Giants Edge Ports To Even Series
September 1, 2022 – California League (CalL) – San Jose Giants News Release
The San Jose Giants evened their series in Stockton with a 5-4 victory over the Ports on Wednesday night at Banner Island Ballpark. Aeverson Arteaga smacked a two-run home run, Seth Lonsway tossed five effective innings in his start while relievers Julio Rodriguez and Jose Cruz preserved the slim lead late in the game as the Giants (68-54, 28-28 second half) won for the fourth time in their last five contests overall.
Lonsway (9-2) earned his team-leading ninth win of the season after allowing only two earned runs (three runs total) in his five innings on the mound. The left-hander struck out seven. Rodriguez pitched the next two innings with one run allowed and induced a key double play to maintain the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Cruz then finished the game with two hitless innings to record his sixth save of the year.
San Jose jumped out early on Wednesday with a two-run top of the first inning. Damon Dues worked a one-out walk to start the rally before Arteaga stepped to the plate and launched a two-run home run to deep left center. The round-tripper was Arteaga’s 12th of the season and it gave the Giants shortstop a team-leading 75 RBI’s.
The Ports would answer with single tallies in the second, third and fourth innings though to briefly take a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the second, Brennan Milone walked with one out before Jhoan Paulino singled. Dereck Salom followed with an RBI single to put Stockton on the board. A double play, however, would prevent further damage in the frame.
An inning later, Danny Bautista hit a one-out double before Daniel Susac’s two-out RBI double to deep left tied the game 2-2. Then in the bottom of the fourth, Paulino hit a line drive along the right field line that eluded a diving P.J. Hilson. Paulino raced into second with a double as Hilson made a hurried throw towards second that sailed away and rolled down the left field line. The error allowed Paulino to round the bases and give the Ports their first lead of the night at 3-2.
The Giants would immediately respond though with a two-run top of the fifth to go back ahead. Diego Velasquez led off with a single to left before taking second on a wild pitch. Alexander Suarez then blasted a double off the fence in straightaway center. Velasquez was only able to advance to third on the play, but would score the tying run a batter later when Hilson hit a sacrifice fly down the left field line. Suarez also moved up on the sac fly and then he came home with the go-ahead tally when Logan Wyatt grounded out to second as San Jose reclaimed the lead at 4-3.
Lonsway finished his night with a scoreless bottom of the fifth using another double play to work around a leadoff walk. After Rodriguez kept Stockton off the board in the bottom of the sixth, the Giants added a run in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Suarez walked and stole second. Hilson followed with a slow grounder up the middle that glanced off the glove of the ranging Salom at shortstop. Hilson was credited with an infield hit and Suarez never stopped as he rounded third and was able to score on the play to make it 5-3.
The Ports got the run back in the bottom of the seventh, but could not complete a late comeback. Rodriguez walked Salom to start the inning before back-to-back one-out singles from Junior Perez and Bautista produced the run as Stockton pulled within 5-4. However with runners at first and second, Rodriguez induced Tommy Stevenson to ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play as San Jose maintained their one-run advantage.
Cruz then took over the bottom of the eighth and promptly struck out the first two batters of the inning. A walk to Milone followed before Paulino grounded out to end the inning. Then in the ninth, Cruz struck out two more in a 1-2-3 frame to seal the Giants victory.
GIANTS NOTES
Success Versus Stockton: The Giants improved to 18-8 against Stockton this season, including an 11-3 mark at Banner Island Ballpark.
Arteaga Surging: Aeverson Arteaga (1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) is batting .368 with five doubles, one home run and 13 RBI’s over his last 10 games. He’s driven in at least one run in seven straight games.
On The Mound: Seth Lonsway owns a 0.90 ERA (2 ER/20 IP) over his last four appearances. His 117 strikeouts (in 91 innings) this season leads the Giants staff and rank third in the California League. Jose Cruz, who struck out four in his two innings of work on Wednesday, is now 6-for-6 in save opportunities this year. He needed only nine pitches, eight of which were strikes, to set down the Ports in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Inside The Box Score: The Giants won despite being out-hit 9-6. San Jose was 3-for-4 in stolen base attempts. Garrett Frechette started in left field for the Giants – his first game of the season in the outfield. P.J. Hilson went 1-for-3 with two RBI’s and a stolen base in his first start with San Jose.
Roster Moves: Pitchers Spencer Miles and Hayden Birdsong were added to San Jose’s roster before the game on Wednesday. Miles (4th round) and Birdsong (6th round) were both selected in this year’s draft by the San Francisco Giants. In corresponding roster moves, pitchers Matt Mikulski and Eric Silva were both placed on the 7-day injured list.
Playoff Race: The Giants (68-54) are now seven games ahead of Modesto (61-61) in the race for the second-best overall record in the North Division. 10 games remain in the regular season. If Fresno wins the second half in the North (currently four 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 play the third game of their six-game series on Thursday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark set for 7:05 PM. Will Kempner is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
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