CalL1 San Jose Giants

Visalia's Early Offense Too Much for Giants

Published on August 24, 2012 under California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release


SAN JOSE - The Visalia Rawhide scored seven runs over the first two innings en route to a 7-3 win over the San Jose Giants on Thursday evening at Municipal Stadium. Three Visalia pitchers combined on a four-hitter as the Rawhide earned a split of the four-game series. The loss drops San Jose's overall record to 69-60 - two games ahead of the Modesto Nuts (67-62) for the top mark in the North Division with 11 to play in the regular season.

Carter Jurica (2-for-3) had a pair of singles to lead the Giants offensively. Visalia out-hit San Jose by an 11-4 margin.

The game began with five consecutive hits against Giants starter Ryan Bradley with all five runners eventually coming home to score. Three straight singles from Ender Inciarte, Gerson Montilla and Garrett Weber produced the first run of the night. Jon Griffin then singled to load the bases before Keon Broxton blasted a double to the fence in right center field to bring home Montilla and Weber for a 3-0 lead. After Ryan LaPensee popped out, Tyson Van Winkle reached on a fielding error committed by the second baseman Jurica. Van Winkle was credited with an RBI on the play as Griffin scored the fourth run of the frame. Carter Bell then delivered an RBI single to make it 5-0. The Rawhide sent 11 batters to the plate in the top of the first scoring five runs on seven hits.

Visalia kept the pressure on with two more runs in the second inning against Bradley. Back-to-back one-out doubles from Griffin and Broxton scored the first run. Then after LaPensee grounded out, Van Winkle reached on a Joe Panik error at shortstop allowing Broxton to score for a 7-0 advantage.

Bradley (8-7) suffered the loss after surrendering seven runs (six earned) on nine hits over 1 2/3 innings. The left-hander, who retired only five out of the 16 batters that he faced, did not issue a walk or record a strikeout.

The Giants cut the deficit to 7-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. After a leadoff walk to Skyler Stromsmoe and a single from Jurica to put runners on the corners with none out, Panik hit a sacrifice fly to left for San Jose's first run. Jurica took second on the sacrifice fly, advanced to third on a passed ball before scoring on Adam Duvall's groundout.

The Giants though wouldn't pick-up another hit until the seventh inning. Rawhide starter Anthony Meo worked 1-2-3 fourth and sixth innings while pitching around consecutive one-out walks in the fifth.

San Jose pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh as Andrew Susac smacked a triple off the fence in right center to start the inning before coming home two batters later on Stromsmoe's sacrifice fly.

Trailing 7-3, the Giants wouldn't get any closer. In the bottom of the eighth, Duvall singled with one out, stole second and advanced to third when the throw from the catcher Van Winkle sailed into center field for an error. However, consecutive strikeouts of the next two batters, Ricky Oropesa and Alex Burg, ended the inning. Then in the ninth, San Jose was retired 1-2-3 to finish the game.

Meo (9-8) limited the Giants to two hits and two runs (one earned) over six innings to pick-up the win. He walked four and struck out seven.

Visalia won despite not recording a hit after the third inning. San Jose relievers Stephen Harrold (4 1/3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO), Craig Whitaker (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) and Phil McCormick (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) combined to throw 7 1/3 scoreless innings. Harrold retired nine straight batters at one point during his long relief appearance.

Notes: The season-series between the clubs ended Thursday with the Rawhide owing a 14-9 advantage ... Visalia is the only North Division team that the Giants will finish with a losing record against ... San Jose has collected just eight hits over their last two games ... The Rawhide were 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position compared to 0- for-7 for the Giants ... Susac's triple was his first of the season ... San Jose (31-28) remained two games behind Modesto (33-26) in the second half North Division race.

On Deck: The Giants begin a seven-game road trip on Friday evening with the first of four straight contests against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes. First pitch at The Epicenter is scheduled for 7:05 PM. Justin Schumer (6-4, 5.02 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Rancho Cucamonga is expected to counter with Angel Sanchez (6-9, 6.01 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:35 PM.

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California League Stories from August 24, 2012


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