Quinn's Late Homer Vaults Giants into Wild Card Lead
August 25, 2019 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
Heath Quinn hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning to spark a 5-3 victory for the Giants over host Stockton on Saturday night at Banner Island Ballpark. The come-from-behind triumph was San Jose's third win in a row overall and vaulted the Giants into the wild card lead in the North Division with nine games remaining in the regular season.
San Jose was trailing for the majority of Saturday's contest before ultimately prevailing. Down 1-0 after four innings, the Giants briefly took the lead with a two-run rally in the top of the fifth. Dalton Combs led off with a single before Hamlet Marte worked a walk. Kyle McPherson then dropped down a sacrifice bunt advancing the runners to second and third. Sandro Fabian was up next and he hit a slow grounder to third. Combs attempted to score on the play, but was easily thrown out by third baseman Jonah Bride for the second out of the frame. Diego Rincones though followed with a line drive double into the left center field gap. The hit scored both Marte and Fabian to give San Jose a 2-1 advantage.
The lead, however, would be short-lived as Stockton responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth against Giants starter Aaron Phillips. Ryan Gridley led off with a single, stole second and scored the tying run on Bride's double into the right field corner. Two batters later, Jeremy Eierman grounded a single up the middle to bring home Bride giving the Ports a 3-2 lead.
Clay Helvey gave San Jose a terrific long relief outing on Saturday to keep the Giants within a run. Helvey entered the game in the bottom of the fifth with runners on first and second and one out and promptly induced Brallan Perez to ground into an inning-ending double play. Helvey returned to the mound in the sixth and tossed a quick 1-2-3 inning before pitching out of trouble in the bottom of the seventh. Back-to-back singles from Bride and Alfonso Rivas put runners on the corners with one out, but Eierman followed by grounding into an inning-ending double play to keep the score at 3-2.
Quinn's long ball in the top of the eighth then put San Jose ahead for good. Rincones led off the frame by drawing a walk, but was still at first base with two outs after David Villar and Courtney Hawkins were both set down. Quinn was up next and he crushed a 1-1 pitch from Ports reliever Trey Cochran-Gill over the fence in straightaway center field for a dramatic two-run home run. The homer was Quinn's third this season in the California League and it gave the Giants a 4-3 lead.
San Jose would tack on another run in the eighth as Manuel Geraldo followed Quinn's blast with a ringing double to deep left center. Following an intentional walk to Combs, Marte grounded a single into center to bring home Geraldo for a 5-3 advantage.
Patrick Ruotolo closed it out for the Giants with two hitless innings of relief retiring six of the seven batters he faced. Ruotolo issued a one-out walk to Perez in the bottom of the eighth to bring the tying run to the plate, but recovered to set down Lazaro Armenteros on a fly out and Robert Mullen on a groundout. Ruotolo then struck out Nico Giarratano and Gridley back-to-back to begin the bottom of the ninth before Bride popped out to first to finish the game.
Here is the final out:
GIANTS NOTES
Wild Card Leaders
Saturday's victory moved the Giants into the wild card lead in the North Division. San Jose (59-71) is now a half-game ahead of Stockton (58-71) while they remained a half-game in front of Modesto (59-72). It marks the first time in the second half that the Giants have held the top spot in the wild card race. San Jose's nine games remaining include six versus Stockton and three against Visalia.
Late Comeback
The Giants won for just the second time this season when trailing after seven innings (2-57).
Hitting Leaders
Heath Quinn (1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) snapped out of a 1-for-22 slump with his eighth-inning home run. Diego Rincones (2-for-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI) added two doubles. Kyle McPherson (1-for-3) extended his hitting streak to seven games.
In The "Pen
Clay Helvey (2 2/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) and Patrick Ruotolo (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO) combined to throw 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to finish the game. Helvey, who was credited with the win, was making only his second appearance with San Jose this season and first since April 10. He rejoined the team from Salem-Keizer (Short-Season level) on Thursday. Ruotolo collected his first save in the California League this year. Ruotolo had six saves for the Giants in 2018.
Three In A Row
The Giants secured their first three-game winning streak of August. San Jose had last won more than two in a row when they claimed four straight games from July 26-30.
On Deck
The Giants and Ports play game three of their four-game series on Sunday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark set for 6:10 PM. Matt Frisbee is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.
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California League Stories from August 25, 2019
- Quakes Rumble in Fifth Inning to Shake up Sixers 6-3 - Inland Empire 66ers
- Quakes Grab 42nd Road Victory - Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
- Snyder Homers Twice In Win Over Storm - Lancaster JetHawks
- Late Blast Sends Ports to 5-3 Loss - Stockton Ports
- Quinn's Late Homer Vaults Giants into Wild Card Lead - San Jose Giants
- Rizzo's Five Hits and Scheiner's Six RBIs Lead to 9-3 Win - Modesto Nuts
- JetHawks fall Saturday as Lake Elsinore scores in all nine innings - Lancaster JetHawks
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