Stockton Smashes Giants, 10-3

STOCKTON, CA - The Stockton Ports smacked three home runs, including a pair of three-run blasts from Edwin Diaz and Viosergy Rosa, in a 10-3 victory over the San Jose Giants on Friday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. San Jose (50-68 overall, 16-32 second half) was attempting to win three straight games for the first time since mid-July, but instead suffered the defeat in their road trip opener.
Bryce Johnson (3-for-4) had three hits, Heath Quinn (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI) drove in a pair of runs and Dillon Dobson (2-for-4, HR, RBI) homered to lead the Giants offensively in the loss. San Jose out-hit Stockton by an 11-9 margin, but left 13 runners on base.
The Ports never trailed in the contest scoring once in the bottom of the first against Giants starter John Gavin to take an early 1-0 lead. Cobie Vance led off the inning with a single. Chase Calabuig then grounded a single through the hole on the right side with Vance moving to third when right fielder Sandro Fabian bobbled the ball for an error. Two batters later, Luke Persico hit a sacrifice fly to deep center bringing home Vance with the first run of the night.
San Jose immediately tied the game in the top of the second as Dobson crushed a one-out solo home run down the right field line. The homer was Dobson's fourth with the Giants this season.
Gavin threw a scoreless bottom of the second, but would run into trouble in the third. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Gavin issued consecutive walks to Rosa and Persico. Diaz was up next and he belted a 2-0 pitch from Gavin over the fence in deep left for a three-run homer. The home run, Diaz's ninth of the year, gave Stockton a 4-1 lead.
San Jose had a chance to answer in the top of the fourth as three straight one-out walks to Dobson, Jacob Heyward and Fabian loaded the bases, but Brandon Van Horn followed by grounding into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. The Ports then pushed their lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Santiago Chávez drilled a solo home run to left center.
The Giants scored twice in the top of the fifth to cut Stockton lead in half, but would get no closer in the game. Consecutive one-out singles from Johnson and Miller started the rally before Wander Franco walked to load the bases. Quinn followed with a line drive single into left plating Johnson and Miller to bring San Jose to within 5-3. Franco also took third on the play when the throw home bounced away for an error. However with the runners on the corners, Andrew Tomasovich entered from the bullpen and induced Dobson to pop out to shortstop before Heyward lined out to left to end the inning.
The Ports then reclaimed the momentum with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Facing Giants reliever Peter Lannoo, back-to-back one-out doubles off the fence from Rosa and Persico produced the first run of the inning. Then with two down, Brett Siddall delivered an RBI single to make it 7-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, Franklin Van Gurp issued a pair of walks before Rosa stepped to the plate with one out and launched a home run to left center. The second three-run homer of the game for Stockton stretched the Ports lead to 10-3.
San Jose loaded the bases again in the top of the seventh as Quinn doubled, Dobson singled and Fabian walked, however Van Horn struck out swinging to end the threat. The Giants would then not advance a runner past first base for the remainder of the night.
Tomasovich (2-1) picked-up the win after tossing 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. He allowed two hits and struck out two. Tomasovich, Sam Sheehan (1 IP) and Trey Cochran-Gill (2 IP) combined to throw 4 2/3 shutout innings of relief to finish the game. Ports starter Wyatt Marks worked 4 1/3 innings with three runs (all earned) allowed. Marks gave up five hits, walked five and struck out six.
Gavin (0-2) suffered the loss after yielding five runs (four earned) in his four innings of work. The left-hander surrendered five hits, walked three and struck out three.
Notes
* Friday was the opener of a six-game road trip for the Giants.
* San Jose has lost nine out of their last 11 road games.
* Franco's (0-for-4, BB) hitting streak was snapped at 11 games.
* Dobson has homered in back-to-back games.
* The Giants have allowed 14 home runs in their last four games.
* San Jose fell to 10-13 against Stockton this season.
On Deck
The Giants and Ports continue their three-game series on Saturday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark scheduled for 7:10 PM. Domenic Mazza (3-3, 4.19 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Zack Erwin (8-8, 5.16 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:50 PM.