Giants Drop 11-Inning Heartbreaker To Rawhide

VISALIA, CA - The Visalia Rawhide scored twice in the bottom of the 11th inning to rally past the San Jose Giants, 5-4, on Wednesday evening at Recreation Park. In the rubber game of the series, San Jose plated one run in the top of the 11th only to see the Rawhide take advantage of two dropped fly balls in the outfield in the bottom of the frame to secure the walk-off win. With the defeat, the Giants (50-52) lost two out of three in the series and finished their seven-game road trip with a 3-4 record.

Christian Arroyo (1-for-5, HR, 3 RBI) hit a game-tying three-run home run in the fifth while Brian Ragira (1-for-5, RBI) produced the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 11th to lead San Jose offensively. Skyler Stromsmoe (2-for-4, 2B) was the only Giants player to finish the contest with more than one hit.

With the score tied 3-3, the San Jose rally in the top of the 11th began with a one-out infield single from Daniel Carbonell. Angel Villalona followed with a sharp single into left to put runners on first and second. Tyler Horan then grounded into a force play with the Rawhide recording the out at second base. With runners on the corners and two down, Ragira was up next and he grounded a single through the hole on the right side to plate Carbonell with the go-ahead tally.

Jake Smith entered from the bullpen to begin the bottom of the 11th for the Giants and quickly picked-up the first out as Tyler Baker flied out to center. Kevin Medrano followed with a fly ball to deep left center that was dropped by Carbonell on the edge of the warning track for a two-base error. Mitch Haniger then grounded a single into left to move the potential tying run to third. Domingo Leyba was up next and he lofted a high fly ball to left that Carbonell moved under, but again dropped for a second error in the inning. Medrano, who went back to tag up on the fly ball, raced home after the miscue with the tying run. Haniger advanced to second on the error, moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored the game-winning run when Jamie Westbrook, on the 10th pitch of his at-bat, lined a single into left.

Johnny Shuttlesworth (3-2) picked-up the win for the Rawhide despite allowing the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th. Shuttlesworth worked two innings of relief with one run and four hits surrendered.

Smith (4-3) was saddled with the loss for San Jose. Both runs against Smith in the bottom of the 11th were unearned.

For the third straight day, Visalia jumped out early scoring two runs in the bottom of the first before another run in the fourth to make it 3-0. Facing Giants starter Keury Mella, Haniger led off the bottom of the first with a single, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Westbrook's sacrifice fly. Gerson Montilla followed with a solo homer down the left field line for a 2-0 advantage.

Mella had retired nine out of the last ten Rawhide hitters until Kevin Cron reached base with one out in the bottom of fourth when Villalona dropped a pop up at first. Two batters, Baker laced a two-out double to deep right center plating Cron to make it 3-0.

Anthony Banda started on the mound for the Rawhide and struck out nine batters with just two hits allowed over four scoreless innings to begin his outing. The Giants then tied the game on one swing in the top of the fifth. Back-to-back infield singles from Seth Harrison and Stromsmoe to start the inning put runners on first and second and then with two down, Arroyo launched a 1-0 pitch from Banda well over the fence down the left field line for a game-tying three-run homer. The home run was Arroyo's fifth of the season.

Banda struck out 13 San Jose hitters over six innings with three runs (all earned) and five hits allowed. The left-hander did not issue a walk.

Mella struck out a season-high nine in his 5 2/3 innings of work. The Giants right-hander surrendered three runs (two earned) on five hits with three walks during his 101-pitch performance. Mella left the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but Tyler Rogers entered from the bullpen and retired Haniger on a groundout to shortstop to retire the side.

Rogers (2 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) retired all seven batters he faced for San Jose before Dan Slania (2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) kept the Rawhide off the scoreboard in the ninth and tenth innings. Slania stranded the potential winning run at second base in the bottom of the ninth and at third base in the tenth.

Offensively, the Giants managed only one baserunner - a Jeff Arnold one-out single in the top of the tenth - from the sixth through the tenth innings.

Notes:
* Two of the three games in the series went extra innings (San Jose won 9-5 in 10 innings on Monday).
* The Giants fell to 9-7 in extra-inning games this season.
* San Jose has lost back-to-back games for the first time since July 3-4.
* The Giants were attempting to win their first series in Visalia since April of 2013.
* Rawhide pitchers struck out 18 batters on Wednesday (34 strikeouts over the final two games in the series).
* Brandon Bednar (1-for-5, 2B) extended his hitting streak to eight games with a first-inning double.
* Three of Arroyo's five home runs this season have come at Recreation Park.
* The Giants are 3-13 against Visalia this year (2-8 at Rec Park).

On Deck: The Giants return home on Thursday evening to begin a four-game series against the Stockton Ports. First pitch at Municipal Stadium is scheduled for 7:00 PM. Jason Forjet (3-3, 3.58 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Matt Stalcup (1-1, 3.89 ERA). It's a Thirsty Thursday, presented by KFOX Classic Rock 98.5, at the ballpark and tickets can be purchased by calling (408) 297-1435 or by visiting sjgiants.com.