Surging Giants Top Rawhide, Continue Push In First Half Race
June 9, 2023 - California League (CalL)
San Jose Giants News Release
The San Jose Giants won for the ninth time in their last 11 games with a 6-4 victory over the Visalia Rawhide on Thursday evening at Valley Strong Ballpark. Anthony Rodriguez hit a tiebreaking two-RBI double in the top of the seventh that put the Giants ahead for good en route to their third straight win in the series against Visalia. The victory also increased San Jose's (35-19) lead to eight games in the first half North Division race with only 12 to play.
Thomas Gavello (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) had a multi-hit game for the Giants while Matt Higgins (1-for-5, HR, RBI) smacked his seventh home run of the season. Jose Ramos (1-for-4, 2B, 3 SB) also doubled and stole three bases in Thursday's triumph.
On the mound, Gerelmi Maldonado dazzled in his start firing four scoreless innings with only one hit allowed. Maldonado, who retired 12 of the 14 batters he faced, walked one and struck out three. After San Jose took the lead in the top of the seventh, Sam Delaplane, Will Kempner and Tyler Vogel combined to throw scoreless innings out of the bullpen to seal the victory.
The Giants built a 4-0 lead over the Rawhide with single runs in the first and second innings before a two-run top of the fifth. Higgins opened the scoring with a solo shot to right center in the top of the first. An inning later, Ramos reached on an error with one out, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. Then in the fifth, Andrew Kachel would score the first run of the inning on an error before Gavello's two-out RBI double to center stretched the lead to 4-0.
Visalia, however, responded with two runs in both of the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game. With San Jose reliever Cameron Cotter on the mound, Alvin Guzman and Danyer Sanabria belted solo homers in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Giants lead in half. Then in the bottom of the sixth, Manuel Pena led off with a single before Christian Cerda reached on an error to put the potential tying runs on base with none out. David Martin followed with a sacrifice fly to bring home Pena before Gavin Conticello's double plated Cerda to tie the game at 4-4. Cotter though kept the Rawhide from the taking the lead when he set down the next two hitters to strand Conticello in scoring position.
The Giants then immediately answered with two runs in the top of the seventh to move back in front for good. An error allowed Turner Hill to reach safely with one out to start the rally before Gavello singled to put runners on first and second. After Higgins struck out, Rodriguez stepped to the plate and delivered a clutch double to right plating both Hill and Gavello for a 6-4 lead.
From there, the San Jose bullpen took over as Delaplane, Kempner and Vogel each worked a scoreless inning to close out the victory. Delaplane breezed through a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh inducing a pair of groundouts before collecting a strikeout. Kempner pitched the bottom of the eighth striking out two in a perfect inning of work. Then in the ninth, Vogel came on and after allowing a leadoff single to Conticello, induced Guzman to ground into a 5-4-3 double play and struck out Jose Fernandez to finish the game. Vogel was credited with his fourth save of the season.
The Giants out-hit the Rawhide by a 7-6 margin. San Jose was 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position compared to Visalia's 0-for-3. The Rawhide also committed five errors. With four more steals on Thursday, the Giants are now 15-for-15 in stolen base attempts over the first three games of the series.
San Jose is eight games ahead of both Fresno and Modesto in the first half North Division race. The Giants' magic number to clinch the division title and secure a playoff berth is down to four.
The Giants continue their series in Visalia on Friday evening with first pitch at Valley Strong Ballpark set for 7:00 PM. Manuel Mercedes is San Jose's scheduled starting pitcher.
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