SAN BERNARDINO, CA - The Inland Empire 66ers rallied from an early three-run deficit on Wednesday night to post a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Giants at San Manuel Stadium. With the loss, the Giants (52-71 overall, 18-35 second half) dropped two out of three in the series to
SAN BERNARDINO, CA - The Inland Empire 66ers rallied from an early three-run deficit on Wednesday night to post a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Giants at San Manuel Stadium. With the loss, the Giants (52-71 overall, 18-35 second half) dropped two out of three in the series to the Sixers and finished their six-game road trip with a 2-4 record.
Sandro Fabian (2-for-3) and Tanner Murphy (2-for-3, RBI, SB) had two hits apiece while Johneshwy Fargas (1-for-2, 2 RBI, SB) drove home a pair of runs to lead San Jose offensively in defeat.
All three Giants runs in the contest came in the top of the second inning as San Jose jumped out to the early lead. Wander Franco led off the inning with a single before a walk to Fabian and a one-out single from Kelvin Beltre that loaded the bases. Fargas was up next and he singled sharply into left to bring home both Franco and Fabian with the first two runs of the game. Murphy then delivered an RBI single into left as Beltre scored to make it 3-0. Fargas and Murphy then executed a double steal, but with runners at second and third, Bryce Johnson struck out and Jalen Miller lined out to left to end the inning.
John Gavin started on the mound for the Giants and worked four innings with one run allowed. Gavin surrendered four hits, walked one and struck out three during his 82-pitch outing. Inland Empire's only run against Gavin came in the bottom of the second when Bernabe Camargo drilled a two-out RBI triple into the right field corner.
San Jose was unable to add to their lead stranding two runners on base in the third, fifth and sixth innings before the 66ers rallied. Joey Marciano relieved Gavin to begin the bottom of the fifth and worked around a leadoff double in his first inning of work to maintain the 3-1 advantage. Marciano though was unable to keep Inland Empire off the board in the sixth. DJ Jenkins led off the inning with a single before Camargo walked. Cole Taylor then dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third. Brandon Marsh was up next and he laced a double into the right center field gap plating both Jenkins and Camargo to tie the game 3-3. The game-tying hit prompted a pitching change as Nolan Riggs was then summoned from the bullpen. Riggs struck out Jordan Zimmerman for the second out, but David MacKinnon then singled into right center to score Marsh giving the Sixers a 4-3 lead.
Still down by a run, the Giants threatened in the top of the eighth, but came away empty-handed. Beltre led off by drawing a walk and advanced to second on a Fargas sacrifice bunt. However with the potential tying run in scoring position, Murphy fouled out to the catcher and Johnson struck out swinging.
Inland Empire then pushed across a key insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to extend their lead to 5-3. Ian Gardeck quickly retired the first two batters of the inning before Zimmerman reached on an infield single to third and took second on the play when Franco threw the ball away for an error. MacKinnon followed with a line drive single to center bringing home Zimmerman for a two-run 66ers advantage.
In the top of the ninth, Gio Brusa worked a one-out walk and Fabian singled with two outs to put the tying run on base, but Jacob Heyward followed with a fly out to left ending the game.
Jorge Tavarez (4-1) picked-up the win after working 1 2/3 scoreless innings of work. Greg Belton pitched the top of the ninth inning for his second save.
Marciano (0-4) was saddled with the loss after he was charged with all three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Notes
* The Giants have not won a road series since June 8-10 at Modesto (10-22 road record since).
* Wednesday's defeat clinched a sub-.500 overall record for San Jose this year. It marks the first time in team history (1988-2018) that the Giants have posted three consecutive losing seasons (62-78 in 2017, 68-72 in 2016).
* Inland Empire out-hit San Jose 11-8.
* The Giants were 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 12 on base.
* Fargas' stolen base was his league-leading 39th of the season.
* At three hours and 38 minutes, Wednesday marked the longest nine-inning game of the season for San Jose.
On Deck
Following an off day, the Giants return home on Friday night to begin a three-game series against the Lancaster JetHawks. First pitch at Municipal Stadium is scheduled for 7:00 PM. Domenic Mazza (3-3, 3.83 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Lancaster is expected to counter with Matt Dennis (7-12, 5.84 ERA). The Giants bring Hawaiian culture to the ballpark for the 12th annual A Giant Luau! The evening will be full of Hawaiian festivities ranging from hula dancers and island music to Hawaiian cuisine and a special pig roasting ceremony in Turkey Mike's BBQ. Fans that wear their Hawaiian gear to the game Friday night will receive two free future game tickets. The first 500 fans in attendance will receive festive leis. It's also a fireworks night at the ballpark! For tickets, call (408) 297-1435 or visit sjgiants.com.
