yielding three runs (all earned) on four hits. The right-hander walked two and struck out two.

The Giants then took their first lead on Gavello's blast in the bottom of the fourth. Ramos started the inning with a single before Gavello stepped to the plate and launched a go-ahead two-run home run to right. The 377-foot shot, Gavello's team-leading eighth homer of the season, put San Jose in front by a 5-3 margin.

Sam Delaplane relieved Mercedes to begin the top of the fifth and fired two hitless innings out of the bullpen to maintain the two-run advantage. Delaplane worked around two walks and struck out two during his stint on the mound. The Giants then kept the pressure on with a two-run rally in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Ramos singled before Gavello was hit by a pitch. After a successful double steal, Morgan lined a single into center plating Ramos to make it 6-3.

Andrew Kachel was up next and during his at-bat, San Jose executed another double steal with Gavello coming home on the play for a 7-3 advantage. P.J. Hilson would also steal a bag later in the inning to give the Giants five stolen bases in the bottom of the sixth inning alone.

San Jose added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh with both tallies coming on fielding errors committed by the Quakes. Rancho Cucamonga got one back in the top of the eighth on Kenneth Betancourt's two-out RBI single as the Giants lead was trimmed to 9-4. However with the bases loaded and potential tying run in the on-deck circle, San Jose reliever Dylan Cumming induced Nevin to bounce into a force out to end the inning.

The Giants then completed the scoring for the night with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Hilson led off the inning with a double and scored on Velasquez's one-out single to make it 10-4. Then with two down, Higgins laced an RBI double into the left center gap for an 11-4 cushion.

Cumming closed out the victory for the Giants pitching around back-to-back two-out walks in the top of the ninth. The final out was recorded when Doncon hit a grounder to Gavello, who forced the runner at third base to end the game and spark a playoff-clinching celebration.

Delaplane (1-2) was credited with the win with Cumming, who pitched the final three innings and allowed only one run, collecting his team-leading sixth save.

Perez (2-for-4, RBI), Higgins (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI) and Ramos (2-for-5, SB) also had multi-hit games for San Jose. The Giants out-hit the Quakes 13-8. San Jose has now won two of the first three games in this week's series against South Division-leading Rancho Cucamonga.

The Giants continue their series against the Quakes on Friday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 7:00 PM. Reggie Crawford is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher. A spectacular fireworks show will follow the game and tickets can be purchased at sjgiants.com.

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