CalL1 San Jose Giants

Rawhide Take Series with 16-0 Rout of Giants

May 27, 2016 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


VISALIA, CA - The San Jose Giants tied a record for the largest margin of defeat in their team history with a 16-0 loss to the Visalia Rawhide on Thursday evening at Recreation Park. Visalia used an eight-run bottom of the second inning to take control of the game en route to the blowout victory. With the defeat, San Jose (27-18) drops two out of three games in the series.

Brandon Bednar (3-for-4) had three of the Giants' seven hits in the loss. San Jose, which was shutout for the fourth time this year, left 11 runners on base.

Dawel Lugo (3-for-5, 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI) homered twice and drove in five runs to lead the Rawhide onslaught.

Visalia jumped out early against Giants starter Jordan Johnson scoring once in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead. A walk to Chuck Taylor started the frame before Marty Herum singled. Domingo Leyba then hit a line drive off the fence in right to plate Taylor with the first run of the night. San Jose right fielder Steven Duggar though threw out Leyba at second on the play before Johnson recovered to set down the next two hitters to get out of the inning.

The Rawhide then exploded in the bottom of the second as the first eight batters of the inning reached base with all eight coming home to score. Lugo led off with a double before Henry Castillo singled to put runners on the corners. A walk to Oscar Hernandez loaded the bases with none out and then Johnson plunked Colin Bray with a 3-1 pitch to force home a run. Taylor was up next and he hit a slow roller into the hole at shortstop that was mishandled by Bednar for an error. One run scored on the play to make it 3-0 as the bases remained loaded. A walk to Herum then scored another run and ended Johnson's night.

Jose Morel (3 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO) entered from the bullpen, but promptly allowed an RBI single to Leyba to extend the Visalia lead to 5-0. Rudy Flores followed with a two-run single - the eighth straight Rawhide hitter to reach base - for a 7-0 cushion. Then with two outs, Hernandez delivered an two-run single to cap the second-inning scoring. The Rawhide sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second and scored eight runs on five hits to take a 9-0 lead.

Johnson (5-3) was saddled with the loss after allowing a career-high seven runs (six earned) on four hits over one-plus inning. He walked three and struck out one.

After Morel threw scoreless third and fourth frames, Visalia produced their second big inning of the night with a five-run bottom of the fifth. Facing Dusten Knight (1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO), a leadoff single from Herum and a one-out walk to Flores put two runners on base. Then with two down, Lugo crushed a home run over the fence in left center to make it 12-0. Castillo followed the home run with a double before Hernandez stepped to the plate and launched a fly ball over the fence down the left field line for another round-tripper. The five runs in the inning pushed the lead to 14-0.

Lugo delivered his second home run of the night - a two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh off of Jeff Soptic (2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) - to make it 16-0.

Rawhide starting pitcher Taylor Clarke (1-1) picked-up the win after tossing five scoreless innings with three hits allowed, two walks and three strikeouts.

Notes:

* Thursday was the third 16-run loss in the 29-year history of the San Jose Giants (most recently an 18-2 loss to Stockton on August 24, 2006).

* San Jose had allowed a total of just 14 runs in their previous six games before Visalia's 16-run outburst.

* The Giants have still not won a series at Recreation Park since April of 2013. San Jose is 2-7 against the Rawhide this season (1-5 at Rec Park).

* Johnson's outing was the shortest start by a Giants pitcher this season.

* Visalia out-hit San Jose 17-7. All seven Giants hits were singles.

* San Jose fell to 7-5 on their road trip with two games remaining.

On Deck: San Jose's season-high 14-game road trip concludes with two games in Modesto on Friday and Saturday at John Thurman Field. The opener of the home-and-home four-game series with the Nuts is scheduled to begin at 7:05 PM on Friday night. Mark Reyes (2-1, 4.74 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Modesto is expected to counter with Parker French (2-2, 2.43 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:35 PM.

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