Giants Shutout Quakes, Extend Win Streak To Six

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA - Martin Agosta fired seven scoreless innings and matched a season-high with nine strikeouts Friday night in a 5-0 San Jose Giants victory over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes at LoanMart Field. In the opener of a three-game series, the Giants notched their league-leading 14th shutout of the season and remained perfect on their road trip (5-0).  

San Jose (68-63 overall, 38-23 second half) secured their sixth win in a row overall while remaining tied with Visalia (38-23) in the second half race and increasing their lead over Modesto (65-66) to three games in the Wild Card. Nine games remain in the regular season.

Agosta (5-8) scattered seven hits and did not issue a walk during his masterful 100-pitch performance. Ray Black (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) and Jake Smith (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) then each tossed a scoreless inning of relief to complete the shutout.

Brian Ragira (2-for-5, 3B, 2 RBI) produced an RBI single in the second inning and a two-out run-scoring triple in the top of the third to lead the Giants offensively. Jeff Kobernus (2-for-5, 2B, 2 SB) added a pair of hits and two stolen bases.

San Jose scored twice in the second inning against Quakes starter Rob Rogers to take the early lead. Ryder Jones started the rally with a leadoff double into the left field corner. Ragira then stepped to the plate and ripped a single into right plating Jones with the first run of the contest. Ragira took second on the throw home, advanced to third on Tyler Horan's deep fly out to center and scored the second run of the inning when Ty Ross lined a single into right.

The Giants added to their lead with two more runs in the third inning and another tally in the fourth. Daniel Carbonell reached on a two-base error to start the top of the third and scored when Ragira blasted a two-out triple off the fence in deep right center. Horan then reached safely when his grounder to first was misplayed for another error with Ragira scoring on the play to make it 4-0.

In the top of the fourth, Kobernus singled with one out and promptly stole second. A pitch later, Kobernus stole third and scored to make it 5-0 when the throw from catcher Paul Hoenecke sailed down the left field line for an error.

Meanwhile, Agosta cruised early setting down nine out of the first ten Quakes hitters that came to plate, five of which were via the strikeout. In the bottom of the fourth, Nate Samson led off with a double. Tyler Ogle that hit a high fly ball into the left field corner that was caught by a sprinting Carbonell in front of the fence as he crossed over the foul line. Samson tagged on the play and was initially safe at third, but then over-slid the bag and was tagged out by Jones for a spectacular double play.

With the score 5-0, the Quakes threatened in the bottom of the fifth loading the bases with one out, but came away empty-handed against Agosta. Three straight one-out singles from Joey Curletta, Hoenecke and Willie Calhoun loaded the bases, but Agosta induced the next hitter, Dillon Moyer, to ground into a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play.

Agosta then pitched around a two-out single in the bottom of the sixth striking out clean-up hitter Jacob Scavuzzo to retire the side. In the seventh, Hoenecke was hit by a pitch with two outs before Calhoun singled to put runners on first and second. However, Agosta came back with a strikeout of Moyer to end the inning.

Black entered from the bullpen to begin the bottom of the eighth and surrendered a one-out single to Samson. Ogle through followed with a fly out to center before Black struck out Scavuzzo for the final out. In the bottom of the ninth, Smith needed just six pitches to retire Rancho Cucamonga 1-2-3 completing the shutout.

Rogers (5-5), who was making his first start of the season after 45 relief appearances, suffered the loss for the Quakes. He was charged with four runs (two earned) on five hits over three innings.  

Notes:
* San Jose's 14 shutouts this season are sixth-most in team history (record: 19 in 1989).
* The Giants have two shutouts over their last four games and eight in the second half.
* San Jose has a 1.77 team ERA during their current six-game winning streak.
* Ragira is batting .462 (18-for-39) over his last 10 games (10 RBI's). Ragira's triple on Friday was his first of the year.
* The Giants improved to 5-0 against Rancho Cucamonga this season.
* San Jose pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts and no walks on Friday.
* Both teams finished with eight hits.  
* Kobernus is 8-for-19 (.421) over his last four games.
* The Giants moved to a season-high five games above .500 overall. Their current road winning streak is at a season-high seven games.

On Deck: The Giants and Quakes continue their three-game series on Saturday evening with first pitch at LoanMart Field scheduled for 7:05 PM. Christian Jones (6-1, 3.43 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Rancho Cucamonga is expected to counter with Chase De Jong (3-3, 3.60 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:35 PM.