Rawhide Blast Giants, Losing Streak At Four

SAN JOSE - Visalia's Brandon Drury connected for two home runs and Alex Glenn hit a grand slam to lead the Rawhide to a convincing 12-4 victory over the San Jose Giants on Wednesday evening at Municipal Stadium. Visalia has now won the first three games of the series while San Jose has dropped a season-high tying four in a row overall.

Drury (3-for-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI), who also delivered a key go-ahead two-run single, led a 13-hit Rawhide offensive attack. 

Mac Williamson (2-for-4, HR, RBI) and Jesus Galindo (2-for-4, HR, RBI, SB) each hit a solo home run for the Giants in a losing effort. 

Each team hit a solo shot in the first inning with Drury going deep in the top of the frame before Williamson tied the score in the bottom half. Visalia though took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the top of the third against San Jose starter Joan Gregorio. With runners at second and third and two outs, Drury stepped to the plate and lined a two-run single into right giving the Rawhide a 3-1 advantage.

Visalia extended their lead in the top of the fourth as back-to-back one-out singles from Glenn and Raul Navarro put runners of first and second. After a two-out walk to Evan Marzilli loaded the bases, Kevin Medrano ripped a double into the left center field gap to clear the bases. The hit pushed the Rawhide lead to 6-1.

Drury's second home run of the night - a solo blast in the top of the fifth off of Gregorio - made it 7-1 Visalia.

Gregorio (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season after he was charged with seven runs (all earned) on seven hits over five innings. The right-hander walked two and struck out four.

The Giants cut the lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the fifth as Galindo singled to leadoff, stole second with two outs and scored on Mitch Delfino's single up the middle. However, the Rawhide got the run right back in the top of the sixth off of reliever Jeff Soptic (1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO) when Socrates Brito delivered a sacrifice fly to score Navarro, who led off the inning with a single.

Galindo's first home run of the season - a solo shot to begin the bottom of the seventh - brought San Jose to within 8-3. The Giants though would get no closer as with runners on first and second and one out in the bottom of the eighth, Chris Lofton lined into a double play to the shortstop to end the inning. Then in the ninth, Glenn crushed a two-out grand slam off of Ryan Bradley (2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO) to make it 12-3.

San Jose loaded the bases with none out in the bottom of the ninth inning, but managed just one run in the frame thanks to a two-out wild pitch.

Rawhide starter Jesse Darrah (2-0) picked-up the win after limiting the Giants to a pair of runs (both earned) on six hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out three.

Notes: The 12 runs allowed were a season-high for the Giants … It was also San Jose's largest margin of defeat this year … Gregorio, who entered the game with a 1.88 ERA, had surrendered just four runs total in his first three starts … Williamson has three home runs in his last six games … Visalia out-hit the Giants 13-10 … Galindo is 6-for-8 with a home run over his last two games … San Jose is 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position during the series.

On Deck: The Giants and Rawhide wrap-up their four-game series on Thursday evening with first pitch at Municipal Stadium scheduled for 7:00 PM. Martin Agosta (0-1, 1.93 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Brandon Sinnery (2-0, 2.63 ERA). It's Homecoming Night at the ballpark and tickets can be purchased by calling (408) 297-1435 or by visiting sjgiants.com.