Giants Power To 11-3 Victory Over Ports

[Empty Body]

STOCKTON, CA - The Giants matched a season-high with four home runs while Conner Menez fired six scoreless innings on the mound in an 11-3 blowout victory over the Stockton Ports on Saturday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. Gio Brusa homered twice to lead a 15-hit offensive attack as San Jose (62-76 overall, 32-36 second half) evened their series with Stockton at a game apiece.
Brusa (2-for-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI) connected for his second multi-homer game in the last seven days for the Giants. Ronnie Jebavy (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, SB) and Matt Winn (2-for-5, HR, RBI) also went deep while Cristian Paulino (2-for-6, SB), Ryan Howard (2-for-5) and Bryan Reynolds (2-for-4, 2 RBI) added two hits apiece. All nine players in the San Jose lineup recorded at least one hit in the contest.
Menez (7-7) surrendered just two hits and retired 17 out of the 20 batters he faced during his masterful start to pick-up the win. The left-hander walked one and struck out six.
The Giants jumped out early as Brusa launched a solo home run over the fence in straightaway center in the top of the second for a 1-0 lead. An inning later, three straight one-out singles from Paulino, Howard and Reynolds produced another run to make it 2-0. In the fourth, Winn blasted a solo home run to right center stretching the lead to 3-0 before Brusa's second home run of the night - a solo shot in the top of the sixth - pushed the margin to 4-0.
Meanwhile, Menez cruised through the first six innings of the game for San Jose. The Giants starter set down the Ports 1-2-3 in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings. In the bottom of the second, Seth Brown singled to leadoff, but was promptly erased when the next batter, Mikey White, grounded into a double play. Menez faced the minimum 15 hitters through five innings before pitching around a one-out walk and a single in the bottom of the sixth to maintain the 4-0 advantage.
San Jose then broke the game open with a single tally in the top of the seventh before a three-run eighth inning. In the seventh, Paulino singled with one out, stole second and scored on a Reynolds two-out single. Then in the eighth, Jebavy hammered a two-run home run to left for a 7-0 cushion. The Giants then added a third run in the frame when a dropped fly ball in deep left field scored John Polonius from first.
Stockton finally broke through in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Caleb Simpson (2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) as Chris Iriart belted a two-run home run to deep center. The homer brought the Ports back to within 8-2.
San Jose though responded with three more runs in the top of the ninth. A one-out RBI single from Heath Quinn plated the first run before a Polonius two-out, two-RBI single extended the lead to 11-2.
Dylan Rheault (1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) surrendered a solo home run to Brown in the bottom of the ninth, but picked-up the last three outs to seal the convincing Giants victory.
Stockton starter Dalton Sawyer (5-5) suffered the loss after yielding four runs (all earned) on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings. He walked one, struck out six and gave up three home runs.
Notes
* The Giants out-hit the Ports 15-6.
* Brusa has hit four home runs in five at-bats against Sawyer going back to last Sunday. His 16 home runs this season are one behind Aramis Garcia for the team lead.
* San Jose hit four home runs in a game for the sixth time this year.
* The Giants finished 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position compared to 0-for-3 for Stockton.
* Paulino extended his hitting streak to eight games. He has multi-hits in his last six games.
* Menez's seven wins lead the team. Saturday marked his first appearance in 15 days.
* Reynolds threw out Stockton's Nate Mondou at second base in the bottom of the eighth for his team-leading 10th outfield assist of the season.
* Saturday's victory clinched a season series win for the Giants over the Ports. San Jose is 14-11 against Stockton this year.
On Deck
The Giants and Ports continue their series on Sunday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark scheduled for 6:10 PM. Grant Watson (4-3, 3.71 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Angel Duno (8-9, 5.32 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 5:50 PM.