Six Run Fifth Undoes Pitcher's Duel Against Grizzlies
BOX SCORE SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Giants broke open a tight game with a six-run fifth inning Saturday night, sending the Fresno Grizzlies to a 9-2 defeat at Excite Ballpark and their third straight loss in the series. The game stayed scoreless into the fourth before the
SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Giants broke open a tight game with a six-run fifth inning Saturday night, sending the Fresno Grizzlies to a 9-2 defeat at Excite Ballpark and their third straight loss in the series.
The game stayed scoreless into the fourth before the Giants pushed across two runs.
A pair of bases loaded walks handed San Jose the lead before a heads-up defensive play at the plate — Ronny Ugarte to Daniel Jackson to nab Jeremiah Jenkins trying to score — the only thing keeping the inning from getting worse.
Fresno answered in the top of the fifth. Sebastian Blanco singled and stole second, and Ashly Andujar's two-out single brought him home to cut the deficit to 2-1, briefly giving the Grizzlies life.
San Jose erased that in a hurry. Jenkins doubled and scored on a Mally single, Angel Guzman and Andy Polanco each walked to force in a run, and Gonzalez capped the outburst with a two-run single before Luis Hernández added another two-run knock, and by the time the inning ended the Giants had sent 11 men to the plate and turned a one-run game into an 8-1 rout.
The Grizzlies broke through later, with Ugarte's groundout in the sixth scoring Cristian Arguelles, but Jenkins tripled and later scored on a Mally sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to push the final margin to 9-2.
Ashly Andujar led the offense with a two-hit night, including an RBI.
Marcos Herrera took the loss, falling to 0-8 on the season after being charged with six runs over 4.1 innings, with three of those runs scoring on his line after Wilmis Paulino relieved him mid-inning.
Melvin Pineda worked just 1.1 innings in relief for San Jose but picked up the win, improving to 1-2 despite an ERA that sits at 12.38.
The Grizzlies drop their third consecutive game in San Jose and will look to force the split on Sunday when they send Brady Parker to the mound for the second time in the series. He’ll be matched up against another strikeout artist in Keyner Martinez.
First pitch is scheduled for 5:00pm with the Chukchansi Gold Pregame Show beginning at 4:45pm on 790 ESPN Fresno and FresnoGrizzlies.com/listen
ABOUT THE FRESNO GRIZZLIES
The Fresno Grizzlies are a proud affiliate of the Colorado Rockies organization. The club advanced to the California League playoffs in 2025 and continues to post some of Minor League Baseball's highest attended games. The 2026 season marks the Grizzlies' 25th year in Downtown Fresno.