Smith's Return Keys Giants Blowout Win
June 4, 2021 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release
Armani Smith returned from the injured list on Thursday night and knocked out four hits while driving home a pair of runs to highlight a convincing 9-1 victory over the Modesto Nuts at Excite Ballpark. Carson Ragsdale also delivered another outstanding start on the mound with 10 strikeouts over five scoreless innings as the Giants (17-10) won for the sixth time in their last seven games.
Smith, San Jose's leading hitter who hadn't played in three weeks due to a back injury, was in the middle of nearly all of the Giants' run-scoring rallies on Thursday. In the bottom of the first, Brett Auerbach drew a leadoff walk before Smith ripped a one-out line drive single into left to put runners on first and second. Ricardo Genoves then bounced an RBI single through the hole on the left side to give San Jose an early 1-0 lead.
The Giants then took control of the contest with two runs in the third before a three-run bottom of the fourth. Smith started the third-inning rally when he led off with a double into the left field corner. Smith then stole third easily before Genoves was hit by a pitch. After Marco Luciano struck out, Alex Canario stepped to the plate and lined a single into left center plating Smith with the first run of the frame. Then after Harrison Freed's single that loaded the bases, Jimmy Glowenke produced a sacrifice fly to right to make it 3-0.
San Jose kept the pressure on with a big bottom of the fourth. Auerbach again began a run-scoring rally with a walk before he swiped second for his team-leading eighth steal of the year. Two batters later, Smith lined a single into right to score Auerbach for a 4-0 advantage. The rally continued with a Genoves single before Luciano came up and blasted a triple to the right center field gap plating two more to stretch the lead to 6-0.
Meanwhile, Ragsdale breezed through his start as the right-hander retired 15 of the 18 Modesto batters that he faced. Ragsdale struck out two in a perfect top of the first before three more punchouts in the second as he worked around a one-out walk. In the third, Cesar Izturis Jr. led off with a double - the only hit off of Ragsdale - but the Nuts were unable to turn the extra-base hit into a run. Ragsdale fanned two more in a 1-2-3 fourth inning. Then in the fifth, following a leadoff walk, Ragsdale struck out two before inducing a fly out to right to put the finishing touches on his stellar start.
The Giants added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth before a single tally in the seventh capped their scoring for the night. In the sixth, consecutive one-out doubles from Genoves and Luciano produced the first run of the inning. Luciano would later score two batters later on Freed's single into right. Then in the seventh, back-to-back Modesto errors started the inning before Smith's fourth hit of the night - an RBI single into left - pushed the lead to 9-0.
Ty Weber (2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 SO), Jorge Labrador (1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) and Wilkelma Castillo (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 SO) all saw action out of the San Jose bullpen on Thursday. Modesto's only run of the night was an unearned tally off Labrador in the top of the eighth when an RBI groundout followed a two-base error.
Ragsdale and the trio of Giants relievers combined to strikeout 17 Nuts hitters.
GIANTS NOTES
Series Update
The Giants have now won two of the first three games in the series. San Jose has pulled to within one game of Modesto (18-9) for first place in the North Division.
Smith's Return
Armani Smith finished 4-for-5 at the plate with three singles, a double, two runs scored, two RBI's and a stolen base. It was his first game since May 13. Smith leads the Giants with a .394 batting average in nine games played this season.
Other Hitting Standouts
Ricardo Genoves (3-for-4, 2B, RBI) added three hits while Marco Luciano (2-for-5, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI) drove home three runs on his two extra-base hits. The exit velocities on Luciano's two hits were 109 MPH (fourth-inning triple) and 110 MPH (sixth-inning double). His 14 extra-base hits this season (eight doubles, one triple, five homers) rank second in Low-A West.
Inside The Box Score
The Giants out-hit the Nuts 13-4. San Jose was 8-for-22 (.364 AVG) with runners in scoring position compared to 0-for-5 for Modesto.
Ragsdale Rolling
Over his last three starts, Carson Ragsdale has struck out a whopping 31 batters compared to just three walks in 15 2/3 innings (1.72 ERA).
On Deck
The Giants and Nuts continue their series on Friday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 6:30 PM. Ryan Murphy is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.
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California League Stories from June 4, 2021
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