Giants reliever Morel comes up big in start

Dealing with a depleted roster and needing a starter Tuesday night, Class A Advanced San Jose manager Lipso Nava turned to someone who had not started a game in nearly three years. What he got in return was one of the Giants' better pitching performances of the season.

Making just the fourth start of his career, Jose Morel allowed one hit over six scoreless innings to lead San Jose past visiting Modesto, 5-1, at Municipal Stadium.

The right-hander didn't walk a batter and struck out four in his first starting assignment since Aug. 19, 2013 for San Francisco's Rookie-level Dominican Summer League team. Morel retired the last nine batters he faced and threw 40 of his 56 pitches for strikes en route to his first career victory as a starting pitcher.

"We needed it," Nava said. "We've been experiencing some ups and downs with guys moving around, so it left us with few options. We're working limited a bit here and we're waiting for a move to happen that hasn't happened yet. It just shows the character he has. When we needed him or other guys to step up, they have. It was awesome to see." 

Even though he only took the mound in the first inning three times in 92 previous career appearances, Morel wanted to do the job, no questions asked.

"First of all, I want to thank God that I was blessed with the opportunity to start," he said through translator Nava. "I have the mentality to do the job in whatever role that I'm asked. I like relieving more, but having the chance to start, I know that I have to have a bulldog mentality and be sure to make the best of the situation I'm in at the moment."

The 22-year-old retired the side in order in three of his six innings, but he also had to skate around trouble in the second and fourth. He committed an error while covering first base to allow Modesto's Collin Ferguson to reach to start the second frame. A wild pitch moved Ferguson to second, but Morel induced a pair of groundouts and finished the frame with a strikeout of Troy Stein to keep the Nuts off the board.

The righty ran into trouble again in the fourth. He allowed a leadoff single to Luis Jean and his second wild pitch of the game moved the runner to second. But Morel was able to extricate himself with three consecutive groundouts. 

"After the error, I knew that I needed to execute my pitches," he said. "I had my sinker and slider going, which was getting me a lot of ground balls. That's what I was looking to do in those situations. Pitch to contact and let the fielders field the grounders.

"I prepared myself mentally to attack the hitters. By going after them and attacking the zone, you make things happen. I wasn't really nervous about the start. I had a good idea of what to do and I stuck with the plan. Everything worked out well." 

Jonah Arenado's solo homer -- his 10th -- gave the Giants the lead in the fourth. San Jose added three more runs on the sixth jack of the year by San Francisco's No. 26 prospect Ronnie Jebavy in the fifth. 

Dusten Knight notched his first save of the year after allowing an unearned run on two hits over three innings. The right-hander struck out a pair and did not issue a walk.

Modesto's Parker French (4-6), who had given up one run in his previous 20 innings, was tagged for four runs on four hits in six innings. He didn't walk a batter and fanned one.