Surging Giants Shutout Rawhide
July 25, 2019 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
Sean Hjelle had another masterful start, Joey Bart and David Villar hit back-to-back home runs and the Giants remained hot with a 4-0 win over the host Visalia Rawhide on Wednesday night. The victory was San Jose's sixth in their last seven games overall and moved the club back to .500 in the second half (17-17). The Giants clinched a series win over Visalia and pulled to within one game of the Rawhide (18-16) for first place in the North Division race.
Hjelle twirled a gem on the mound as the right-hander allowed only two hits over six scoreless innings to pick-up the win. Hjelle worked around three walks, struck out four and induced 11 groundouts during his outing. John Gavin (2 IP) and Camilo Doval (1 IP) would then combine on three scoreless innings of relief to close out Visalia.
Offensively, the Giants were held without a hit over the first four innings by Rawhide ace Jeff Bain before taking advantage of two errors in the top of the fifth to move in front. Villar led off the frame with a shallow fly ball that was dropped by right fielder Jorge Perez for a two-base error. Courtney Hawkins then hit a grounder to shortstop that Jancarlos Cintron misplayed for another error. With runners at the corners, Bain came back to record consecutive strikeouts of Dalton Combs and Heath Quinn, but Brandon Van Horn followed with a line drive into the left field corner for a double. The hit scored Villar with the first run of the night although Hawkins was thrown out at the plate on the play to end the inning.
Another Visalia error keyed a sixth-inning run-scoring rally for San Jose. With one out, Manuel Geraldo singled before taking second on a wild pick-off throw to first from Bain. Moments later, Sandro Fabian lined a single into left center plating Geraldo for a 2-0 Giants advantage.
Meanwhile, Hjelle managed to keep the Rawhide off the board throughout his excellent start. Visalia's first hit didn't come until Eduardo Diaz's leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth, but the baserunner was immediately erased on a double play. In the fifth, Joe Gillette tripled off the fence in deep left center, but was stranded when Hjelle set down the next hitter, Ryan Grotjohn, on a line out to left. With San Jose ahead by two runs, Hjelle returned to the mound in the bottom of the sixth and issued a leadoff walk before hitting a batter with one out. A groundout then moved the runners to second and third, however Hjelle escaped when he retired Luis Basabe on a comebacker to end the inning.
Gavin took over out of the bullpen to begin the bottom of the seventh and issued a leadoff walk to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Gavin though recovered to strikeout the next two hitters before inducing a fly out to retire the side.
The Giants then went back-to-back in the top of the eighth to pad their lead. With two outs and the bases empty, Bart clobbered a 3-0 pitch from Visalia reliever Mack Lemieux over the wall down the left field line for a solo homer. Villar then came up and also crushed a 3-0 pitch to deep left for a homer as San Jose extended their lead to four runs.
Gavin then needed only seven pitches to breeze through a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth before Doval pitched around a pair of two-out walks in the ninth to seal the victory.
GIANTS NOTES
Surging Giants
San Jose is 8-3 in their last 11 games overall and have won four straight series' for the first time this season. The Giants are back at .500 in the second half for the first time since July 1 (6-6 record). San Jose has also won only their second series at Visalia's Recreation Park in the last six seasons (2014-19).
Hjelle's Gem
Sean Hjelle lowered his season ERA to 2.54 in 12 starts with San Jose. He's allowed two earned runs or fewer in 10 of his 12 starts.
Hitting Streak Extended
Sandro Fabian (1-for-4, RBI) extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his sixth-inning RBI single. It's the second-longest hit streak by a Giants player this season (Logan Baldwin 11 games).
Back-To-Back
Joey Bart and David Villar became the second pair of Giants to hit back-to-back homers this season. Fabian and Heath Quinn also accomplished the feat on July 13 at Lancaster. Bart's homer was his 10th of the year while Villar hit his seventh.
On Deck
The Giants will look to sweep Visalia when the teams conclude their three-game set on Thursday night. First pitch at Recreation Park is at 7:00 PM with Aaron Phillips scheduled to make the start on the mound.
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