Giants Win In Walk-Off Fashion, Split Series With Ports

August 15, 2022 – California League (CalL) – San Jose Giants News Release

The San Jose Giants scored twice in the bottom of the 10th inning for a dramatic 6-5 victory over the Stockton Ports on Sunday evening at Excite Ballpark. After the Ports plated one run in the top of the 10th to go ahead, the Giants answered in the bottom of the frame with Aeverson Arteaga’s RBI single lifting San Jose to the walk-off win. The Giants (61-47, 21-21 second half) claimed the final two games of the series to earn a split this week against Stockton.

Sunday’s contest was back-and-forth late as the Ports, down to their final out in the top of the ninth, scored twice to tie the game 4-4. Stockton then took a 5-4 lead when they capitalized on their free runner in the top of the 10th inning. A critical Ports error though in the bottom of the 10th allowed the Giants to draw even before Arteaga’s game-winning hit.

Trevor McDonald started on the mound for San Jose and didn’t allow a hit over his 4 1/3 innings. McDonald surrendered one unearned run in the top of the second as a walk, an error and a sacrifice fly during the inning gave Stockton an early 1-0 advantage.

The Giants managed only two singles over the first four innings against Ports starter Mitch Myers before breaking through in the bottom of the fifth. A two-out double down the left field line from Garrett Frechette started the rally before Anyesber Sivira stepped to the plate and crushed a two-run home run to left. The homer was Sivira’s third over the last two games and it gave San Jose their first lead of the night at 2-1.

After Yoniel Ramirez pitched a scoreless top of the sixth to maintain the lead, the Giants hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Jared Dupere launched a fly ball over the fence in straightaway center for his eighth home run of the season.

Victor Bericoto was up next and he also went deep with a towering drive to center to make it a 4-1 game. The round-tripper was Bericoto’s 11th of the year.

Stockton took advantage of a pair of San Jose errors in the top of the seventh to pull within 4-2, but left the bases loaded in the inning. With Tyler Myrick on the mound, a single and back-to-back miscues on ground balls loaded the bases with none out. Junior Perez followed with a sacrifice fly to cut the Giants lead to two runs. Another single followed to again load the bases, but Myrick bounced back to strikeout Cameron Masterman and set down Dereck Salom on a groundout to retire the side. Myrick then needed only seven pitches to work a scoreless top of the eighth to maintain the 4-2 advantage.

With the lead still at two runs, Hunter Dula took over in the top of the ninth and brought San Jose to the brink of victory after setting down the first two batters of the inning. Back-to-back walks though to Perez and Danny Bautista put the potential tying runs on base. Masterman then belted a double to the fence in deep center easily scoring both runners to tie the game at 4-4. Dula did recover to retire the next batter, Salom, on a groundout to end the inning.

The Giants had an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the ninth as Adrian Sugastey led off with a single and eventually was at third base with two outs. Frechette, however, grounded out on a spectacular barehanded pick-up by Stockton second baseman Brennan Milone to end the inning and force extras.

Julio Rodriguez entered from the San Jose bullpen to begin the top of the 10th and inherited the automatic runner, Salom, at second base. The Ports would bring home the run as a fly out to deep right center from pinch-hitter Daniel Susac moved Salom to third before Alexander Campos hit a sacrifice fly to right for a 5-4 Stockton lead.

The Giants had an answer though in the bottom of the 10th. With Frechette at second base to start the inning, Sivira led off by hitting a slow roller out in front of home plate. The catcher Susac quickly picked-up the ball, but threw wildly to third and down the left field line. The error allowed Frechette to score the tying run while Sivira, the potential winning run, moved into second. Grant McCray was then intentionally walked before Arteaga hammered a 3-2 pitch down the left field line that one-hopped the wall for the game-winning RBI single as Sivira raced home to spark a walk-off celebration.

GIANTS NOTES

Walk-Off: Sunday was the Giants’ fifth walk-off win of the season.

Inside The Box Score: The Giants out-hit the Ports 9-5. Victor Bericoto (2-for-3, HR, RBI) was the only San Jose player with a multi-hit game. The Giants won despite committing four errors. Three of the five runs allowed by San Jose were unearned.

Sivira Sizzling: Over his last two games, Anyesber Sivira is 6-for-9 with three home runs and six RBI’s. Sivira tied a San Jose Giants single-game record with five hits on Saturday.

On The Mound: Trevor McDonald walked four and struck out five during his 4 1/3 innings on Sunday. Over two starts in the series, McDonald pitched 8 1/3 innings and did not allow an earned run. Julio Rodriguez (4-2) was credited with the win.

Homer Happy: With three more longballs on Sunday, the Giants have now hit a whopping 52 home runs in 24 games against Stockton this season (17-7 record).

Hitting Streak Extended: Grant McCray (1-for-4, SB) extended his hitting streak to nine games with an eighth-inning single. He also stole his team-leading 35th base of the season.

Second Half Update: The Giants (21-21) pulled back within four games of first-place Modesto (25-17) in the second half North Division race. Four weeks remain in the regular season.

On Deck: Following an off day, the Giants continue their homestand with a six-game set against the Inland Empire 66ers. Tuesday’s series opener at Excite Ballpark is a 6:30 PM first pitch. Visit sjgiants.com for tickets and a full list of the promotions for the upcoming week.

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