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| Giants Swept In Lake Elsinore |
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By Joe Ritzo 6/10/2007
San Jose Falls Twice On Sunday, 10-9 (12 Innings) And 11-7
David Maroul's two home runs were not
enough Sunday as Lake Elsinore completed a
four-game sweep of the Giants
(photo by Barry Colla) |
The Lake Elsinore Storm scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Sunday afternoon to rally past the San Jose Giants 11-7 and complete a four-game sweep at The Diamond. Lake Elsinore came back from a 6-1 deficit to shock the Giants sending San Jose to their fifth consecutive loss. The Storm sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the eighth rapping out five hits and taking advantage of two Giants errors to erase a 7-5 San Jose lead.
The Giants lost twice Sunday dropping a 10-9 decision to the Storm earlier in the afternoon when Lake Elsinore scored a single run in the bottom of the 12th inning. The game was suspended on Saturday in San Diego with the score tied at 9-9 after ten innings. Neither team scored in the 11th when the game resumed before Craig Cooper delivered a one-out RBI single in the bottom of the 12th against losing pitcher Ryan Paul giving the Storm the win.
San Jose (34-29) now owns just a one-game lead in the North Division over the second-place Stockton Ports (33-30). Stockton lost a 6-4 decision to High Desert on Sunday. Seven games remain in the First Half.
In Sunday’s regularly scheduled game, David Maroul blasted two home runs while finishing with three RBI. Pablo Sandoval (3-for-5), Maroul (2-for-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI), Antoan Richardson (2-for-3, 2B, SB), and Will Thompson (2-for-5, 2B, RBI) each finished with more than one hit for the Giants.
With the Giants in front 7-3, the Storm rallied against the San Jose bullpen scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh to cut the lead in half. Reliever Wayne Foltin loaded the bases with none out before Kelvin Pichardo entered the contest and induced David Fresse to ground into a 6-4-3 double play. The play scored one run, but Kyle Blanks followed with a triple plating another to make the score 7-5. San Jose escaped further damage when Chad Huffman came up next, but was robbed of an extra base hit when the third baseman Maroul made a diving stop and throw to first on a ground ball hit down the line.
But the Storm kept the pressure on with their marathon bottom of the eighth. Seth Johnston led off with a single against Pichardo before a walk to Nic Crosta put runners on first and second. Yordany Ramirez then dropped down a sacrifice bunt that was mishandled by Pichardo for an error to load the bases.
Pichardo rebounded to strike out Mike Baxter, but then Matt Antonelli grounded a ball sharply back to the mound. Pichardo knocked it down with his glove, but couldn’t field it cleanly as the ball rolled away and Antonelli reached first base with an RBI single cutting the Giants lead to 7-6.
Taylor Wilding was then summoned from the bullpen, but the rally continued as Cooper came up and lined an 0-2 pitch over Anthony Contreras’ head in right field for a two-run double and an 8-7 Lake Elsinore lead. After Fresse reached on a Maroul error at third base to load the bases, Blanks singled into center field scoring a run. Then Huffman singled home two more Storm base runners to give Lake Elsinore an 11-7 advantage.
Pichardo (1 1/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) suffered the loss on the mound for the Giants. Four of the six runs the Giants allowed in the bottom of the eighth were unearned.
Maroul gave San Jose an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the second inning. In the third, Contreras grounded into a fielder’s choice scoring a run to make the score 3-1.
In the fourth, consecutive singles from Thompson and Brad Boyer started the frame. Richardson then dropped down a sacrifice bunt moving both runners up 90 feet before Kyle Haines delivered a sacrifice to center scoring Thompson. Two batters later, Tyler Von Schell singled to left plating Boyer for a 5-1 Giants lead.
Maroul’s second home run of the afternoon – a solo blast in the fifth – extended the lead to 6-1.
Paul Oseguera received a no-decision on the mound despite six solid innings of work. The left-hander scattered eight hits with three runs allowed (all earned), no walks, and six strikeouts. Oseguera gave up two runs in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI triple from Antonelli and an RBI double off the bat of Cooper.
San Jose scored their final run of the game in the top of the seventh when Maroul walked with one out and came across on Thompson’s double into the right center field gap. The hit gave the Giants a 7-3 lead.
Notes: The five-game losing streak is San Jose’s longest slide of the year … They were swept in a four-game series for the first time in 2007 … Lake Elsinore out-hit the Giants 16-13 … Maroul leads San Jose with 11 home runs … Sandoval is 6-for-10 with a home run in his last two games … Richardson stole his team-leading 29th base in addition to extending his hitting streak to eight games … In the resumption of the suspended game, the Giants didn’t record a hit in the 11th and 12th innings against Lake Elsinore reliever Matt Burke … Paul (1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO) fired a perfect bottom of the 11th before allowing the winning run in the 12th … San Jose has a one-game lead on Stockton, a three-game lead on the Modesto Nuts (31-32), and a four-game lead on the Visalia Oaks (30-33) entering the final week of the First Half.
On Deck: The Giants return home for their next game with the opener of a four-game series against the Visalia Oaks Monday evening. First pitch at Municipal Stadium is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. Ronnie Ray (4-3, 5.28 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Hector Ambriz (3-3, 4.08 ERA). Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling (408)297-1435 or by visiting www.sjgiants.com.
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