Marlowe Masterful In 4-2 Giants Victory
SAN BERNARDINO - Chris Marlowe fired six scoreless innings and retired the last 10 batters that he faced as the San Jose Giants earned a 4-2 victory over the Inland Empire 66ers on Saturday evening at San Manuel Stadium. Kelby Tomlinson delivered a key two-RBI single and Jeff Arnold smacked a solo home run to lead the offense helping the Giants improve their record to a league-best 12-5.
Marlowe (1-0) allowed only three singles and didn't walk a batter during his masterful six-inning performance to pick-up his first win of the season. The right-hander struck out three and set down 17 out of the 20 hitters that he faced overall.
Tomlinson (3-for-4, 2 RBI) had three singles while Myles Schroder (2-for-4, 2B) and Elliott Blair (2-for-5) added two hits apiece for San Jose offensively. The Giants out-hit the 66ers by an 11-6 margin.
The game was scoreless until San Jose pushed across two runs against Inland Empire starting pitcher Eswarlin Jimenez in the top of the fourth. Angel Villalona's one-out single started the rally before Schroder doubled to deep right center putting runners at second and third. After Arnold walked to load the bases, Tomlinson stepped to the plate and singled sharply through the hole on the left side to bring home Villalona and Schroder for a 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile, Marlowe pitched around back-to-back one-out singles in the bottom of the second inducing Andy Workman to bounce into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. In the third, Joel Capote singled with two outs and stole second, but was stranded in scoring position when the next batter, Trevor Hairgrove, grounded out. San Jose then took the lead in the next half inning and the 66ers wouldn't have another hitter reach base for the remainder of Marlowe's outing. The Giants starting pitcher breezed through 1-2-3 fourth, fifth and sixth innings to maintain the two-run advantage. Marlowe finished his night with a three-pitch strikeout of Hairgrove to end the bottom of the sixth.
Bryce Bandilla (2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO) relieved Marlowe to begin the bottom of the seventh and promptly struck out two batters before Michael Snyder belted a solo home run to deep center field. The home run cut the San Jose lead in half at 2-1.
The Giants though immediately got the run back in the top of the eighth when Arnold connected for a two-out solo homer to left center. The home run was Arnold's second of the season.
Bandilla returned to the mound in the bottom of the eighth and issued back-to-back one-out walks to Zach Wright and Ryan Jones to put the potential tying runs on base, but Capote followed by grounding into a first-pitch double play to third ending the threat.
San Jose extended their lead to 4-1 in the top of the ninth as Blair led off with a single and scored on Devin Harris' two-out triple to deep left center.
Then in the bottom of the ninth, Hunter Strickland (1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO) allowed one run, but finished the game to earn his second save of the year. An infield single from Hairgrove started the inning before he was forced at second on Alex Yarbrough's fielder's choice grounder. Yarbrough then moved to second on Brian Hernandez's ground out and scored when the next hitter, Snyder, lined a single to left center. Zach Borenstein was up next as the potential tying run, but Strickland induced a groundout to shortstop to seal the Giants victory.
Jimenez (0-2) suffered the loss for Inland Empire after surrendering two runs (both earned) on six hits over five innings. He walked two and struck out one.
Notes: San Jose has won two out of the first three games in the series … The Giants have yet to lose back-to-back games this season … Blair extended his hitting streak to seven games while Shawn Payne (0-for-4, HBP) saw his hitting streak end at 10 … Marlowe had walked 10 batters in his first two starts of the year (9 IP) before Saturday's zero-walk effort … He also induced 11 groundouts … Marlowe lowered his ERA to 1.80 (3 ER/15.0 IP) for the season … The #7 through #9 hitters in the San Jose lineup (Schroder, Arnold and Tomlinson) combined to go 6-for-10 with two runs scored and three RBI's.
On Deck: The Giants and 66ers conclude their four-game series on Sunday afternoon with first pitch at San Manuel Stadium scheduled for 2:05 PM. Adalberto Mejia (0-0, 7.04 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Inland Empire is expected to counter with Pat Lowery (0-0, 0.00 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 1:35 PM.