CalL1 San Jose Giants

Rawhide Hand Giants Rare Series Loss

Published on May 20, 2012 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


VISALIA - The Visalia Rawhide overcame an early three-run deficit to defeat the San Jose Giants by a 7-5 score on Saturday evening at Recreation Park. Visalia tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the third before taking the lead for good after scoring twice in the sixth inning. With the defeat, San Jose suffered their first series loss since the final weekend of April.

Luke Anders (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) and Adam Duvall (2-for-4) had two hits apiece while Ricky Oropesa (1-for-3, 2B, 3 RBI) and Dan Burkhart (1- for-3, 2B, 2 RBI) each drove home a pair of runs to lead the Giants offensive attack.

San Jose jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning against Rawhide starting pitcher Jeff Shields. With two outs, Ryan Lollis and Duvall both singled to put runners on the corners. Oropesa then stepped to the plate and doubled off the fence in left to plate both runners.

Visalia immediately cut the lead in half with a single run in the bottom of the inning off Giants starter Shawn Sanford. Mike Freeman led off with a double, advanced to third on Garrett Weber's groundout and after Chris Owings drew a walk, Jon Griffin lifted a sacrifice fly to center plating the run.

San Jose moved in front by a 4-1 margin with two more runs in the top of the third inning. Duvall started the rally with a one-out single before Oropesa walked. Anders was up next and he ripped a double down the right field line as Duvall came home with the first run of the frame. After Jarrett Parker walked to load the bases, Burkhart hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.

Sanford though struggled through a three-run bottom of the third inning as the Rawhide tied the score. Three consecutive singles from Freeman, Weber and Owings loaded the bases with none out before Griffin lined an RBI single off the glove of second baseman Carter Jurica. Bobby Borchering then delivered a sacrifice fly to right and after Raywilly Gomez drew a walk, Keon Broxton grounded out to bring home Owings with the tying run.

Shields, who allowed seven hits over the first three innings, settled down to retire the Giants 1-2-3 in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames. The right-hander, who was making his California League debut after a promotion from Low-A South Bend, retired the last 11 batters that he faced before leaving the contest after six full innings.

Sanford worked a perfect bottom of the fourth before pitching around a one-out single in the fifth inning to keep the game tied. Visalia then took their first lead of the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Broxton singled before Chris Valencia lined a double down the left field line to score the go- ahead run. Valencia then advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on a Weber's two-out single.

San Jose's best opportunity to comeback late came in the top of the eighth inning. Still trailing 6-4, Anders singled with one out before Parker bounced into a fielder's choice for the second out of the inning. Burkhart then doubled into the right field corner plating Parker to bring the Giants to within a run. Jurica followed with a sharp single to right, however Burkhart, who was the potential tying run, was easily thrown out at the plate by the right fielder Borchering to end the inning.

The Rawhide got the run right back in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Chris Wilson as Broxton drew a leadoff walk before he moved to second on Valencia's sacrifice bunt. After a walk to Carter Bell, Freeman grounded into a fielder's choice for the second out, but Weber then stepped to the plate and lined an RBI single to left for a 7-5 advantage.

Patrick Schuster picked-up his first save of the season after he tossed a 1-2-3 top of the ninth inning to finish the game. Shields (1-0), who allowed four runs (all earned) on seven hits during his stint on the mound, earned the win.

Sanford (4-4) suffered the loss for the Giants after yielding six runs (all earned) on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings of work. He walked a season- high four and struck out one.

Notes: Visalia won two out of three games in the series ... San Jose had won five consecutive series' ... Their most recent series loss was when they were swept in a three-game set by the Rawhide from April 27-29 at Recreation Park ... Duvall and Lollis (1-for-5) each extended hitting streaks to eight games ... Visalia out-hit the Giants by an 11-10 margin ... Sanford hadn't walked more than one batter in a start this season prior to Saturday ... Edward Concepcion (1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) and Wilson (1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) both pitched out of the San Jose bullpen ... The Giants' overall record fell to 27-16 - 2 1/2 games ahead of the Bakersfield Blaze (24-18) for the top spot in the first half North Division race.

On Deck: The Giants continue their season-long nine-game road trip with the first of three straight contests against the Stockton Ports on Sunday afternoon at Banner Island Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 2:09 PM. Ryan Bradley (3-3, 3.57 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Ian Krol (0-3, 5.91 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com.

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California League Stories from May 20, 2012


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