SAN BERNARDINO, CA - The Inland Empire 66ers scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back on Monday night en route to an 8-3 victory over the San Jose Giants at San Manuel Stadium. The series-opening setback was San Jose's (51-70 overall, 17-34 second
SAN BERNARDINO, CA - The Inland Empire 66ers scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back on Monday night en route to an 8-3 victory over the San Jose Giants at San Manuel Stadium. The series-opening setback was San Jose's (51-70 overall, 17-34 second half) third loss in four games on their road trip.
Heath Quinn (2-for-4, RBI), Johneshwy Fargas (2-for-3, RBI) and Brandon Van Horn (2-for-4, 2B) had two hits apiece to lead the Giants offensively in defeat.
Mac Marshall started on the mound for San Jose and immediately ran into trouble. A walk to Brandon Marsh began the bottom of the first before rehabbing Angels catcher René Rivera launched a towering two-run home run to deep left for a 2-0 Sixers lead. A walk to Brendon Sanger followed before back-to-back one-out walks to David MacKinnon and Jonah Todd loaded the bases. Marshall came back to strikeout Bernabe Camargo for the second out, but was then lifted from the game after throwing 39 pitches in the opening inning. Sandro Cabrera was summoned from the bullpen and he was greeted by Richie Fecteau, who hammered an 0-2 pitch down the right field line for a triple. The hit scored all three runners easily as Inland Empire jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
The Giants scored their first run of the night in the top of the third as Jacob Heyward singled with one out, stole second and came home on a Heath Quinn two-out single. The Sixers though came back with a two-run bottom of the fourth to stretch their advantage to 7-1. With Cabrera still on the mound, Connor Justus walked with one out. MacKinnon followed with a line drive single into left center and when the center fielder Fargas mishandled the ball for an error, Justus raced around third and scored a run. Then with two down, Camargo reached on an infield single to third and when third baseman Wander Franco threw wildly to first for another error, MacKinnon scored a second run in the inning to make it 7-1.
The Sixers plated their eighth and final run of the contest in the bottom of the fifth as Zane Gurwitz drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a Marsh single and scored on Sanger's one-out single into center.
San Jose pushed across two runs in the top of the eighth to pull within 8-3, but would get no closer. Franco led off with a single and immediately scored when the next batter, Sandro Fabian, laced a double into the left field corner. Fabian then moved to third on a Kelvin Beltre groundout and scored when Fargas also grounded out.
Eduardo Rivera (2-4) was credited with the win out of the Inland Empire bullpen after tossing 1 2/3 hitless innings. Rivera, who entered the game with one out in the top of the fifth, gave up no hits, walked three and struck out three. Isaac Mattson pitched the final three innings with two runs (both earned) allowed to collect his second save.
66ers starter Adrian De Horta worked 4 1/3 innings with one run allowed. De Horta scattered six hits, struck out seven and walked none during his outing.
Marshall (0-4) was charged with five runs (all earned) in 2/3 of an inning to take the loss. The left-hander surrendered just one hit, walked four and struck out one.
Notes
* The Giants out-hit the Sixers 10-9, but went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position (2-for-23 w/RISP over the last two games).
* Marshall's outing matched the shortest start by a San Jose pitcher this season.
* Quinn is 9-for-19 (.474 AVG) with eight RBI's over his last five games.
* Cabrera (3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO), Peter Lannoo (3 1/3 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) and Frank Rubio (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO) combined to work 7 1/3 innings out of the bullpen for the Giants.
* San Jose committed four errors - one off their season-high.
* The Giants are 7-19 in their last 26 games.
On Deck
The Giants and 66ers continue their three-game series on Tuesday evening with first pitch at San Manuel Stadium scheduled for 7:05 PM. DJ Myers (4-3, 5.57 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Inland Empire is expected to counter with Erik Manoah Jr. (2-8, 7.03 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:45 PM.
