Mahan’s Grand Slam Highlights 7–4 Giants Win
Riley Mahan hit San Jose’s first grand slam of the season in Wednesday’s 7–4 Giants victory over the Stockton Ports at Excite Ballpark. Mahan went deep with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third inning and San Jose never looked back en route to posting their second straight win against the Ports to open the series. The Giants (28–19) have now won seven consecutive home games.
Mahan (2-for-4, 3B, HR, 4 RBI) tripled, in addition to his grand slam, and was the only San Jose player with more than one hit. The Giants also benefitted from a sloppy Stockton defense as the Ports committed six errors in the contest.
Will Bednar started on the mound for San Jose and pitched the first three innings with one run and two hits allowed. The right-hander walked two and struck out four during his 57-pitch outing. Stockton’s only run against Bednar came in the top of the second on a Robert Puason two-out RBI single as the Ports jumped out to an early 1–0 lead.
The Giants would answer with Mahan’s blast in the bottom of the third — the only hit for San Jose during the four-run inning. Najee Gaskins led off by drawing a walk before stealing second with one out. Grant McCray then reached safely on a throwing error committed by Stockton shortstop Max Muncy. After Aeverson Arteaga popped out, Vaun Brown was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Mahan was up next and he drove a 1–0 pitch from Ports starter Chen Zhuang over the fence in deep left center for a grand slam. The homer was Mahan’s first of the year with the Giants and it gave San Jose a 4–1 lead.
After Spencer Bivens tossed a scoreless top of the fourth, the Giants took advantage of two Stockton errors on one play to add to their lead in the bottom of the inning. Garrett Frechette started the frame with a bunt single. Then with one out, Frechette stole second. On the play, the throw from Ports catcher Shane McGuire hit the sliding Frechette and bounced towards the second base position. Frechette got up and raced to third as second baseman Robert Puason retrieved the ball. Puason then threw wildly to third for another error, which allowed Frechette to sprint home and score the run to make it 5–1.
Seth Lonsway entered out of the San Jose bullpen to begin the top of the fifth as the piggyback reliever and delivered an outstanding outing. The left-hander fired four innings of long relief yielding only one run. Lonsway walked one and struck out six.
A strikeout-caught stealing double play helped Lonsway through a scoreless top of the fifth to begin his night. Stockton scratched across a run in the sixth on T.J. Schofield-Sam’s two-out RBI single to trim the Giants lead to 5–2. Lonsway though prevented further damage in the inning before cruising through a 1–2–3 top of the seventh.
The Giants then took advantage of another Ports error in the bottom of the seventh to reclaim their four-run cushion. Alexander Suarez singled with two outs, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. After McCray walked, Arteaga’s grounder to shortstop was misplayed by Muncy — his third error of the night — allowing Suarez to score for a 6–2 lead.
After Lonsway put up another zero in the top of the eighth, San Jose scored their final run of the night in the bottom of the inning. Mahan led off with a triple when his fly ball down the left field was lost in the lights by Stockton left fielder Danny Bautista. Adrian Sugastey followed with a triple off the center field wall to plate Mahan extending the lead to 7–2.
The Ports were able to score twice without the benefit of a hit in the top of the ninth and put the potential tying run on base before ultimately falling short. Sam Delaplane was summoned out of the Giants bullpen to begin the inning for the second appearance of his rehab assignment. Delaplane struck out Schofield-Sam to start the inning, but the batter was able to reach first on a wild pitch. After Puason struck out, Delaplane issued three straight walks to Bautista, Pedro Pineda and Jhoan Paulino, which forced home a run. A strikeout of Muncy followed, but then another walk to McGuire brought home Bautista to cut the San Jose lead to 7–4. Hunter Dula though was then brought into pitch and he promptly retired CJ Rodriguez on a pop out to shortstop to strand the bases loaded and secure the Giants victory.
GIANTS NOTES
Homer Happy: The Giants hit a league-best 40 home runs during the month of May with Riley Mahan’s grand slam marking the first San Jose longball of June. Mahan is batting .355 through his first seven games with San Jose.
Inside The Box Score: The Giants won despite being out-hit 7–5. Seth Lonsway (5–0) was credited with his team-leading fifth win of the season. All six runs allowed by Stockton starter Chen Zhuang during his 6 2/3 innings were unearned. San Jose stole a season-high tying four bases. Hunter Dula earned his second save of the year.
Hitting Streaks End: Aeverson Arteaga (0-for-4) and Vaun Brown (0-for-3, HBP) both saw their seven-game hitting streaks snapped.
Firsts: The stolen base by Garrett Frechette was his first of the season while Adrian Sugastey’s triple was his first of the year and of his career.
On Deck: The Giants and Ports continue their series on Thursday evening with first pitch at Excite Ballpark set for 6:30 PM. Nick Sinacola is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.
