Giants Win Wild 13–12, 12-Inning Marathon Over Rawhide
Adrian Sugastey’s RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning lifted the San Jose Giants to a wild 13–12 walk-off win over the Visalia Rawhide on Thursday night at Excite Ballpark. The seesaw affair saw the Giants rally from deficits five times, including in the 8th, 10th and 11th innings before ultimately prevailing in the 12th. The victory was San Jose’s (48–36, 8–10 second half) second in a row in the series against Visalia with the Giants scoring 13 runs in both wins.
Carter Williams (3-for-7, 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, SB) had three hits and four RBI’s, including a key game-tying double in the bottom of the 10th, to lead the offensive attack. Alexander Suarez (3-for-3, RBI, SB) added three hits as part of a perfect night at the plate for San Jose. Meanwhile, seven Giants relievers combined to pitch the final 9 1/3 innings of the game with only one earned run allowed and 12 strikeouts.
The game began with a flurry of offense as the two teams were tied 3–3 after one inning and 6–6 after three innings. The Rawhide’s Jordan Lawlar started the contest with a 443-foot homer to deep left in what turned out to be the only home run of the night. Visalia added two more runs in the inning against San Jose starter Joe Kemlage on Deyvison De Los Santos’ RBI triple and an RBI single from S.P. Chen.
The Giants though immediately answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the first. Grant McCray and Aeverson Arteaga were both hit by a pitch to start the inning before Williams grounded a triple into the right field corner to score both runners. Williams eventually scored himself on a balk to tie the game 3–3.
San Jose then went ahead with a two-run bottom of the second. A one-out single from Suarez followed by back-to-back walks to McCray and Arteaga loaded the bases. Williams then singled into center to plate one run and when center fielder Wilderd Patino made a wild throw back to the infield, a second run also scored for a 5–3 Giants advantage.
The lead would be short-lived though as Visalia came right back with a three-run top of the third to go back in front. Kemlage issued two walks and also hit a batter as the Rawhide loaded the bases. A balk then brought home the first run of the inning before Lawlar’s two-out bloop single into shallow center plated two more giving Visalia a 6–5 lead.
The Giants responded again with a run in the bottom of the third as Yorlis Rodriguez led off with a single, advanced to third on back-to-back wild pitches and scored on McCray’s sacrifice fly to make it 6–6.
The game then remained deadlocked until the sixth inning. After Julio Rodriguez tossed 2 1/3 hitless innings out of the San Jose bullpen, the Rawhide scored once in the top of the sixth off of John Gavin to take back the lead. Patino led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on De Los Santos’ one-out single to put Visalia ahead by a 7–6 margin.
The Giants were held off the scoreboard from the fourth through the seventh innings, but then broke through with a three-run bottom of the eighth to appear on the verge of a victory. Suarez was hit by a pitch to leadoff before McCray reached on a bunt single. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, Arteaga produced a game-tying sacrifice fly. Then with two down, Victor Bericoto hit a grounder to shortstop that was thrown away by Lawlar for an error. The miscue allowed McCray to score the go-ahead run as San Jose went in front 8–7.
Then after a walk to Sugastey, Hayden Cantrelle came up and ripped an RBI double into the right field corner for a 9–7 advantage.
The Rawhide though staged a rally in the top of the ninth to again tie the game. JJ Santa Cruz was summoned from the Giants bullpen to begin the inning and promptly allowed an infield single to Juan Corniel. Sergio Gutierrez then lofted a fly ball to right field that was dropped by Suarez for an error as Visalia put runners on first and second. Santa Cruz came back with consecutive strikeouts of the next two hitters to bring San Jose within one out of a win, but Patino followed by grounding a triple down the right field line — his fifth hit of the game — to bring the Rawhide even in dramatic fashion at 9–9. Santa Cruz did recover to retire the next hitter, Junior Franco, to retire the side and strand the potential go-ahead run at third.
The Giants put the winning run at third base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but came away empty-handed. Both teams then scored once in the 10th. With Tyler Myrick on the mound, De Los Santos led off with a single advancing the automatic runner, Franco, to third. Then with one down, Chen came through with an RBI single giving Visalia a 10–9 lead.
San Jose though immediately tied the game in the bottom of the 10th as Williams led off with a booming double off the fence in straightaway center to score the automatic runner, Arteaga, from second. Williams, however, was stranded at second after a shallow fly out and back-to-back pop outs.
In the 11th, Ofelky Peralta took over out of the Giants bullpen with the free runner at second base. Jean Walters led off with a sacrifice bunt that was thrown away to first by the third baseman Rodriguez for an error. The miscue moved the go-ahead run to third before Peralta uncorked a wild pitch to score the run as the Rawhide went ahead 11–10. Jacen Roberson then doubled into the right field corner to score another run as Visalia stretched their lead to 12–10.
The Giants had another answer though scoring twice in the bottom of the 11th to keep the game going. Facing a position player, Walters, on the mound, Garrett Frechette led off with a single to put runners on the corners. Suarez then blasted a deep drive off the fence in left for a long single. The hit scored one to cut the deficit to 12–11 while Frechette, the possible tying run, advanced to third. McCray then delivered a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center as Frechette came home to tie the game 12–12.
In the top of the 12th, Spencer Bivens became the eighth San Jose pitcher of the night. After he retired De Los Santos on a groundout to start the inning, JJ D’Orazio singled into shallow center. On the play, the automatic runner, Franco, attempted to score from second but was thrown out at the plate by the center fielder McCray for a dramatic second out of the inning. Bivens then set down Chen on a groundout to retire the side.
Needing only one run for a victory in the bottom of the 12th, the Giants took advantage of another position player on the mound as Visalia utility infielder Deivi Estrada did not record an out in the inning. With Bericoto at the plate to start the frame, the free runner, Williams, stole third. Then after Bericoto walked, Sugastey came up and lined a single into the left field corner to easily score Williams for the walk-off win.
Bivens (1–0) was credited with win after tossing a scoreless top of the 12th.
GIANTS NOTES
Walk-Off Win: Thursday’s victory was the Giants’ third walk-off win of the season. San Jose also won in walk-off fashion on May 14 vs. Lake Elsinore (Vaun Brown home run) and June 16 vs. Fresno in 10 innings (Garrett Frechette RBI single).
Offensive Outburst x2: The 13 runs scored in Wednesday’s 13–2 victory marked the Giants’ highest output in a home game this season. San Jose then matched it with 13 runs in Thursday’s extra-inning triumph.
Inside The Box Score: The teams combined for 25 runs, 31 hits, nine errors and 14 pitchers used. Visalia out-hit San Jose by a 19–12 margin. The 19 hits were the most allowed by the Giants in a game this season. The Rawhide were 9-for-28 (.321 AVG) with runners in scoring position compared to 7-for-26 (.269 AVG) for San Jose.
Longest Game: The 12 innings and 4:16 game time were both season-highs for the Giants.
On Deck: The Giants and Rawhide play the fourth game of their series on Friday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 6:30 PM. Eric Silva is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
