Giants Drop Regular Season Finale In 14 Innings
SAN JOSE, CA - The Visalia Rawhide scored twice in the top of the 14th inning to post a 9-7 victory over the San Jose Giants in the regular season finale on Monday afternoon at Municipal Stadium. With the extra-inning loss, San Jose dropped three out of four games in the series and finished the regular season with a 68-72 record.
The wild card champion Giants open the postseason on Wednesday at Municipal Stadium with Game 1 of the best-of-three North Mini Series against the Bakersfield Blaze. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM. The series then shifts to Bakersfield for Game 2 on Thursday and Game 3 on Friday (if necessary).
Monday's finale saw the Rawhide tie the game 7-7 with a run in the top of the eighth. The contest than remained deadlocked until the 14th when San Jose brought left fielder Robbie Garvey into pitch for his first action on the mound all season. Garvey began the inning by retiring Austin Byler on a fly out before Joey Armstrong smacked a double into the left field corner. Sergio Alcantara was up next and he grounded out bringing Garvey to within one out of a scoreless frame. However, Robelys Reyes followed with a sharp grounder down the left field line for a double plating Armstrong with the go-ahead tally. Trevor Mitsui then singled into right center to bring home Reyes for a 9-7 Visalia advantage.
Cameron Gann (2-2) earned the win out of the Rawhide bullpen after tossing perfect bottom of the 13th and 14th innings. Gann struck out three out of the six batters he faced.
Garvey (0-1), who surrendered four hits and two runs (both earned) during the top of the 14th, was saddled with the loss.
The game began with Visalia erupting for four runs in the top of the first against Giants starter Jose Reyes. Alcantara led off with a single before Reyes dropped down a bunt. The pitcher Reyes fielded the ball, but threw wildly down the right field line. The error allowed Alcantara to score while Reyes was safe at second. Mitsui was up next for the Rawhide and he blasted a two-run home run to left for a 3-0 lead. Cody Regis then singled, moved to second on a Victor Reyes sacrifice bunt, took third on a wild pitch and scored when Michael Perez hit a sacrifice fly.
San Jose scored their first run of the day in the bottom of the third when Miguel Gomez connected for a leadoff home run to right. The homer, Gomez's ninth of the season, brought the Giants to within 4-1.
Visalia though got the run right back in the top of the fourth when Byler drilled a home run to deep right making the score 5-1.
San Jose then rallied in the bottom of the fourth scoring five times against Rawhide reliever Emilio Vargas to take the lead. A walk to Heath Quinn started the inning before Jonah Arenado singled up the middle. Following a Dylan Davis fly out and a walk to Aramis Garcia that loaded the bases, Gomez hammered a fly ball off the fence in deep right center for a long single. The hit scored both Quinn and Arenado to cut the Visalia lead to 5-3. Cristian Paulino was up next and he belted a triple to deep left center as Garcia and Gomez scored tying the game 5-5. Paulino then came home with the go-ahead run on Richard Rodriguez's RBI groundout.
The Giants extended their lead to 7-5 in the bottom of the fifth as three straight singles from Garvey, Quinn and Arenado to start the inning produced a run.
San Jose, however, would manage just one hit past the fifth inning and the Rawhide would comeback.
In the top of the seventh against reliever Dusten Knight (1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO), Armstrong led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Robelys Reyes' single to cut the Giants lead to 7-6.
Then in the eighth with Pat Young (1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO) on the mound, Victor Reyes doubled with one out, took third on a wild pitch and scored the tying run when Perez blooped a single into shallow right.
Reyes Moronta (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO) escaped a two on, one-out jam in the top of the ninth to keep the game tied for San Jose. In the bottom of the inning, Arenado walked with two outs, but was stranded as Davis struck out to force extra innings.
Jeff Soptic (4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO) breezed through four perfect innings for the Giants from the 10th through the 13th. The right-hander retired all 12 batters he faced on a total of just 35 pitches. Soptic struck out four.
San Jose though was unable to secure the walk-off win against the Rawhide bullpen. The Giants' only hit over the final nine innings was a leadoff single from Quinn in the bottom of the 12th. Kirby Bellow though set down the next three San Jose hitters after the Quinn hit to retire the side. 16 out of the final 17 Giants hitters of the contest were set down.
Notes -
* Monday matched San Jose's longest game of the regular season. The Giants also played 14 innings on May 15 at Modesto (4-3 loss).
* San Jose finished the year with a 3-4 record in extra-inning games.
* The Rawhide out-hit the Giants 16-10 on Monday. San Jose had nine hits over the first five innings, but only one hit over the final nine frames.
* Gomez (2-for-2, HR, 3 RBI), Garvey (2-for-7, SB), Quinn (2-for-6) and Arenado (2-for-5, RBI) had multi-hit games for the Giants.
* Garvey became the second San Jose position player to pitch in a game this season (Paulino twice).
* Reyes went the first six innings for the Giants and was charged with five runs (three earned) on six hits. He walked one and struck out four.
* San Jose went 1-6 during their regular season-ending homestand and lost 10 out of 12 games to finish the year.
* The Giants lost for just the fifth time when leading after seven innings (61-5).
* Arenado was named team MVP in a ceremony before the game on Monday.
* At 68-72 overall, San Jose finishes with a sub-.500 record for the first time since the 2003 season.
On Deck: Following an off day, the Giants open the postseason on Wednesday evening at Municipal Stadium with Game 1 of the best-of-three North Mini Series against the Bakersfield Blaze. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM. For tickets, call (408) 297-1435 or visit sjgiants.com.