Ports Power Past Giants, 9-4
August 7, 2016 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
SAN JOSE, CA - Stockton's Mikey White hit a two-run home run in the top of the first before B.J. Boyd's fourth-inning grand slam broke the game open in the Ports' 9-4 victory over the San Jose Giants on Saturday evening at Municipal Stadium. Boyd's slam capped a five-run inning as Stockton built an 8-0 advantage and then cruised to the win. With the loss, the Giants (58-55) have now dropped two out of the first three games in the series to the Ports.
T.J. Bennett (4-for-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI) doubled and homered as part of a four-hit night to lead San Jose offensively in defeat.
Giants starter Jose Morel did not record an out in his outing as Stockton raced to the early lead. Morel began the game by issuing a four-pitch walk to James Harris. Harris then stole second before moving to third on a balk. White followed by crushing a two-run home run to left for a 2-0 Ports lead. Morel's struggles continued as Boyd then singled, stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Morel then walked Joe Bennie to prompt a pitching change. Dusten Knight was summoned from the bullpen with runners on the corners and none out and the San Jose reliever prevented further damage by registering back-to-back strikeouts of Sandber Pimentel and Jose Brizuela before Richie Martin flied out.
Stockton though added to their lead with a run in the top of the second against Knight. Seth Brown started the frame with a bloop double down the left field line. Two batters later, Harris lined a one-out RBI single into right to make the score 3-0.
Still trailing by three runs, the Giants threatened in the bottom of the third against Ports starter Brett Graves. Robbie Garvey reached on an error to leadoff before Ronnie Jebavy singled sharply into left. Following a sacrifice bunt from Rando Moreno, Dylan Davis drew a walk to load the bases. Graves though escaped as he struck out Jonah Arenado and retired Mitch Delfino on a groundout to end the inning.
Stockton then erupted for five runs in the top of the fourth to break the game open. With one out, Knight (3 1/3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) surrendered back-to-back singles to Brown and Argenis Raga before Harris walked to load the bases. Jeff Soptic was then brought into pitch, but he promptly walked White to force home a run. Boyd then stepped to the plate and launched a fly ball over the fence down the left field line for a grand slam. The home run, Boyd's seventh of the season, pushed the lead to 8-0.
San Jose broke through with their first run of the night in the bottom of the fourth. Consecutive singles from Miguel Gomez and Bennett put runners on the corners with none out and after a Rene Melendez strike out, Garvey lifted a sacrifice fly to left to make the score 8-1.
The Giants then scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to pull within 8-3. Gomez reached on an error to start the frame and immediately scored when the next batter, Bennett, hammered a double to deep left center. Melendez followed with a single down the left field line that scored Bennett with the second run of the inning. Ports reliever Victor Veliz though settled down and retired the next three hitters to keep the score at 8-3.
Soptic (3 2/3 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) settled down after his early struggles and kept Stockton off the scoreboard over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Soptic retired 11 out of the 12 batters he faced following the Boyd grand slam.
The Ports then plated a run in the top of the eighth against D.J. Snelten (1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) extending their lead to 9-3 as Richie Martin drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a two-out error.
Bennett capped the scoring for the night when he crushed a solo home run to deep right field in the bottom of the eighth to cut the Stockton lead to 9-4. The home run was Bennett's fourth this season.
Down by five runs, the Giants threatened in the bottom of the ninth as Moreno led off with a single before Arenado singled with one out. Delfino though grounded into a 6-3 double play to end the game.
Graves (7-8) earned the win after tossing five innings with one run allowed. The right-hander surrendered five hits, walked two and struck out three.
Morel (2-6) was charged with two runs during his brief start to take the loss. Morel threw only four out of his 17 pitches for strikes.
Notes - * Both teams finished with 10 hits. * San Jose left 10 runners on base and also hit into two double plays. * Bennett has three home runs over his last six games. He's batting .407 (22-for-54) in his last 15 games. * The Giants still own a 14-7 advantage over Stockton in the season series. * Morel is 0-3 with a 13.86 ERA (19 ER/12.1 IP) over his last four starts. Saturday's outing was the first time this season that a San Jose starting pitcher did not complete the first inning. * The Giants (19-24) remained four games behind Bakersfield (23-20) in the second half North Division race.
On Deck: The Giants and Ports conclude their four-game series on Sunday evening with first pitch at Municipal Stadium scheduled for 5:00 PM. Mark Reyes (8-5, 4.36 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with James Naile (1-0, 4.86 ERA). It's a KBAY's Giant Sunday at the ballpark and tickets can be purchased by calling (408) 297-1435 or by visiting sjgiants.com.
California League Stories from August 7, 2016
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