Giants Secure Series Win Over JetHawks

LANCASTER, CA -Matt Krook tossed six effective innings while Heath Quinn and Jonah Arenado each homered late to lead the San Jose Giants to a 4-2 win over the Lancaster JetHawks on Thursday evening at The Hangar. With the victory, the Giants (20-28) claimed two out of three in the series and won for the fourth time in their last five games overall.
Krook (1-6) earned his first win of the season after yielding just two runs (both earned) and three hits over a career-high six innings. The left-hander walked two, struck out one and induced 13 groundouts during his 77-pitch outing. Carlos Diaz (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO) and Ryan Halstead (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) then combined for three scoreless innings of relief to finish the game. Halstead notched his seventh save of the year.
Quinn (1-for-4, HR, RBI) smacked a game-tying solo home run in the top of the seventh for San Jose before a JetHawks error scored the go-ahead tally later in the frame. Arenado (2-for-4, 2B, HR, RBI) added a solo shot in the ninth. T.J. Bennett (2-for-3, 3B) and Gio Brusa (2-for-4) also produced multi-hit games.
Lancaster enjoyed an early 2-0 lead after scoring twice in the bottom of the third against Krook. After the Giants starter began his night by retiring six straight JetHawks batters, Mylz Jones drew a leadoff walk in the third. Hamlet Marte then grounded a single into right - Lancaster's first hit of the game - to put runners on the corners. Wilson Soriano was up next and he dropped down a safety squeeze sacrifice bunt that scored Jones from third giving the JetHawks a 1-0 lead. Soriano was thrown at first on the play, but Marte also advanced to second and would later score the second run of the inning when Brendan Rodgers delivered a two-out RBI single.
The game remained at 2-0 all the way until the top of the sixth. Lancaster starter Peter Lambert surrendered just three singles over the first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth. Bennett led off with a triple into the right center field gap and immediately scored when the next batter, Ryan Howard, grounded out. The run cut the JetHawks lead in half at 2-1.
After Krook pitched around a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth to keep the deficit at a run, the Giants scored twice in the top of the seventh to take their first lead of the night. Quinn led off the inning with an opposite field solo homer to right. The home run, Quinn's third of the season, tied the game 2-2. Two batters later, Brusa singled to put the potential go-ahead run on base. Arenado was up next and he laced a double into the left field corner. Brusa attempted to score from first base on the hit, but was thrown out at the plate for the second out of the inning. San Jose though still managed to plate the go-ahead run as Matt Winn followed with a grounder to shortstop that saw first baseman Brian Mundell drop the throw. The error allowed Winn to reach base safely and Arenado to score giving the Giants a 3-2 lead.
Diaz took over out of the San Jose bullpen in the bottom of the seventh and promptly struck out two in a perfect inning of work. With the margin still at 3-2, Diaz returned to the mound in the eighth and allowed a two-out single to Rodgers, but recovered to set down Sam Hilliard on a pop out to shortstop to end the inning.
In the top of the ninth, Arenado hit a towering solo home run down the left field line to extend the San Jose lead to 4-2. The home run was Arenado's second this season.
Halstead then breezed through a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth retiring Mundell on a fly out before consecutive strikeouts of Yonathan Daza and Wes Rogers ended the game.
Lambert (3-4) suffered the loss for the JetHawks despite pitching a season-high eight innings. The right-hander was charged with three runs (two earned) on eight hits. Lambert walked one and struck out three.
Notes
* The Giants improved to 4-1 on their road trip.
* San Jose won their first series since taking two out of three games at Stockton from April 21-23.
* The Giants won a series in Lancaster for the first time since the 2011 season.
* San Jose has won five out of their last six road games overall. The Giants improved to 14-12 on the road this season (6-16 at home).
* San Jose out-hit Lancaster 9-4 on Wednesday.
* Krook has a 3.38 ERA (6 ER/16.0 IP) over his last three starts after posting a 12.46 ERA (18 ER/13.0 IP) in his first five starts this season.
* Halstead is 7-for-7 in save opportunities this season. He lowered his ERA to 0.81.
* Arenado homered for the first time since April 9 - a span of 132 at-bats.
* Howard's (0-for-4, RBI) hitting streak was snapped at seven games.
* Quinn has three home runs in 10 games with the Giants this season (.350 AVG).
* San Jose won for the fifth time this season when trailing after six innings - tied for the league lead (Visalia).
On Deck
The Giants continue their road trip on Friday evening with the opener of a four-game home-and-home series against the Modesto Nuts. First pitch at John Thurman Field is scheduled for 7:05 PM. Mark Reyes (1-6, 6.38 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Modesto is expected to counter with Nathan Bannister (2-3, 7.64 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:45 PM.