Giants Fall To Fresno, 4-3
September 9, 2022 – California League (CalL) – San Jose Giants News Release
The San Jose Giants suffered a narrow 4-3 loss to the Fresno Grizzlies on Thursday night at Excite Ballpark. Fresno’s Jordan Beck hit a game-tying solo home run in the top of the sixth before his RBI single in the seventh inning put the Grizzlies ahead for good. Despite the setback, the playoff-bound Giants (73-56, 33-30 second half) have only lost three times in their last 12 games.
Aeverson Arteaga (2-for-5) singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 13 games in defeat. San Jose was held to only five hits in the contest and left 11 runners on base.
The Giants benefitted from two Fresno errors to score a run in the bottom of the second to take an early lead. Back-to-back miscues on the Grizzlies infield allowed both Adrian Sugastey and Diego Velasquez to reach safely to start the inning as San Jose put runners on second and third with none out. After Yorlis Rodriguez grounded out, P.J. Hilson hit a sacrifice fly to left plating Sugastey with the first run of the night.
Meanwhile, 2022 second round draft pick Carson Whisenhunt made the start on the mound for the Giants and tossed two scoreless innings in his outing. The left-hander pitched around back-to-back one-out singles in the top of the first and a leadoff walk in the second to keep Fresno off the board. Whisenhunt struck out two during his start.
Ryan Murphy, a standout hurler on the 2021 championship team who has pitched as high as Double-A this season, then entered to begin the top of the third. Murphy was added to San Jose’s roster earlier Thursday on a minor league rehab assignment. The right-hander quickly retired the first two batters of the third inning before Benny Montgomery hit a double. A Giants error then allowed the Grizzlies to score the tying run. Murphy skipped a pitch in the dirt which allowed Montgomery to take third and the Fresno runner then scored when the catcher Sugastey made a wild throw down the left field line. Moments later, Yanquiel Fernandez blasted a solo home run to right – his 21st round-tripper of the season – to give the Grizzlies their first lead at 2-1.
San Jose though answered with a two-run bottom of the fourth to go back in front. A leadoff single from Sugastey before a one-out walk drawn by Rodriguez put runners on first and second. Hilson followed with a single to load the bases. Andrew Kachel, who was making his Giants debut, then worked a walk to force home Sugastey with the tying run. Victor Bericoto was up next and he hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Rodriguez for a 3-2 San Jose advantage.
Spencer Miles had relieved Murphy with two outs in the top of the fourth and retired the first four batters of his appearance before Beck led off the top of the sixth with a home run to tie the game 3-3. Miles walked two later in the frame, but prevented further damage when he induced E.J. Andrews Jr. to bounce into an inning-ending double play.
Mikell Manzano was then summoned from the Giants bullpen to begin the top of the seventh for his California League debut. With the game still tied, Manzano was greeted by a Ben Sems leadoff single. After Juan Brito advanced the runner to second with a sacrifice bunt, Montgomery’s grounder to third was misplayed by Rodriguez for an error. The miscue allowed Sems to advance to third. Manzano came back with a strikeout of Fernandez, but Beck followed with a two-out RBI single into center as Fresno reclaimed the lead at 4-3.
San Jose managed only two hits after the fourth inning – a one-out single from Kachel in the bottom of the sixth and a one-out single off the bat of Arteaga in the bottom of the ninth. Arteaga, the potential tying run, moved to second on Logan Wyatt’s groundout, but was stranded there when Sugastey grounded out to end the game.
GIANTS NOTES
Inside The Box Score: Fresno out-hit San Jose by an 8-5 margin. The teams were a combined 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position (Grizzlies 1-for-11, Giants 1-for-6). The Fresno bullpen pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings with only two hits allowed. The temperature at first pitch was 100 degrees.
Flores On The Mound: Giants back-up catcher Ronaldo Flores pitched a 1-2-3 top of the ninth inning in his first appearance of the season on the mound. Flores needed only eight pitches to get through the inning.
Series Update: Fresno has now won two of the first three games in the series. The matchup is a preview of next week’s best-of-three North Division Series between the Giants and Grizzlies.
Whisenhunt In The Cal League: Through his first two starts with the Giants, Carson Whisenhunt has pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and only one walk.
On Deck: The Giants and Grizzlies continue their series on Friday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 6:30 PM. Liam Simon is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
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