Giants Walk-Off In 10, Take Series From Storm

SAN JOSE, CA -Frandy De La Rosa's single in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Bryce Johnson from second base with the game-winning run to lift the Giants to a 4-3 victory over the Lake Elsinore Storm on Wednesday afternoon at Municipal Stadium. With the win, San Jose (13-8) claimed two out of three games in the series and finished their homestand with a 5-2 record. The triumph was also the Giants' fifth walk-off victory of the season.
De La Rosa (2-for-4, 2 RBI) drove home a pair of runs in the contest while Heath Quinn (2-for-4, HR, RBI) homered as part of a two-hit day to lead San Jose offensively.
Patrick Ruotolo (2-0) earned the win out of the bullpen after holding the Storm scoreless in the top of the ninth and tenth innings. Ruotolo struck out four batters - all coming with the potential go-ahead run at third base.
The game went back-and-forth late with the Giants taking their first lead of the afternoon in the bottom of the seventh. With Lake Elsinore in front by a 2-1 margin, the bottom of the seventh began with back-to-back singles from Jacob Heyward and Quinn. Wander Franco followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners before Sandro Fabian hit a sacrifice fly plating Heyward to tie the game. De La Rosa was up next and he grounded a single through the hole on the right side to score Quinn for a 3-2 San Jose advantage.
The Storm though would immediately answer with a run in the top of the eighth to draw even. With reliever Nolan Riggs (2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO) pitching, Brad Zunica walked with two outs before pinch-runner Nate Easley stole second. Jorge Oña then singled into left to score Easley to tie the contest 3-3.
After the Giants went down in the bottom of the eighth, Ruotolo took over on the mound in the top of the ninth. Ruddy Giron greeted Ruotolo with a single to center before he was bunted to second by Taylor Kohlwey. Giron then raced into third before timeout could have been called putting Lake Elsinore 90 feet away from reclaiming the lead. Ruotolo though recovered with consecutive strikeouts of Edward Olivares and Buddy Reed to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, Franco singled with two outs, but was forced out at second on Fabian's grounder to shortstop forcing extra innings.
Ruotolo continued in the top of the 10th with the automatic runner at second base to begin the inning, per the new Minor League extra-inning rules. Hudson Potts was up first and he dropped down a sacrifice bunt advancing the runner Reed to third. Luis Torrens then walked before Ruotolo registered back-to-back swinging strikeouts of Easley and Ona to keep the game tied.
The Giants then won the game immediately in the bottom of the 10th. Johnson was sent in to pinch-run at second to start the inning. De La Rosa led off and crushed the first pitch of the at-bat to the fence in deep right center easily scoring Johnson with the game-winning run.
David Bednar (1-1), who entered the game for the Storm to begin the bottom of the ninth, was saddled with the loss.
Melvin Adon started on the mound for San Jose and struck out a career-high nine batters over six effective innings. Adon surrendered two runs (both earned) on seven hits while also issuing two walks during his 84-pitch outing.
Lake Elsinore jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Olivares led off the game with a double and later scored on Torrens' two-out single. The Giants tied it up in the bottom of the second as Quinn launched a solo home run to deep left center.
The game remained at 1-1 all the way until the top of the sixth as Ona doubled for the Storm and eventually came home on an Eguy Rosario sacrifice fly.
Adon struck out two batters in each of the first three innings. He fanned another in the top of the fourth before two more punchouts in the fifth.
Adrian Morejon started for Lake Elsinore and pitched five innings with one run and only two hits allowed. Morejon, the #6 prospect in the Padres organization according to MLB.com, walked one and struck out five.
Notes
* The Giants improved to 4-0 in extra-inning games this season (3-0 at home).
* San Jose's five walk-off wins have all come in the last 12 days: April 14 vs. Stockton (Jalen Miller HR), April 15 vs. Stockton (Gio Brusa HR), April 20 vs. Modesto (Bryce Johnson bases loaded HBP), April 21 vs. Modesto (Jacob Heyward RBI double) and Wednesday.
* Five of the Giants' eight home wins have ended in walk-offs. San Jose is 8-3 at home overall.
* Quinn is 9-for-20 (.450 AVG) over his last five games with three doubles and a home run.
* De La Rosa broke out of a 3-for-29 slump with RBI hits in his last two at-bats.
* Both teams finished with nine hits.
* Wednesday's victory guaranteed the Giants' first winning month since May 2016.
On Deck
Following an off day on Thursday, the Giants travel to Modesto for a three-game weekend series. Friday's series opener at John Thurman Field is a 7:05 PM first pitch. Logan Webb (1-1, 0.90 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while the Nuts are expected to counter with Ljay Newsome (0-2, 7.40 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:45 PM.