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VISALIA, CA - The San Jose Giants scored four runs in the top of the 11th inning on their way to a 5-1 series-opening victory over the Visalia Rawhide Tuesday evening at Recreation Park. Bryan Reynolds tied the game for San Jose with a dramatic solo home run in the top of the ninth before Gio Brusa's two-out RBI single in the 11th gave the Giants their first lead. The win moves San Jose (28-30) into a three-way tie for first place in the second half North Division race with Modesto (28-30) and Stockton (28-30). 12 games remain in the regular season.
Heath Quinn (2-for-4, 2B, 3 RBI) also smacked a three-run double for the Giants to extend the lead in the top of the 11th.
Rodolfo Martinez (1-0) earned the win for San Jose after tossing scoreless bottom of the ninth and tenth innings to keep the game tied.
The game was scoreless through 7 1/2 innings until Visalia broke through in the bottom of the eighth. A one-out single from Ben DeLuzio against reliever Matt Krook started the rally for the Rawhide. After Krook uncorked a wild pitch, Mark Karaviotis grounded a single through the hole on the right side to bring home DeLuzio for a 1-0 Visalia lead.
The Rawhide then summoned Yoan López out of the bullpen to begin the top of the ninth, but Reynolds greeted the closer with a towering solo home run to deep left center. The game-tying blast was Reynolds' eighth home run of the season.
Martinez sent the game into extras with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth. Lopez, however, bounced back with a perfect top of the 10th as the right-hander struck out the side. In the bottom of the inning, Fernery Ozuna beat out a grounder to shortstop for a leadoff infield single before a Jorge Flores sacrifice bunt advanced the potential winning run to second. Martinez (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) though struck out DeLuzio and induced Karaviotis to pop out to extend the game.
The Giants then erupted in the top of the 11th to move in front. With one out, Ryan Howard walked before taking second on a wild pitch. Following a Reynolds strikeout, Jonah Arenado worked a four-pitch walk. Dillon Dobson was up next and he hit a high chopper up the third base line and easily reached at first for an infield single to load the bases. Brusa followed by lining a 2-2 pitch into right field for a single. The hit scored Howard from third to give San Jose a 2-1 lead. Quinn then padded the lead with a fly ball off the bottom of the fence in straightaway center field for a double as Arenado, Dobson and Brusa all scored to make it 5-1.
Dylan Rheault (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO) slammed the door on Visalia with a scoreless bottom of the 11th. Grant Heyman singled with two outs in the inning for the Rawhide, but Rheault came back to retire the next hitter, Matt Jones, on a groundout to seal the Giants victory.
Tommy Eveld (0-4) was charged with all four runs in the top of the 11th out of the Visalia bullpen to take the loss.
Garrett Williams started on the mound for San Jose and fired five scoreless innings. The left-hander worked around three hits and one walk during his outing. Williams struck out four and threw 68 pitches.
Rawhide starter Sam Lewis worked seven shutout innings and surrendered six hits with one walk and five strikeouts. Lewis erased a leadoff baserunner with a double play in each of the first three innings. The right-hander then retired 14 straight Giants batters until Quinn led off the top of the eighth with a single. Matt Winn followed with a single to put runners on first and second, but reliever Colin Poche entered and retired the next three hitters to keep the game scoreless.
Krook (3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO) struck out four batters over scoreless sixth and seventh innings in relief for San Jose before the Rawhide scratched across their only run of the night in the bottom of the eighth.
Notes
* The Giants won their second extra-inning game against Visalia in the last four days (8-7 win in 10 innings last Saturday at Municipal Stadium).
* San Jose improved to 5-2 in extra-inning games this season.
* The Giants won for the fourth time this year when trailing after eight innings - all in the second half (Lake Elsinore leads the league with five victories when trailing after eight innings).
* The home run surrendered by Lopez in the top of the ninth was only his second run allowed in 24 innings with the Rawhide this season. He entered Tuesday with a 0.41 ERA and no blown saves.
* San Jose out-hit Visalia 10-8.
* The Giants finished 3-for-9 with runners in scoring position. All three hits came in the top of the 11th.
* Williams lowered his ERA with San Jose to 1.13. He's allowed only three earned runs in 24 innings with 27 strikeouts.
* Giants pitching combined to record 11 strikeouts with just one walk.
* Infielder/outfielder Cristian Paulino was added to San Jose's roster from Augusta (A) before the game on Tuesday. Paulino took the open roster spot vacated by outfielder Steven Duggar, who was promoted to Sacramento (AAA) on Monday.
On Deck
The Giants and Rawhide continue their three-game series on Wednesday evening with first pitch at Recreation Park scheduled for 7:00 PM. Shaun Anderson (2-2, 3.78 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Jose Almonte (9-8, 3.63 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:40 PM.
