Storm Walk-Off Giants In Series Finale
The San Jose Giants played their final road game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon and suffered a 5–4 loss to the Lake Elsinore Storm at The Diamond. Dillon Head hit a tiebreaking two-out RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Storm to the walk-off win and a series victory. With the loss, the Giants (65–61) dropped four of six games in Lake Elsinore this week.
Scott Bandura (1-for-3, HR, RBI) smacked a solo home run for San Jose, but the Giants were held to only three hits in the contest and none after the fourth inning.
The two teams went back-and-forth early with Bandura’s solo shot in the top of the second giving San Jose a 1–0 lead. The home run was Bandura’s second with the Giants this season.
Joe Ross made his third rehab start on the mound for San Jose and pitched the first two innings with one run allowed. After Bandura’s blast in the top of the second, the Storm answered with a single tally in the bottom of the frame to tie the score. Back-to-back singles from Romeo Sanabria and Victor Duarte started the inning before Rosman Verdugo’s one-RBI single brought Lake Elsinore even.
The Giants immediately went back in front in the top of the third as Alexander Suarez drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on a Diego Velasquez sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on Quinn McDaniel’s one-out RBI single. However, the Storm came back with a three-run bottom of the third inning to take their first lead of the day. Manuel Mercedes, the originally scheduled starting pitcher for San Jose, entered out of the bullpen to begin the inning and immediately ran into trouble as Head led off with a single and scored the tying run when the next batter, Braedon Karpathios, doubled to deep center. A wild pitch then moved Karpathios to third before Homer Bush Jr. hit a sacrifice fly to give Lake Elsinore a 3–2 lead. A one-out walk to Sanabria then restarted the rally. Following Duarte’s groundout that advanced Sanabria to second, Nik McClaughry produced an RBI single to make it 4–2.
The Giants got one run back in the top of the fourth as Bandura drew a leadoff walk before Cole Foster doubled down the left field line to put runners on second and third. Javier Francisco then brought home Bandura with a groundout to make it 4–3, however Foster, the possible tying run, was ultimately stranded at third.
The game then remained at 4–3 all the way until the top of the seventh when San Jose tied the score without the benefit of a hit in the inning. Drew Cavanaugh worked a walk to start the frame and advanced all the way to third on a wild pick-off throw from Storm reliever Dylan Nedved. After Suarez grounded out, Velasquez hit a sacrifice fly down the left field line that scored Cavanaugh to tie the game 4–4.
The Giants though wouldn’t manage a baserunner over the final two innings and the Storm rallied for a run in the bottom of the ninth to post the walk-off victory. Facing San Jose reliever Luis Moreno, the bottom of the ninth inning began with a one-out walk to Verdugo. After Moreno fanned Jose Sanabria for the second out, Oswaldo Linares ripped a single into left and when the left fielder Suarez mishandled the ball for an error, Verdugo took third. Head was the next hitter and he blooped a 1–0 pitch from Moreno into shallow center for a single that easily scored Verdugo to lift Lake Elsinore to the win and spark a wild walk-off celebration.
With the victory, the Storm moved to within one game of first-place Inland Empire in the second half South Division race with only six games remaining in the regular season.
Lake Elsinore out-hit the Giants 10–3 on Sunday. San Jose did not record a hit after Foster’s fourth-inning double. Mercedes pitched five innings out of the bullpen with three runs allowed (all earned). The right-hander, who finished his outing with four straight scoreless innings, walked one and struck out one.
The Giants finish the regular season with a 31–35 road record.
Following an off day, the Giants return to Excite Ballpark for a six-game set against the Stockton Ports that will close out the regular season. Tuesday’s series opener is a 6:30 PM first pitch. Visit sjgiants.com for tickets and promotions.
