Newcomers Key 10-3 Victory Over Stockton
September 2, 2022 – California League (CalL) – San Jose Giants News Release
Several newcomers to the San Jose Giants made key contributions on Thursday night in a 10-3 victory over the Stockton Ports at Banner Island Ballpark. Among the standouts were P.J. Hilson, who smacked a go-ahead home run as part of a multi-hit effort at the plate while hurlers Will Kempner and Hayden Birdsong impressed in the early-innings en route to the convincing win. The victory was the Giants’ (69-54, 29-28 second half) second straight against the Ports and fifth win in the last six games overall.
San Jose never trailed on Thursday and would take a 1-0 lead with a single run in the top of the first inning. Damon Dues reached on a one-out error to start the rally before Aeverson Arteaga blasted a double off the center field wall to put runners on second and third. Then with two down, Wade Meckler’s line drive single off of Stockton pitcher Stevie Emanuels plated Dues with the first run of the night.
Kempner, San Francisco’s third round draft pick this year and a San Jose native, made the start on the mound for the Giants in his California League debut. The right-hander pitched around a two-out triple in the bottom of the first to begin his outing. In the second, the Ports’ Brennan Milone singled to leadoff, stole second and scored on Dereck Salom’s one-out double to tie the game 1-1. Kempner though prevented further damage when he struck out Cooper Uhl and retired Jhoan Paulino on a groundout to end the inning.
San Jose then immediately went back ahead when Hilson launched the first pitch of the top of the third over the fence in right for an opposite field solo homer. Hilson, who also joined the club at the start of the week, ranked second in the Arizona Complex League (Rookie-level) with nine home runs this season. His round-tripper on Thursday gave the Giants a 2-1 lead.
Birdsong, another newcomer, then took over on the mound to begin the bottom of the third and dazzled in his relief appearance. The right-hander struck out six batters over his two scoreless innings yielding only one hit – a single in the bottom of the third to rehabbing A’s outfielder Ramon Laureano. Following Laureano’s single, Birdsong struck out five hitters in a row as he maintained the one-run advantage.
San Jose then extended their lead with a two-run rally in the top of the fifth. Back-to-back one-out walks to Logan Wyatt and Dues followed by an Arteaga single loaded the bases. Victor Bericoto then bounced into a force out to third with Wyatt coming home with the first run of the inning. After a walk to Meckler, a single to right off the bat of Anyesber Sivira plated Arteaga to make it 4-1.
Spencer Bivens continued the Giants’ strong work on the mound with two perfect innings over the fifth and sixth. Bivens fanned four batters during his outing.
San Jose would then break the game open with a run in the seventh before batting around during a five-run top of the eighth. In the seventh, Dues drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Moments later, Dues broke for third on another stolen base attempt and was able to score when Stockton reliever Garrett Irvin airmailed his throw into foul territory for an error.
An inning later, Zach Morgan, another new player this week for the Giants, led off with a ringing triple into the right center field gap. Hilson followed with a single through the hole on the right side to plate Morgan for a 6-1 cushion. After Hilson stole second and Dues walked with one out, Arteaga and Bericoto produced back-to-back RBI singles to make it 8-1. Then with two outs and runners at second and third, Sivira beat out a slow roller up the middle for an infield single. The hit scored Arteaga while Bericoto also came home on the play when Ports first baseman T.J. Schofield-Sam threw wildly to the plate. San Jose sent all nine batters to the plate in the top of the eighth inning and scored five runs on five hits to take a 10-1 lead.
Willian Suarez had another dominant outing out of the bullpen for the Giants striking out five batters over two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth. Suarez surrendered only one hit. Yoniel Ramirez then closed it out in the bottom of the ninth with Stockton scoring twice to bring the game to its final margin of 10-3.
GIANTS NOTES
Clutch Hitting: The Giants went 7-for-15 (.467 AVG) with runners in scoring position on Thursday. San Jose out-hit Stockton 11-8.
Offensive Standouts: Aeverson Arteaga (3-for-5, 2B, RBI, SB) and Anyesber Sivira (3-for-4, 2 RBI) had three hits apiece for the Giants. Arteaga’s double was his league-leading 35th of the season. P.J. Hilson (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI, SB) also had a multi-hit game while Victor Bericoto (1-for-4, 2 RBI, SB) drove in a pair of runs.
Pitching Shines: The five Giants hurlers on Thursday combined for 17 strikeouts and only one walk. Hayden Birdsong was credited with the win in his San Jose debut.
Road Trip Update: The Giants improved to 6-3 on their current road trip (4-2 at Modesto, 2-1 at Stockton).
Playoff Race: The Giants (69-54) are now eight games ahead of Modesto (61-62) in the race for the second-best overall record in the North Division with nine games remaining in the regular season. If Fresno wins the second half in the North (currently five games ahead of Modesto), the club with the second-best overall record in the division will qualify for the playoffs.
On Deck: The Giants and Ports continue their series on Friday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark set for 7:05 PM. Carson Whisenhunt is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
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