Giants Shutout Stockton, Extend Win Streak To Six
The San Jose Giants won their season-high sixth game in a row with a 4–0 series-opening victory over the Stockton Ports on Tuesday night at Banner Island Ballpark. Matt Mikulski, Evan Gates, Julio Rodriguez and Jose Cruz combined on a two-hitter as the Giants earned their league-leading fifth shutout of the year. With the win, San Jose (38–26) remains two games behind first-place Fresno (40–24), who also won on Tuesday, in the first half North Division race. Only two games are left in the half, which ends Thursday.
Grant McCray (2-for-4, HR, 3 RBI) homered and drove in three of the Giants’ four runs to lead the way offensively. Alexander Suarez (1-for-3, HR, RBI) added a solo shot in the victory.
The game was scoreless through four innings with Mikulski and Ports starter James Gonzalez locked up in an early pitchers’ duel. Mikulski retired seven of the first eight batters he faced before working around a pair of walks in the bottom of the third. The left-hander struck out five over the first three innings. Stockton’s first hit of the night came in the bottom of the fourth when Alexander Campos singled with two outs, but Mikulski followed with a strikeout of Jhoan Paulino to retire the side.
Meanwhile, San Jose left six runners on base over the first four innings before finally breaking through in the top of the fifth. Aeverson Arteaga led off with a double on the 12th pitch of his at-bat before McCray stepped to the plate and launched a towering 471-foot home run to deep center. The homer was McCray’s seventh of the season and it gave the Giants a 2–0 lead.
Mikulski would then finish his night with a perfect bottom of the fifth registering his seventh strikeout to end the inning.
San Jose added a single tally in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 3–0. Carter Williams started the inning with a double before Suarez was hit by a pitch with one out and Arteaga walked to load the bases. McCray then hit a sacrifice fly plating Williams with the third Giants run.
Gates took over on the mound for San Jose to begin the bottom of the sixth and fired two hitless innings with a pair of strikeouts. Gates retired six of the seven batters he faced.
Suarez then blasted a solo home run in the top of the eighth — his sixth round-tripper of the year — to stretch the lead to 4–0.
The duo of Rodriguez and Cruz would then toss scoreless eighth and ninth innings respectively sealing the win. In the bottom of the ninth, Cruz issued a leadoff walk but recovered to strikeout the next three hitters to complete the shutout.
GIANTS NOTES
League-Leading Pitching Staff: In addition to leading the California League in shutouts, the Giants pitching staff entered Tuesday with the lowest team ERA (3.84) and opponents batting average (.220) in the league.
Inside The Box Score: The Giants out-hit the Ports 9–2. San Jose won despite finishing 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position. Vaun Brown (2-for-5, 2 2B) and Yorlis Rodriguez (2-for-5) also had multi-hit games. Aeverson Arteaga’s (1-for-4, 2B) double was his team-leading 17th of the season.
Mikulski’s Start: Matt Mikulski (2–2) earned the win with five shutout innings of one-hit ball. Mikulski walked three and struck out seven during his 70-pitch performance.
Bullpen Shines: The bullpen trio of Evan Gates (2 IP, 1 BB, 2 SO), Julio Rodriguez (1 IP, 1 H, 1 SO) and Jose Cruz (1 IP, 1 BB, 3 SO) combined to throw four scoreless innings with only one hit allowed.
First Half Race: The win kept San Jose’s first half division title hopes alive, but with Fresno’s 4–3 victory over Modesto on Tuesday, the Grizzlies’ magic number to clinch has been reduced to one.
High-Water Mark: The Giants are now a season-high 12 games over .500.
On Deck: The Giants and Ports continue their six-game series on Wednesday evening with first pitch at Banner Island Ballpark set for 7:05 PM. Eric Silva is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
