STOCKTON, CA - Stockton's Matt Milburn fired seven scoreless innings while Jason Goldstein hit a grand slam to lead the Ports to a 6-0 victory over the Giants on Wednesday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. The loss for San Jose (32-34) was their third straight to open the series and
STOCKTON, CA - Stockton's Matt Milburn fired seven scoreless innings while Jason Goldstein hit a grand slam to lead the Ports to a 6-0 victory over the Giants on Wednesday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. The loss for San Jose (32-34) was their third straight to open the series and ninth defeat in the last 11 games overall.
Jacob Heyward (3-for-4) and Heath Quinn (2-for-4) had multi-hit games to lead the Giants offensively in the loss.
Milburn (3-2) allowed just five singles during his dominant start for Stockton to pick-up the win. The Ports right-hander walked none and struck out six.
Melvin Adon started on the mound for San Jose and began his night with two scoreless innings. Stockton loaded the bases with none out against Adon in the bottom of the second, but the Giants right-hander escaped with no runs coming home after a pop out and a pair of strikeouts. The Ports though would breakthrough in the bottom of the third to take a 1-0 lead. A walk to Boog Powell started the inning before Brallan Perez was hit by a pitch. Nate Mondou was up next and he singled sharply up the middle to bring home Powell with the first run of the game. San Jose did record one out on the play though when Perez was thrown out at third by center fielder Bryce Johnson. Adon then came back to retire Will Toffey on a fly out, but was removed from the game after yielding a two-out single to Luke Persico. Orleny Quiroz entered from the bullpen and promptly retired Luis Barrera on a groundout to second to end the inning and keep the score at 1-0.
After Quiroz (1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO) worked a scoreless bottom of the fourth, Stockton erupted for four runs in the fifth inning against Peter Lannoo (2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 1 SO) to extend their lead. A one-out walk to Toffey started the rally before back-to-back singles from Persico and Barrera loaded the bases. Goldstein then crushed an 0-2 pitch from Lannoo over the fence in deep left center for a grand slam. The slam pushed the Ports advantage to 5-0.
Stockton's final run of the night came in the bottom of the eighth on a Mondou RBI fielder's choice after a walk and two singles loaded the bases.
Meanwhile, Milburn cruised through his start. The Ports hurler allowed just one hit over the first three innings - an infield single to Heyward in the top of the second. In the fourth, Quinn singled with one out, but was stranded. Heyward led off the fifth inning with a single, but Milburn came back to retire the next three hitters. Consecutive two-out singles from Quinn and Wander Franco put runners on first and second in the top of the sixth, but Sandro Fabian lined out softly to first base to end the inning. Milburn finished his night with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
Stockton reliever Will Gilbert then worked around a two-out walk in the top of the eighth to maintain the shutout. In the ninth, with Angel Duno on the mound, Fabian and Heyward delivered back-to-back one-out singles to put runners on the corners, however Tanner Murphy struck out and Brandon Van Horn popped out to second to end the game.
Adon (2-4) suffered the loss after pitching 2 2/3 innings during his start with one run allowed. Adon surrendered four hits, walked three and struck out two.
Notes
* The Giants were shutout for the second time this season (May 3 vs. Visalia, 4-0 loss)
* San Jose has scored only one run over their last 18 innings.
* Quinn (11 games) and Franco (8 games) each extended hitting streaks. Quinn is 6-for-12 (.500 AVG) in three games since returning from the disabled list.
* The Giants have lost six straight games to the Ports (all over the last nine days).
* Stockton out-hit San Jose 10-7 on Wednesday.
* The Giants were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left nine on base.
* San Jose pitchers issued nine walks - one off their season-high.
* Goldstein's home run was the second grand slam allowed by the Giants this season. Stockton's Nate Mondou hit a grand slam off of Jeff Samardzija on April 14 at Municipal Stadium.
On Deck
The Giants and Ports conclude their four-game series on Thursday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark scheduled for 7:10 PM. Logan Webb (1-2, 1.80 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Zack Erwin (5-4, 4.38 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:50 PM.
