Eighth-Inning Triple Sends Giants To 4-2 Defeat
 
6/5/2008
San Jose And Visalia Split Four-Game Series
Visalia’s Joey Side belted a two-out, bases loaded triple in the bottom of the eighth inning to propel the Oaks to a come-from-behind 4-2 victory over the San Jose Giants on Thursday night at Recreation Park. In the finale of the four-game series, Side stepped to the plate against Giants reliever Taylor Wilding and hammered a 1-2 pitch to the gap in right center to clear the bases and erase a one-run San Jose lead. With the loss, the Giants fall to 38-22 and now lead the North Division by three games over the Stockton Ports (35-25). Oaks starting pitcher Barry Enright (6-3) earned the victory on the mound with eight dominant innings of work. Enright took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and allowed only two unearned runs during his stint on the mound. The right-hander limited the Giants to three hits to go with four strikeouts and no walks. Ryan Rohlinger broke up Enright’s no-hitter with a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh inning giving the Giants a 2-1 lead. With one out, Matt Downs started the rally by reaching on an error committed by Visalia shortstop Pedro Ciriaco. After Pablo Sandoval struck out, Rohlinger hammered a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left field for his sixth home run of the season. With the score still 2-1, Giants reliever Dan Griffin allowed consecutive singles to Manny Ferrer and Tyler Jones to begin the bottom of the eighth. Ciriaco then moved the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt to bring Ed Easley to the plate. Easley grounded a ball to third base and Rohlinger fired home to retire Ferrer at the plate keeping the Giants temporarily ahead. A Griffin wild pitch advanced Jones to third and Ciriaco to second before an intentional walk of Ricardo Sosa loaded the bases. Wilding was then summoned from the bullpen and he promptly allowed the triple to Side plating all three runners. Griffin (1-4) was saddled with the loss as the right-hander was charged with all three eighth-inning runs. Giants starting pitcher Tim Alderson held Visalia to one run on six hits over five innings of work. Alderson, who threw 85 pitches during his outing, walked two and struck out four. His only blemish came in the bottom of the fifth inning when Brad Miller smacked a solo home run to left field for a 1-0 Oaks lead. Enright retired 14 consecutive Giants hitter to begin his start before Brett Pill reached on a Ciriaco throwing error with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. Pill though was promptly thrown out at second base attempting to steal ending the inning. Enright had faced the minimum 18 San Jose hitters through the first six innings of the contest. Notes: The Giants and Oaks split the four-game series … San Jose mustered a total of only eight hits over the last two games … Alderson allowed his first home run this season in 62 1/3 innings pitched … The Giants fell to 7-12 in one or two-run games this season … Craig Whitaker (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO), Joe Paterson (2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO), Griffin (1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) and Wilding (1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO) all pitched out of the San Jose bullpen … Enright is 5-0 in his last six starts … Side was 0-for-11 in the series before his eighth-inning triple … Visalia out-hit the Giants by a 9-3 margin … San Jose’s only other hits were consecutive one-out singles from Sharlon Schoop and Mike Mooney in the eighth inning … Stockton moved to within three games of the Giants with a 6-2 victory over Bakersfield on Thursday evening … Only 10 games remain in the First Half. On Deck: The Giants return to Municipal Stadium for their final homestand of the First Half when they host the Bakersfield Blaze on Friday evening in the opener of a crucial four-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. It’s a KFOX Family Friday at the ballpark and tickets can be purchased by calling (408)297-1435 or by visiting www.sjgiants.com. Henry Sosa (0-1, 1.08 ERA) is slated to start on the mound for San Jose while Bakersfield is expected to counter with John Bannister (1-5, 4.07 ERA). Click here to view Box Score Click here to view Game Log