Giants Blanked By Storm, Win Streak Ends At Six

SAN JOSE, CA - The San Jose Giants saw their season-high winning streak snapped at six games Sunday afternoon with a 7-0 shutout loss to the Lake Elsinore Storm at Municipal Stadium. Lake Elsinore erupted for five runs in the top of the seventh to break open a close game en route to the win. Despite the loss, the Giants (16-12) still won two out of three games in the series.

Storm starting pitcher Michael Kelly (1-3) tossed seven scoreless innings with just four hits allowed to pick-up his first win of the season. Kelly struck out seven and didn't issue a walk during his dominant start.

Lake Elsinore jumped out early with a single run in the top of the first against San Jose starter Mark Reyes to take a 1-0 lead. After Reyes retired the first two batters of the game, Franchy Cordero doubled to deep left center. Then with Tejada at the plate, Reyes picked-off Cordero, but threw wildly to the third baseman Jose Vizcaino, Jr. for an error. The miscue allowed Cordero to score the first run of the day.

The game then remained at 1-0 all the way until the seventh inning as Reyes escaped trouble in the third, fourth and fifth frames. In the top of the third, a leadoff walk to Felipe Blanco and a single from Javier Guerra put runners on the corners with none out, but Reyes retired Luis Urias on a line out to shortstop before Cordero grounded into an inning-ending double play. An inning later, Edwin Moreno singled with one out and attempted to score on Trae Santos' double down the right field line, but was thrown out at the plate on a perfect relay home. Then in the fifth, the Storm put runners at second and third with one out, but both were stranded when Urias grounded out and Cordero struck out.

After Reyes breezed through a scoreless top of the sixth, Lake Elsinore exploded in the seventh, Jose Ruiz led off with a grounder to third, but reached safely when Vizcaino, Jr. threw the ball away for an error. The miscue allowed Ruiz to move into second. Blanco followed with a sacrifice bunt advancing Ruiz to third. Guerra was up next and he executed a squeeze bunt play to score Ruiz with the first run of the inning. Guerra also reached safely on a play that was ruled a single. Reyes followed by plunking Urias before a Cordero RBI single made it 3-0. The hit ended Reyes' day as Jose Reyes was summoned from the bullpen. Tejada then greeted the new pitcher with a towering three-run home run to left for a 6-0 Storm advantage.

Lake Elsinore scored their final run of the day in the top of the ninth on a Moreno RBI triple off of reliever Jeff Soptic.

Reyes (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season for the Giants. The left-hander was charged with five runs (three runs) on a career-high tying 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.

San Jose did not advance a runner past second base for the entire game. The Giants had only two innings with a runner in scoring position. In the bottom of the third, Brandon Bednar and Richard Rodriguez produced back-to-back one-out singles, but Johneshwy Fargas struck out and Ronnie Jebavy popped out to end the inning. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Vizcaino, Jr. was hit by a pitch to leadoff before moving to second on a two-out wild pitch, but was stranded when Fargas popped out.

Notes:
* The Giants also saw their season-high six-game home winning streak snapped. Sunday was their first home loss since April 23.
* San Jose was shutout at home for the first time this year.
* The Storm out-hit the Giants 14-4.
* Sunday was the final game of the regular season between San Jose and Lake Elsinore. The teams split six meetings.

On Deck: Following an off day on Monday, the Giants travel to Bakersfield for a three-game series beginning on Tuesday night. The series opener at Sam Lynn Ballpark is scheduled to begin at 7:15 PM. Jason Forjet (3-1, 6.41 ERA) is slated to make the start on the mound for San Jose while the Blaze are expected to counter with Anthony Misiewicz (1-2, 3.75 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:45 PM.