SAN JOSE, CA - The San Jose Giants opened their 2018 home schedule on Thursday evening with a 4-1 loss to the Stockton Ports at Municipal Stadium. A night after erupting for 18 runs and 25 hits in a victory at Lancaster, the Giants (4-4) were held to just three
SAN JOSE, CA - The San Jose Giants opened their 2018 home schedule on Thursday evening with a 4-1 loss to the Stockton Ports at Municipal Stadium. A night after erupting for 18 runs and 25 hits in a victory at Lancaster, the Giants (4-4) were held to just three hits by Ports pitching.
Stockton starter Parker Dunshee (1-0) earned the win after tossing five scoreless innings with just one hit allowed. The right-hander walked one, struck out four and retired 15 out of the 17 batters he faced. Dunshee has now thrown 48 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to last season.
Caleb Baragar, who was added to the San Jose roster from Extended Spring Training before the game, made the start for the Giants and began his night with two shutout innings. Baragar though would run into trouble in the top of the third as the Ports struck for three runs to take a 3-0 lead. Back-to-back one-out walks to Kevin Merrell and Luke Persico put runners on first and second for Stockton. After Will Toffey popped out, clean-up hitter Greg Deichmann stepped to the plate and belted a double off the fence in deep center. The hit scored both Merrell and Persico with the first two runs of the contest. Jonah Heim then doubled to deep left center bringing home Deichmann for a 3-0 Ports advantage.
Baragar (0-1) was saddled with the loss after yielding three runs (all earned) on four hits over four innings of work. The left-hander walked two and struck out two during his 67-pitch outing.
San Francisco Giants left-hander Will Smith pitched the top of the fifth for San Jose in the first appearance of his rehabilitation assignment. Smith is returning from Tommy John surgery and was pitching in his first game since the 2016 NL Division Series. Smith surrendered a leadoff bunt single to Merrell. After Merrell stole second, Persico grounded a single through the hole on the left side to put runners on the corners. Smith came back to strikeout Toffey before Deichmann delivered an RBI groundout to first as Merrell scored to make it 4-0. Smith completed the inning and his outing by setting down Heim on a foul pop out.
The Giants' only run of the evening came in the bottom of the sixth. Facing reliever Brandon Marsonek, the inning began with Jacob Heyward smacking a double to deep center. Bryce Johnson then reached on a bunt single advancing Heyward to third. Brandon Van Horn was up next and his slow grounder to first was misplayed by Persico for an error. Van Horn was credited with an RBI as Heyward scored to trim the Stockton lead to 4-1. San Jose though would get no closer as Wander Franco followed by grounding into a double play and after Heath Quinn walked, Gio Brusa lined out to left to end the inning.
The Giants were then held without a hit for the remainder of the game. San Jose's only baserunner over the final three innings occurred in the bottom of the eighth when Johnson was hit by a pitch, but he was promptly thrown out at second attempting to steal.
Miguel Romero picked-up the save for the Ports and working two hitless innings to finish the contest. Romero struck out one.
Notes
* Thursday was the first of 28 meetings this season between San Jose and Stockton.
* The Ports out-hit the Giants 9-3.
* Heyward (1-for-3, 2B) has now hit safely in all six games he's played this season. He owns San Jose's longest hit streak this year.
* Baragar made two previous appearances (including one start) in San Jose during the 2016 season. He spent all of last year with the Class-A Augusta GreenJackets.
* Stockton (7-1 record) has won seven games in a row.
* Dunshee has pitched 10 scoreless innings with only three hits allowed and 14 strikeouts in two starts this season.
* Nolan Riggs (3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO) and Patrick Ruotolo (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO) combined to hold the Ports scoreless over the final four innings.
On Deck
The Giants and Ports continue their four-game series on Friday evening with first pitch at Municipal Stadium scheduled for 7:00 PM. Mac Marshall (0-0, 0.00 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter Brian Howard (1-0, 0.00 ERA). Friday is the start of Comic-Con Weekend at Muni with the first 500 fans receiving a Super-Gigante bobblehead. For tickets, call (408) 297-1435 or visit sjgiants.com.
