ONTARIO, Calif. – The Ontario Tower Buzzers leaned on their bullpen and a big eighth inning to come from behind and beat the San Jose Giants 8-4 on Thursday night.
San Jose looked comfortable early, jumping out to a four-run lead in the third. Jhonny Level ripped a double to start the rally, Isaiah Barkett knocked him in with a single, and Dario Reynoso added an RBI double. Ontario’s defense couldn’t help itself either, and a couple of mistakes let the Giants push their lead to 4-0.
But that was pretty much where San Jose's momentum ran out. They kept stranding runners all night and went just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. In the end, they left ten men on base, and the missed chances caught up with them.
It wasn’t until the fourth inning that Ontario got its big swing. With two outs, Ching-Hsien Ko stepped up and crushed a two-out, three-run homer right after Brendan Tunink got hit by a pitch, and Chase Harlan walked. Suddenly, it was 4-3, and the tone shifted quickly.
Argenis Cayama dominated early for San Jose, striking out 10 over four innings and giving up just a single hit. But even a strong start has its limits. A single mistake to Ko ended up erasing almost everything Cayama and the Giants had worked for.
From there, Ontario’s bullpen stole the show. Brady Smith gave way to Wuillians Herrera, who stopped the bleeding, and then Luis Carias put the clamps on San Jose. Carias spun five shutout innings, struck out six, and gave up only three hits. Once he took the mound, the Giants' bats went quiet and never recovered.
Over the final six innings, San Jose managed only three hits and struck out 14 times altogether. Damian Bravo, Hayden Jatczak, Jeremiah Jenkins, and Andy Polanco struck out 10 times altogether, making it impossible for San Jose to get anything going.
Everything unraveled for the Giants in the eighth. Ontario loaded the bases against Dylan Carter, and Emil Morales had redemption after three strikeouts and two errors, punching a two-run single to give the Buzzers the lead. Carter suddenly couldn’t find the zone; he walked three in the inning, including one with the bases loaded. Evan Gray entered and immediately issued a bases-loaded walk of his own. Ontario ended up scoring five runs that inning without doing much damage with the bat.
That eighth inning pretty much summed up the game. Ontario kept grinding and waited for San Jose to make mistakes, while the Giants couldn’t cash in on their own chances earlier.
For San Jose, Barkett, Reynoso, and Fernando Gonzalez each had two hits. Ko powered Ontario with three RBIs and the homer that flipped the script.
Luis Carias picked up the win for Ontario. Carter took the loss after giving up five runs in less than an inning.
The Tower Buzzers lead in the series 2-1, approaching Friday's contest at 6:35 pm.
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Media Contacts:
Adam Serrano
Regional Marketing Director
Diamond Baseball Holdings
Jeff Woolson
Play-by-Play Broadcaster