Cumming Cruises In 5–1 Giants Victory
Dylan Cumming fired six scoreless innings — the longest outing by a San Jose pitcher this season — in a 5–1 Giants victory over the Fresno Grizzlies on Saturday night. In front of a sellout crowd of 3,243 at Excite Ballpark, San Jose (60–47 overall, 20–21 second half) won for the fourth time in five games this week against division-leading Fresno.
Cumming, who entered the game to begin the top of the third, limited the Grizzlies to only two singles during his dominant stint on the mound. The right-hander walked two, struck out five and needed only 72 pitches to get through six innings.
Offensively, P.J. Hilson (2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) continued his home run surge with a two-run shot as part of a multi-hit game. Turner Hill (1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI) added a key two-run double as the Giants finished the contest with nine hits.
Fresno’s only run of the night came in the top of the first inning. Facing San Jose starter Seth Corry, the game began with a single from Daniel Amaral. After Amaral stole second, Bryant Betancourt lined an RBI single into left center to give the Grizzlies an early 1–0 lead. Corry though recovered to induce the next hitter, Dyan Jorge, to ground into a double play and then completed his outing with a scoreless top of the second. Corry, who was making his first start with the Giants since July 8 due to a stint on the injured list, struck out one and walked one during his two innings of work.
After Cumming pitched around a two-out single in a scoreless top of the third, San Jose went to work at the plate in the bottom of the inning. Back-to-back singles from Dilan Rosario and Alexander Suarez started the frame before Hill came up and hit a sharp grounder past first base and down the right field line. The hit went for a double as both Rosario and Suarez scored giving the Giants a 2–1 lead.
San Jose added a third run in the inning as Cole Foster grounded out to advance Hill to third before Diego Velasquez’s sacrifice fly made it 3–1.
Cumming surrendered a leadoff infield single to Skyler Messinger in the top of the fourth, but Andy Perez followed by grounding into a double play before Jesus Bugarin struck out to end the inning. Cumming then needed only 10 pitches to breeze through a perfect top of the fifth. In the sixth, with the score still at 3–1, Betancourt drew a one-out walk before Messinger walked with two down to put the potential tying run on base. Cumming though came back to strikeout Perez to end the threat.
Hilson’s home run then extended the San Jose lead in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs, Scott Bandura singled and stole second. Hilson then crushed a fly ball over the fence down the left field line for a two-run homer and a 5–1 advantage. It was Hilson’s sixth homer in his last nine games and his 10th round-tripper this season (tied with Thomas Gavello for the team lead).
Cumming then fired back-to-back 1–2–3 innings in the seventh and eighth. He finished his outing by setting down seven straight Grizzlies hitters. Wilkelma Castillo sealed the Giants victory with a perfect top of the ninth. San Jose pitchers recorded 17 groundouts in the game and induced three double plays.
The Giants out-hit the Grizzlies 9–5. Rosario (2-for-3) also had a multi-hit game for San Jose. The Giants are now 13–13 against Fresno in 2023 with one game remaining between the two teams in the regular season. No San Jose pitcher had thrown more than five innings in a game this season before Cumming’s performance on Saturday.
The Giants close out their homestand with the series finale against Fresno on Sunday evening. First pitch at Excite Ballpark is set for 5:00 PM. Nomar Medina is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher. Visit sjgiants.com for tickets.
