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Giants Drop Second Straight To Storm

San Jose suffers 6-3 setback, losing skid at three games
May 26, 2018

LAKE ELSINORE, CA - The Lake Elsinore Storm scored in four of their first five innings Saturday night on their way to a 6-3 victory over the Giants at The Diamond. The loss was San Jose's (26-23) second straight to begin the series and third in a row overall.Bryce Johnson

LAKE ELSINORE, CA - The Lake Elsinore Storm scored in four of their first five innings Saturday night on their way to a 6-3 victory over the Giants at The Diamond. The loss was San Jose's (26-23) second straight to begin the series and third in a row overall.
Bryce Johnson (2-for-3, 2 RBI) had a pair of RBI singles while Wander Franco (2-for-5, RBI) also contributed two hits to lead the Giants offensively in defeat.
Lake Elsinore never trailed in the contest as Buddy Reed led off the bottom of the first with a solo home run to deep left center off of San Jose starter Conner Menez for an early 1-0 advantage. The Giants did immediately tie the game in the top of the second as Frandy De La Rosa was hit by a pitch with two outs before Brandon Van Horn singled to put runners on the corners. Johnson then stepped to the plate and lined an RBI single into left to make it 1-1.
The Storm though came right back with a run of their own in the bottom of the second. After Menez struck out the first two batters of the inning, Brad Zunica doubled down the left field line. Nate Easley then lined a single into right center to bring home Zunica for a 2-1 Lake Elsinore lead.
The Storm kept the pressure on with another run against Menez in the bottom of the third. Back-to-back singles from Reed and Ruddy Giron started the inning before a successful double steal with one out put runners on second and third. Luis Torrens followed with a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 margin.
The Giants rallied for a single run in the top of the fourth to pull back within 3-2, but stranded the potential tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position in the frame. A one-out walk to Johneshwy Fargas and a two-out walk to Van Horn put two runners on base for San Jose. Johnson then produced his second two-out RBI hit of the night as he lined a single into left center to plate Fargas. A wild pitch then moved Van Horn to third and Johnson to second, but Lake Elsinore starter Reggie Lawson recovered with a strikeout of Kevin Rivera to end the inning.
Menez struck out the side in a perfect bottom of the fourth - his only scoreless inning on Saturday - before the Storm pushed across another run in the fifth. With one out, Reed smacked a double to deep left and again stole third. Reed then scored on Giron's groundout to shortstop for a 4-2 Lake Elsinore advantage.
Storm reliever Emmanuel Ramirez then kept San Jose off the board in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to maintain the two-run lead. Ramirez worked a 1-2-3 top of the sixth before pitching around a leadoff walk in the seventh. The Lake Elsinore right-hander then struck out two batters in a perfect eighth inning.
The Storm extended their lead to 6-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth against Dylan Rheault. Torrens led off by reaching on an error before Hudson Potts doubled to deep right center to put runners on second and third. Jorge Oña was up next and he lined a single into right center to score both Torrens and Potts for a four-run Lake Elsinore cushion.
The Giants managed to bring the potential tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth, but would fall short in their comeback bid. Consecutive two-out walks to Johnson and Rivera was followed by a Franco RBI single to make the score 6-3. David Bednar though was summoned from the Storm bullpen and he induced Jacob Heyward, the potential tying run, to pop out to first ending the game.
Ramirez (3-1) earned the win after tossing 3 2/3 hitless innings out of the bullpen. Ramirez, who retired 11 out of the 12 batters he faced, walked one and struck out six. Bednar notched his fourth save of the season.
Menez (2-3) was saddled with the loss for San Jose. The left-hander surrendered four runs (all earned) on six hits over five innings of work. Menez walked none and struck out nine - one off his career-high.
Notes
* The Giants have lost three games in a row for the first time since April 17-19. The three-game slide matches their longest losing streak of the season.
* San Jose fell to 3-5 on their road trip.
* Menez increased his season strikeout total to 67 - tied for the league lead.
* The Storm out-hit the Giants 10-6.
* The #4 through #8 hitters in the San Jose lineup were a combined 0-for-18 with eight strikeouts.
* Reed finished 4-for-4 with two singles, a double, a home run, three runs scored, an RBI and two stolen bases to lead the Lake Elsinore offensive attack. Reed is 6-for-8 in the series with two home runs.
* Orleny Quiroz worked two scoreless innings of relief on Saturday. He has not allowed a run over 6 1/3 innings with the Giants this season (three appearances).
* San Jose remained three games behind first-place Stockton (29-20) in the first half North Division standings.
On Deck
The Giants and Storm conclude their three-game series on Sunday afternoon with first pitch at The Diamond scheduled for 1:00 PM. Raffi Vizcaino (3-3, 4.14 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Lake Elsinore is expected to counter with Adrian Morejon (2-3, 3.67 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 12:40 PM.