SAN JOSE, CA - The Lancaster JetHawks scored twice in the top of the 10th before holding the Giants to a single run in the bottom of the inning for an 8-7 victory over San Jose on Monday night at Municipal Stadium. After scoring once in the bottom of the
SAN JOSE, CA - The Lancaster JetHawks scored twice in the top of the 10th before holding the Giants to a single run in the bottom of the inning for an 8-7 victory over San Jose on Monday night at Municipal Stadium. After scoring once in the bottom of the 10th, the Giants had the potential tying run at third base with none out, but were unable to bring the runner home to suffer the defeat. With the loss, San Jose (22-16) settles for a split of the four-game series against Lancaster.
Matt Winn (2-for-4, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) doubled and homered while extending his hitting streak to 16 games to lead the Giants offensively. Frandy De La Rosa (2-for-4, 3B) and Wander Franco (2-for-5) added two hits apiece while Jacob Heyward (1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI) smacked a two-run home run. San Jose though finished just 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and two costly Giants errors in the field led to four unearned runs.
The back-and-forth contest saw San Jose jump out to a 4-1 lead after two innings. In the bottom of the first, Franco singled with two outs before Heyward stepped to the plate and lined a two-run home run to left. The homer was Heyward's fourth of the season as the Giants moved in front by a 2-0 margin.
The JetHawks immediately got one run back in the top of the second. San Jose starter Mac Marshall issued a leadoff walk to Willie Abreu. Following an Abreu steal of second base and with Joel Diaz at the plate, Marshall had to leave the game with an apparent injury. Sandro Cabrera entered from the bullpen and retired Diaz on a deep fly out to right with Abreu advancing to third. Manny Melendez then delivered a sacrifice fly as Abreu scored to make it 2-1.
The Giants though came right back with two more runs in the bottom of the inning. Winn led off with a towering solo home run to straightaway center - his fifth round-tripper of the season. De La Rosa then tripled to deep center and scored two batters later on a Johneshwy Fargas sacrifice fly for a 4-1 advantage.
Cabrera (4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO) tossed back-to-back scoreless innings in the third and fourth before running into trouble in the top of the fifth. Consecutive singles from Carlos Herrera and Forrest Wall started the frame before a one-out RBI single off the bat of Colton Welker brought Lancaster to within 4-2. A walk to Vince Fernandez followed to load the bases, but Cabrera came back with a strikeout of Jacob Bosiokovic. Abreu then hit a grounder to first that should have ended the inning, but Gio Brusa misplayed the ball for an error. The miscue allowed both Wall and Welker to score tying the game 4-4. Diaz then lined an RBI single into center as Fernandez came home giving the JetHawks their first lead of the night at 5-4.
San Jose did respond with a run in the bottom of the fifth to tie the score. Jalen Miller led off with a double into the left center field gap before a two-out walk to Heyward put runners on first and second. Sandro Fabian then laced a single down the left field line plating Miller to make it 5-5.
The game remained even until Lancaster moved back in front with a run in the top of the seventh. With Dylan Rheault (3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO) on the mound, Fernandez and Bosiokovic knocked out back-to-back one-out singles. Abreu then grounded into a fielder's choice with Bosiokovic forced at second for the second out. Then with Diaz at the plate, a passed ball charged to the catcher Winn allowed Fernandez to score putting the JetHawks in the lead at 6-5.
The Giants came back to tie the game scoring once in the bottom of the eighth without the benefit of a hit. Winn and De La Rosa both drew walks to start the inning before a one-out walk to pinch-hitter Bryce Johnson loaded the bases. Miller then hit a slow grounder to shortstop that saw Johnson forced out at second, however Winn scored on the play to tie the contest 6-6. San Jose was unable to take the lead in the inning as Brusa followed with a groundout to second stranding the potential go-ahead run at third base.
After both teams went down quickly in the ninth, Lancaster took the lead for good with a two-run top of the 10th. With Abreu at second base as the automatic runner to start the inning and Rodolfo Martinez on the mound, Diaz dropped down a sacrifice bunt advancing the go-ahead run to third. Melendez then lined a single into center plating Abreu for a 7-6 JetHawks lead. Herrera followed with a slow roller in front of the mound that Martinez fielded, but threw wildly to first for an error. Herrera was safe at first on the play while Melendez moved to third. Wall then grounded out to shortstop with Melendez scoring to make it 8-6.
In the bottom of the 10th, Winn led off with a double to the fence in deep right easily scoring Fabian, the automatic runner at second, to immediately bring the Giants to within 8-7. Winn would then take third on a wild pitch, but was stranded there when De La Rosa struck out looking, Brandon Van Horn grounded out to shortstop and Johnson popped out to third ending the game.
Heath Holder (3-0) earned the win for Lancaster after pitching 1 1/3 innings out of the bullpen with one hit and one unearned run allowed. Holder worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to force extra-innings and was then removed from the game after striking out De La Rosa for the first out in the bottom of the 10th. Reid Humphreys recorded the final two outs for his league-leading eighth save.
Martinez (3-2) was charged with both runs in the top of the 10th to take the loss. Both runs were unearned.
Notes
* Monday was the Giants' first extra-inning loss of the season (5-1 record).
* Three out of the four games in the series between San Jose and Lancaster were decided by one run.
* Winn owns the second-longest hitting streak in the California League this season (Stockton's Jonah Heim - 19 games).
* The JetHawks out-hit the Giants 13-9.
* Four Lancaster relievers - Bryan Baker, Justin Lawrence, Holder and Humphreys - combined to throw five innings with just one hit allowed (two runs). San Jose's only hit from the sixth through the 10th innings was Winn's leadoff double in the bottom of the 10th.
* Heyward has homered in back-to-back games (after two home runs in his first 26 games this season).
* The Giants fell one game behind Stockton (23-15) in the first half North Division race.
* Pitchers Connor Overton and Nolan Riggs were transferred to Sacramento (AAA) before the game on Monday. Pitcher Caleb Baragar rejoined San Jose from Sacramento while pitcher Tyler Schimpf was also added to the roster from Extended Spring Training.
On Deck
The Giants continue their homestand on Tuesday evening with the opener of a three-game series against the Modesto Nuts. First pitch at Municipal Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 PM. Conner Menez (2-1, 2.76 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Modesto is expected to counter with Danny Garcia (0-3, 6.75 ERA). For tickets, call (408) 297-1435 or visit sjgiants.com.
