Giles flirts with Cal League RBI mark

Tommy Giles already had a pretty good night for the Inland Empire 66ers heading into the ninth inning Saturday. That's when he really got going.

Giles crushed a two-run homer and a grand slam in the ninth to complete a career-best nine-RBI night and power the 66ers to a 25-1 rout of the Lancaster JetHawks at Clear Channel Stadium.

The 25-year-old designated hitter went 4-for-7 and fell two RBIs short of the California League record, set by Stockton's Robert Rivich on May 22, 1954.

It was the third career two-homer game for Giles, but the first time he'd ever plated more than three runs. He came into the game with one homer and 14 RBIs in 93 at-bats this season.

Inland Empire (13-23) took a 15-0 lead into the ninth, then sent 15 men to the plate against a pair of position players. After Bridger Hunt drew a leadoff walk, Giles connected off second baseman Luis Segovia for his second homer of the season.

Josh Bell also walked, took third on Carlos Santana's double and scored on a balk. Eduardo Perez popped out to shortstop, but Matt Berezay delivered an RBI single and Trayvon Robinson and Jaime Pedroza followed with base hits to chase Segovia.

Daniel Nava, an outfielder, came on for his first professional pitching appearance and surrendered an RBI single to Drew Locke and a bases-loaded walk to Hunt before Giles went deep again to make it 25-1.

Perez hit a three-run shot in the first on his way to a four-RBI night and Ryan Rogowski went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs for Inland Empire. The 66ers established league season highs in runs and hits (25).

Former 12th-round pick Cody White (3-2) did not need all that support. He limited the JetHawks (16-20) to one hit and four walks while striking out three over five scoreless innings. Joseph Jones gave up one run on two hits over the final four frames for his first save of the season.

The JetHawks were blanked until the bottom of the ninth, when Chih-Hsien Chiang hit his third home run.

Lancaster starter James Russ (0-4) retired only three of the 10 batters he faced and was charged with seven runs on six hits and three walks. Segovia and Nava combined to surrender 10 runs on seven hits and five walks in 1 2/3 innings.