Giants Rout Ports, Move Into First Place Tie

[Empty Body]

STOCKTON, CA - The San Jose Giants pounded out 19 hits in a 12-5 victory over the Stockton Ports on Wednesday evening at Banner Island Ballpark. The Giants scored three times in the top of the first before erupting for seven runs in the second to build a commanding 10-0 lead on their way to the blowout win. With the victory, San Jose (23-23) moves into a first-place tie with the Visalia Rawhide (23-23) in the second half North Division race. The Giants have won 11 out of their last 15 games.
Steven Duggar (4-for-6, HR, RBI) had four hits, including his fourth home run of the season, to lead the San Jose offensive outburst. Dillon Dobson (2-for-3, HR, 4 RBI) also smacked a home run as part of a four-RBI night. All nine players in the Giants lineup finished the game with at least one hit. Ryan Howard (3-for-5, 2B), Bryan Reynolds (2-for-5), Gio Brusa (2-for-5, 2 RBI), Ronnie Jebavy (2-for-5) and Jalen Miller (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI) also produced multi-hit games.
Garrett Williams (2-0) fired six scoreless innings for San Jose to pick-up the win. The left-hander surrendered just two hits, walked two and struck out eight during his dominant start.
The Giants jumped on Ports starter Brendan Butler early as Duggar led off the game with a solo home run to deep right center. Howard followed with a double into the left field corner before Reynolds reached on an infield single to put runners on the corners. Jonah Arenado then lifted a sacrifice fly to right plating Howard with the second run of the inning. After a wild pitch moved Reynolds to second, Dobson delivered a line drive RBI single into right for a 3-0 cushion.
San Jose then sent 11 batters to the plate in a seven-run top of the second to break the game open. Duggar started the rally with a one-out single. Howard then dropped down a bunt in front of the plate and reached safely when first baseman Sandber Pimentel dropped the throw from catcher Argenis Raga for an error. Reynolds was up next and he drew a walk to load the bases. Butler came back to retire Arenado on a pop out for the second out, but a walk to Dobson followed to force home a run extending the Giants lead to 4-0. Brusa then stepped to the plate and lined a single into right center field plating both Howard and Reynolds for a 6-0 advantage. Matt Winn was up next and he greeted new pitcher Evan Manarino with a two-run double off the right center field fence to make the score 8-0. Then after a Jebavy single, Miller crushed a double to deep left center scoring two more runs stretching the lead to 10-0. All seven runs scored by San Jose in the top of the second came with two outs.
Meanwhile, Williams began his night with two hitless innings before working around a one-out single in the bottom of the third to keep Stockton off the board. Trailing 10-0, the Ports threatened in the bottom of the fourth, but left two runners in scoring position. Sheldon Neuse led off with a single before Pimentel walked. A passed ball then moved the runners to second and third, but Williams came back with three straight swinging strikeouts of Seth Brown, Eli White and Raga to retire the side.
Williams then finished his night with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the fifth and sixth. The Giants starter set down nine batters in a row to end his outing. Six of the nine outs came via the strikeout.
San Jose pushed their lead to 12-0 in the top of the sixth as Arenado doubled before Dobson launched a towering two-run homer down the right field line. The home run was Dobson's 14th of the season.
David Owen (1 2/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO) relieved Williams to begin the bottom of the seventh and allowed five runs over the next two innings. In the seventh, Nate Mondou produced a two-out RBI single to break-up the shutout. An inning later, Brown hit a two-out RBI single before White crushed a three-run home run to left cutting the Giants lead to 12-5. However, Caleb Simpson (1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO) entered from the bullpen after the homer and quickly ended the bottom of the eighth before setting down Stockton 1-2-3 in the ninth to finish the game.
Butler (4-4) was saddled with the loss after yielding eight runs (three earned) on seven hits over 1 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.
Notes
* The Giants and Ports have split the first two games of their series.
* San Jose's 19 hits was one off their season-high (20 hits - May 24 at Lancaster).
* The seven-run top of the second was the Giants' highest-scoring inning of the season.
* San Jose has scored 45 runs over their last five games (9.0 runs per game, 4-1 record).
* Williams has thrown 12 scoreless innings with just seven hits allowed and 18 strikeouts in two appearances for San Jose this season. He joined the Giants from Augusta (A) on August 2.
* Duggar and Dobson have both homered in back-to-back games. Dobson has 13 RBI's in his last six games (.455 AVG, 10-for-22, 2 HR).
* The Giants out-hit the Ports 19-7. The 19 hits allowed by Stockton was a season-high.
* San Jose was 7-for-14 (.500 AVG) with runners in scoring position.
* Arenado (1-for-5, 2B) hit his team-leading 26th double of the season, but saw his streak end at five straight multi-hit games at the plate.
* The Giants have a share of first place in the second half North Division standings for the first time this season. San Jose has overcome a six-game deficit over the last 17 days. The Giants were last in first place in the North Division on April 19 (7-5 first half record).
On Deck
The Giants and Ports conclude their three-game series on Thursday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark scheduled for 7:10 PM. Jake McCasland (5-11, 4.80 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Stockton is expected to counter with Norge Ruiz (2-0, 3.86 ERA). The game can be heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:50 PM.