Crawford’s Home Run Sparks Giants Comeback Win
Two-way player Reggie Crawford hit the first home run of his professional career to help the Giants to a come-from-behind 9–4 victory over the Visalia Rawhide on Friday evening at Valley Strong Ballpark. Crawford’s blast was a game-tying two-run shot in the top of the sixth as San Jose overcame a 3–0 deficit to take their fourth straight game in Visalia to open the series. The Giants (36–19) maintained an eight-game lead in the first half North Division race and reduced their magic number to three to clinch a playoff berth.
Crawford (2-for-5, HR, 3 RBI) and Andrew Kachel (1-for-3, 3 RBI) drove in three runs each to lead San Jose offensively in the win. Turner Hill (2-for-5, 2 2B) added a pair of doubles from the leadoff spot in the lineup.
Manuel Mercedes started on the mound for the Giants and began his outing with three scoreless innings retiring 10 of the first 11 batters he faced. Visalia though would rally for three runs against Mercedes in the bottom of the fourth to build a 3–0 lead. Back-to-back one-out singles from David Martin and Julio Carrion preceded a walk to Gavin Conticello as the Rawhide loaded the bases. Alvin Guzman followed with an infield single to shortstop to bring home the first run of the night before Danyer Santana’s fielder’s choice groundout made it 2–0. A wild pitch then uncorked by Mercedes plated the third run as Visalia moved in front by a 3–0 margin.
San Jose had managed only one hit over the first four innings before breaking through in the top of the fifth. A walk to Matt Higgins followed by a single from Anthony Rodriguez and a walk to Thomas Gavello loaded the bases with none out. Kachel then lifted a sacrifice fly to left plating Higgins to trim the Rawhide advantage to 3–1.
The Giants then tied the game on Crawford’s round-tripper in the top of the sixth. Hill led off the inning with a double before Crawford stepped to the plate with one out and launched an opposite field two-run home run to left center bringing San Jose even at 3–3.
The sixth-inning rally continued as Onil Perez followed the longball with a double before Higgins delivered an RBI single giving the Giants their first lead of the evening at 4–3. After Rodriguez reached on an error and Gavello grounded out, Kachel came through with a clutch hit as his two-out, two-run single into right stretched the lead to 6–3. San Jose scored five runs on five hits during the pivotal sixth-inning rally.
Visalia got one back in the bottom of the seventh on Martin’s two-out RBI single to make it 6–4, but the Rawhide would get no closer late in the game. Two more runs came home for the Giants in the top of the eighth on a Visalia error before Crawford’s RBI single in the top of the ninth completed the scoring for the night as San Jose owned a 9–4 lead.
Luis Moreno (1–1) picked-up the win for the Giants after tossing three innings out of the bullpen with only one run allowed. Moreno scattered five hits, walked one and struck out three. Julio Rodriguez then struck out five over two scoreless innings to finish the game.
San Jose out-hit Visalia by a 9–8 margin. Crawford was playing in only his third game as a hitter with the Giants this season. He’s next scheduled to pitch in Sunday’s series finale against the Rawhide.
San Jose remained eight games ahead of both Fresno and Modesto in the North Division standings with only 11 to play in the first half.
The Giants look for a fifth straight win in Visalia when the teams continue their series on Saturday evening. First pitch at Valley Strong Ballpark is set for 7:00 PM. Hayden Wynja is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
