Giants Lose 5–4, McCray Becomes First 20–20 Player In Team History
The San Jose Giants late comeback effort fell short on Friday night in a 5–4 loss to the Inland Empire 66ers at Excite Ballpark. The setback was the Giants’ (62–50, 22–24 second half) third in four games this week to the South Division-leading Sixers. Grant McCray hit his 20th home run in the defeat to become the first player in the 34-year history of the team to produce a 20–20 season. San Jose’s standout center fielder has 35 stolen bases this year to go with his team-leading 20 homers.
McCray (2-for-4, HR, RBI) hit the first pitch of the bottom of the first inning on Friday over the fence in deep center field for his historic home run. The 425-foot blast gave the Giants an early 1–0 lead.
Inland Empire tied the game in the top of the second taking advantage of an error committed by San Jose starting pitcher Matt Mikulski to draw even. David Calabrese walked to leadoff before a two-base throwing error from Mikulski on a pick-off attempt advanced the runner all the way to third. Two batters later, Luke Franzoni’s infield single plated Calabrese with the 66ers first run of the night.
The Giants went back ahead in the bottom of the third as McCray walked with one out before taking second on a wild pitch. Then with two down, Jared Dupere blasted a double to the fence in deep center to score McCray for a 2–1 San Jose advantage.
The lead would be short-lived though as Inland Empire rallied for three runs in the top of the fourth inning to move in front for good. Calabrese led off with a single before another two-base throwing error from Mikulski on a pickoff moved the runner to third. After Myles Emmerson struck out, Franzoni worked a walk to put runners on the corners. Tate Kolwyck followed with a high pop up into shallow right center that was dropped by second baseman Anyesber Sivira. The Giants recovered to get an out on the play as right fielder Victor Bericoto was able to force out Franzoni at second, however Calabrese raced home with the tying run. Back-to-back two-out RBI hits then followed as Jeremy Arocho doubled down the left field line to score the go-ahead run and knock Mikulski out of the game. BJ Boyd then produced an RBI single off reliever Julio Rodriguez to make it 4–2 Sixers.
Seth Lonsway, who entered the game to begin the top of the fifth, had a spectacular performance on the mound for San Jose in his piggyback outing. Lonsway pitched the final five innings yielding only one hit and one unearned run. Inland Empire’s lone run against Lonsway came in the top of the seventh as Boyd reached on an error to leadoff and took second on a passed ball. After Edgar Quero walked and Adrian Placencia singled to load the bases, Alexander Ramirez grounded into a 4–6–3 double play to bring home Boyd for a 5–2 66ers lead.
Four straight singles from the Giants in the bottom of the seventh then produced one run, but San Jose left the bases loaded in the frame. Ronaldo Flores started the inning with a single before Sivira and McCray both singled to load the bases. Aeverson Arteaga followed with a single into right plating Flores to bring San Jose within 5–3.
Back-to-back strikeouts from Dupere and Bericoto on full-count pitches and a groundout off the bat of Yorlis Rodriguez ended the inning though with the deficit still at two runs.
The Giants inched closer in the bottom of the eighth as Alexander Suarez led off with a triple to deep right and scored two batters later on Flores’ sacrifice fly as the Inland Empire lead was trimmed to 5–4. San Jose though could not complete the comeback as 66ers closer Kenyon Yovan struck out the side in a perfect bottom of the ninth to seal the victory for Inland Empire.
GIANTS NOTES
20–20: Grant McCray ranks tied for second in the California League in home runs (20) and fifth in stolen bases (35) this season. He also leads the league in runs scored (89) and hits (122). Friday’s round-tripper was his fifth leadoff homer of the year.
Inside The Box Score: Inland Empire won despite being out-hit 10–7. The Giants were 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position. San Jose committed three errors leading to two unearned runs. Yorlis Rodriguez (2-for-4) and Ronaldo Flores (2-for-3, RBI) also had multi-hit games for the Giants. Matt Mikulski (3 2/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) was saddled with the loss.
Lonsway Excels: Seth Lonsway struck out six and walked two during his five-inning performance on Friday. He retired the final eight batters of his outing. Over his last two appearances, Lonsway has pitched 10 innings with only four hits and no earned runs allowed (3 BB, 13 SO).
On Deck: The Giants and 66ers play the fifth game of their series on Saturday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 6:00 PM. Trevor McDonald is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
