Berroa Twirls Gem, Giants Hit Three Homers In 8–1 Win
Prelander Berroa fired six scoreless innings of one-hit ball and the Giants smacked three homers in an 8–1 win over the Stockton Ports on Saturday evening at Excite Ballpark. Jimmy Glowenke and Abdiel Layer hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning for San Jose before Jairo Pomares’ pinch-hit three-run blast in the sixth broke the game open. With the victory, the Giants (45–26) snapped their season-high tying three-game losing streak.
Berroa was masterful on the mound Saturday night as the right-hander retired 18 of the 19 batters he faced during his start. He surrendered only a first-inning single, walked none and matched a season-high with nine strikeouts. Berroa retired the Ports in order in the second through the sixth innings and finished his outing by setting down 16 hitters in a row. He struck out two batters each in the first, second, fifth and sixth frames.
Meanwhile, San Jose jumped out to a 3–0 lead on the back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the third. A one-out walk to Tyler Wyatt started the rally before Glowenke hammered the ninth pitch of his at-bat over the wall in left center for a two-run home run. Layer was up next and he launched a 1–0 offering 436 feet to left center for the second home run of the inning. Glowenke’s round-tripper was his fourth of the year while Layer hit his seventh this season. It marked the third time this season that the Giants hit back-to-back home runs.
San Jose then broke the game open with a five-run bottom of the sixth. Casey Schmitt was hit by a pitch to begin the inning before Alex Canario worked a walk. After Harrison Freed struck out, Pomares was sent up to the plate as a pinch-hitter and he crushed a towering fly ball over the fence in straightaway center for a three-run home run and a 6–0 lead. The homer was the 10th of the season hit by Pomares.
Later in the sixth inning, consecutive walks to Glowenke and Layer with two outs put runners on first and second. Luis Matos then belted a double to the fence in right center easily scoring both runners for an 8–0 advantage.
Stockton’s only run of the night came in the top of the seventh when Brayan Buelvas led off with a double against San Jose reliever Ivan Armstrong and scored two batters later on Joshwan Wright’s single. Armstrong though induced a double play of the next hitter, Danny Bautista, to end the inning and then struck out two in a perfect top of the eighth.
Clay Helvey fanned two more Ports batters in a 1–2–3 top of the ninth inning to seal the victory.
GIANTS NOTES
Berroa’s Gem
Berroa went to a three-ball count on only three of the 19 batters he faced on Saturday and Stockton hit only four balls out of the infield during the six innings he was on the mound. His fastball was clocked as high as 99 MPH. Berroa has fashioned a 1.60 ERA over his last six starts.
Long Balls
With three more round-trippers on Saturday, the Giants have now hit 92 home runs this season — second in Low-A West.
Series Update
Despite the Giants victory, Stockton has still taken three of the first five games in the series. The Ports scored 26 runs over the previous three games (all Stockton wins) before they were held to just one run and three hits on Saturday.
Hitting Leaders
Jimmy Glowenke (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) was the only Giants player to finish the game with more than one hit. Jairo Pomares (1-for-2, HR, 3 RBI) has hit 10 home runs in only 32 games with San Jose this season. Luis Matos’ (1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) double was his team-leading 20th of the season. Abdiel Layer’s (1-for-3, HR, RBI) home run was his first since June 6.
On The Mound
The trio of Giants pitchers combined to record 13 strikeouts without issuing a walk.
On Deck
The Giants and Ports conclude their six-game series on Sunday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 5:00 PM. Carson Ragsdale is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
