Late Lead Slips Away, Giants Fall 7-6

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA - The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes rallied for five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Thursday night on their way to a come-from-behind 7-6 victory over the San Jose Giants at LoanMart Field. San Jose committed critical back-to-back errors during the decisive eighth inning to put the Quakes ahead as the Giants suffered their second straight loss to open the series. The defeat was also San Jose's (44-54 overall, 10-18 second half) 10th in a row overall to Rancho Cucamonga.
Jacob Heyward (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, SB) and Heath Quinn (1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI) homered for the Giants in the loss. Brandon Van Horn (2-for-4, 3B, RBI) added a pair of hits.
San Jose carried a 6-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth before the Quakes staged their dramatic rally. With reliever Franklin Van Gurp on the mound, Jared Walker began the frame with a towering solo home run to deep right center. Gavin Lux followed with a single before Omar Estevez flied out. Cody Thomas then drew a walk to bring the potential tying run to the plate and end Van Gurp's night. Frank Rubio was summoned from the bullpen, but he allowed back-to-back RBI singles to Cristian Santana and Jeren Kendall to bring Rancho Cucamonga to within 6-5. Logan Landon was up next and he hit a high chopper to third base that was gloved by Dillon Dobson. However, Dobson's throw to second, in an effort to force out Kendall, was high and pulled Kelvin Beltre off the bag. The error allowed the Quakes to load the bases with still just one out in the inning. Connor Wong then hit a broken bat roller to shortstop that Van Horn picked-up and stepped on second base for the force out on Landon, but his throw to first to try and complete an inning-ending double play skipped by Gio Brusa and into foul territory. The Giants' second error of the inning brought home both Santana and Kendall as Rancho Cucamonga took a 7-6 lead.
In the top of the ninth, Jalen Miller reached safely with two outs on a dropped third strike, but Heyward followed by grounding out to shortstop to end the game.
Andre Scrubb (3-0) was credited with the win for the Quakes after tossing two hitless innings to finish the game. Scrubb struck out two.
Rubio (0-1) suffered the loss for the Giants. Both runs charged to Rubio in the bottom of the eighth were unearned.
Rancho Cucamonga took an early 1-0 lead in the contest as Lux led off the bottom of the first against San Jose starter Logan Webb with a triple into the left field corner before scoring on an Estevez sacrifice fly.
The Giants immediately tied the game in the top of the second when Quinn launched a solo home run to deep left center - his ninth round-tripper of the year. The Quakes, however, came right back with a run in the bottom of the second as Landon walked, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored when Hamlet Marte reached on a two-out infield single.
Rancho Cucamonga maintained their 2-1 lead until San Jose erupted for four runs in the top of the fifth. Beltre led off with a double and scored the tying run two batters later when Van Horn hammered a one-out triple to the fence in deep center. Johneshwy Fargas followed with a sharp single to left plating Van Horn for a 3-2 Giants lead. Then with two down, Heyward lifted an opposite field two-run homer down the right field line to make it 5-2. The home run was Heyward's eighth of the season.
Webb worked five strong innings in his start yielding just two runs (both earned) on three hits. The right-hander, who retired eight out of the final nine batters that he faced, walked two and struck out three.
San Jose scored their sixth and final run of the contest in the top of the seventh. Van Horn led off with a single before moving to second on a Fargas sacrifice bunt. Miller was then hit by a pitch before Heyward walked to load the bases. Quinn was up next and he hit a sacrifice fly to left plating Van Horn extending the Giants lead to 6-2.
Van Gurp (2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO), who replaced Webb to begin the bottom of the sixth, began his relief outing with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings before the Quakes rallied in the eighth.
Notes
* The Giants fell to 1-10 against Rancho Cucamonga this season. San Jose's lone victory came on June 21 - the first meeting of the year between the teams. The Quakes have won 10 in a row versus the Giants since.
* San Jose lost for the sixth time this season when leading after seven innings - tied for the league lead. The Giants also suffered their league-high 18th blown save of the year.
* Both teams finished with seven hits on Thursday.
* Webb's five innings pitched was a season-high.
* Rancho Cucamonga has won 20 out of their last 23 games.
On Deck
The Giants will look to avoid a three-game sweep when they conclude their series at Rancho Cucamonga on Friday evening. First pitch at LoanMart Field is scheduled for 7:05 PM. Domenic Mazza (2-1, 1.86 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while the Quakes are expected to counter with Max Gamboa (0-0, --- ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:45 PM.