Early Offense Propels Giants To 7–3 Win, Series Victory Over Quakes
The San Jose Giants secured a series victory over Dodgers affiliate Rancho Cucamonga with a 7–3 win against the Quakes on Sunday night at Excite Ballpark. The Giants scored seven runs over the second and third innings to build a 7–0 lead and never looked back on their way to victory. San Jose (56–40, 16–14 second half) took four of six from the Quakes in the series and have now won 10 out of their last 14 games overall.
The scoring opened on Sunday when Hayden Cantrelle blasted a solo home run down the right field line to leadoff the bottom of the second inning. The homer was Cantrelle’s second of the season.
The Giants then loaded the bases with none out after Adrian Sugastey was hit by a pitch, Jared Dupere walked and Yorlis Rodriguez singled. Anyesber Sivira was up next and he lined a single into right plating Sugastey to extend the lead to 2–0.
A bases loaded walk to Grant McCray forced home another run for San Jose before a wild pitch with a runner at third later in the inning made it a 4–0 game. The first six Giants hitters of the bottom of the second reached safely with four of the runners eventually coming home to score.
San Jose then added three more runs in the bottom of the third to stretch their lead to 7–0. Sugastey reached on an error to start the inning before Dupere singled to put runners on first and second. A Rodriguez groundout advanced the runners before the ball four pitch to Sivira went to the backstop allowing Sugastey to score. Back-to-back two-out RBI singles from Aeverson Arteaga and Carter Williams then pushed the advantage to 7–0.
Nick Sinacola started on the mound for the Giants and tossed 4 2/3 innings with two runs (both earned) and four hits allowed. Sinacola walked three and struck out seven during his 83-pitch outing. Sinacola began his start with four shutout innings and had retired seven straight Quakes hitters until Kyle Froemke doubled with two outs in the top of the fifth. A walk to Javier Armas followed before a Sinacola balk advanced the runners to second and third. Austin Gauthier followed by grounding a single up the middle to score both Froemke and Armas cutting the San Jose lead to 7–2. Julio Rodriguez was then summoned from the Giants bullpen and he struck out the next hitter, Jake Vogel, to retire the side.
Rodriguez returned to the mound in the top of the sixth and pitched around a two-out double to maintain the five-run cushion. San Francisco Giants reliever Zack Littell then pitched a scoreless top of the seventh in the second appearance of his rehab assignment, Littell quickly retired the first two batters before Armas reached on a bunt single and Gauthier was hit by a pitch. Littell though came back to set down Vogel on a groundout to end the inning.
John Gavin pitched the top of the eighth for San Jose and surrendered a one-out double before issuing back-to-back walks as Rancho Cucamonga loaded the bases. Gavin, however, bounced back to retire Kenneth Betancourt on a pop out before Froemke struck out to end the inning and keep the score at 7–2.
Esmerlin Vinicio then pitched the ninth for the Giants. The Quakes pushed across one run to make it 7–3 on a Vinicio error with two outs, but would get no closer. Vinicio fanned Yunior Garcia for the 12th San Jose strikeout of the game to seal the victory.
GIANTS NOTES
Another Series Victory: With Sunday’s win, the Giants secured their third consecutive series victory. San Jose won four of six games at home against Visalia from July 12–17 to start the streak. The Giants then claimed two of three games in Modesto last weekend before the series win this week versus Rancho Cucamonga. It’s the first time this season that San Jose has won three straight series’.
Sinacola Rolling: In five July starts, Nick Sinacola fashioned a 2.10 ERA with 29 strikeouts and only six walks over 25 2/3 innings. Sinacola leads the Giants staff with 92 strikeouts this season.
Inside The Box Score: The Giants out-hit the Quakes 9–8. Carter Williams (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) and Adrian Sugastey (2-for-3, 2B) had multi-hit games for San Jose. The Giants bullpen (Julio Rodriguez, Zack Littell, John Gavin and Esmerlin Vinicio) combined to pitch the final 4 1/3 innings with no earned runs allowed.
Monthly Report: After opening the month with eight losses in their first 10 games, the Giants finished July with a 12–12 record. San Jose still hasn’t had a losing month since August 2019.
On Deck: Following an off day, the Giants travel to Fresno for a six-game set against Grizzlies. Tuesday’s series opener at Chukchansi Park is a 6:50 PM first pitch. The entire series can be heard live on sjgiants.com.
