SAN JOSE, CA - The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes completed a five-game sweep of the reeling San Jose Giants with a come-from-behind 6-5 victory on Sunday evening at Municipal Stadium. Rancho Cucamonga rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the contest as Hamlet Marte's tiebreaking solo home run in the top of
SAN JOSE, CA - The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes completed a five-game sweep of the reeling San Jose Giants with a come-from-behind 6-5 victory on Sunday evening at Municipal Stadium. Rancho Cucamonga rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the contest as Hamlet Marte's tiebreaking solo home run in the top of the ninth lifted the Quakes to the win. The loss was San Jose's eighth in a row and dropped the Giants (39-49 overall, 5-13 second half) to a season-high 10 games below .500.
Brandon Van Horn (1-for-4, HR, RBI) homered for a third straight game while Wander Franco (2-for-5, RBI, SB), Heath Quinn (2-for-5, 2B, RBI) and Dillon Dobson (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI) had two hits apiece to lead San Jose offensively in defeat.
The Giants built a 5-0 lead on Sunday as they looked to salvage a game in the series. In the bottom of the first, Franco reached on a one-out error before Jacob Heyward walked with two outs. Dobson then smashed a double off the fence in deep right center field to score both runners.
Van Horn then led off the bottom of the second with a home run to left - his eighth round-tripper of the season - pushing the lead to 3-0. In the bottom of the fourth, Johneshwy Fargas reached on a two-out bunt single, stole second and scored when Franco grounded a single up the middle. Quinn followed with a ringing double to deep left center plating Franco to make it 5-0.
Meanwhile, Raffi Vizcaino started on the mound for San Jose and began his outing with four scoreless innings. Vizcaino pitched out of a bases loaded, none out jam in the top of the third to keep the Quakes off the board. Rancho Cucamonga though would get back into the game with a four-run top of the fifth. Marte led off with a single before Zack McKinstry drew a walk. Vizcaino came back to retire Rylan Bannon on a pop out, which ended his night. Keenan Bartlett was summoned from the bullpen, but he promptly allowed an RBI single to Cody Thomas as Marte scored the first run of the inning. Omar Estevez was up next and he delivered a sacrifice fly to left to bring Rancho Cucamonga to within 5-2. Cristian Santana then crushed an opposite field two-run homer to right cutting the Giants lead to 5-4.
San Jose had opportunities to extend their lead when they put runners on first and second with none out in the sixth and seventh innings, but failed to score in both frames. Peter Lannoo then entered out of the Giants bullpen to begin the top of the eighth and was greeted by an Estevez solo home run which tied the game 5-5. Then in the ninth, Marte led off with another solo home run - also off Lannoo - to give the Quakes their first lead of the night at 6-5.
Down by a run, San Jose threatened in the bottom of the ninth, however came up short in their comeback bid. With one out, Heath Quinn lined a single into left center before pinch-runner Bryce Johnson stole second. Heyward was up next and he was called out on strikes for the second out of the inning. Dobson then blooped a fly ball into shallow left that saw Saige Jenco sprint in to make a spectacular diving catch to end the game.
Marshall Kasowski (1-0) earned the win out of the Rancho Cucamonga bullpen after tossing two scoreless innings to finish the game. Kasowski allowed one hit, walked none and struck out two.
Lannoo (1-3) suffered the loss after yielding two runs - both on solo homers - over the final two innings.
Notes
* The Quakes outscored the Giants by a 35-15 margin during the five-game series.
* Sunday's victory was Rancho Cucamonga's 13th in a row overall.
* Van Horn became the first San Jose player to homer in three straight games this season. His eight home runs overall this year rank tied for third on the team.
* The Quakes out-hit the Giants by a 12-10 margin. The teams were a combined 3-for-27 with runners in scoring position (Rancho Cucamonga 1-for-14, San Jose 2-for-13).
* The Giants' current eight-game skid is their longest losing streak since dropping eight in a row July 11-18, 2016.
* Bartlett (2 2/3 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO) was added to San Jose's roster from Salem-Keizer (Short-Season) before the game on Sunday.
On Deck
The Giants next travel to Stockton for a four-game series. Monday's series opener at Banner Island Ballpark is a 7:10 PM first pitch. Domenic Mazza (1-1, 3.52 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while the Ports are expected to counter with Xavier Altamirano (3-0, 6.00 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:50 PM.
