San Jose, Calif. – The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (5-8, 41-38) could not kickstart their offense in time to catch the San Jose Giants (9-3, 47-32) as they suffered a 6-5 defeat on Friday night at Excite Ballpark.
In their first turn at bat, the Giants capitalized on a Rancho Cucamonga error to put up a crooked number. A dropped catch in left field allowed the first run of the game to cross home plate, and the next batter, Juan Astudillo, launched a two-run home run to propel San Jose to a 3-0 lead.
A half-inning later, the Quakes began to chip away at the deficit. John Wimmer lined a two-out RBI single to cash in an Anyelo Marquez leadoff base hit, and in his first-ever Single-A at-bat, Samil Dishmey poked a triple down the right field line, pulling Rancho Cucamonga within one run at 3-2.
San Jose rebounded at the plate in the bottom of the fourth, restoring their lead to three. An Andy Polanco triple and Yosneiker Rivas single gave the Giants a middle-inning boost, moving ahead 6-3.
Ryland Zaborowski plated a run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth, cutting San Jose’s advantage back down to two, but Jeremiah Jenkins canceled it out himself to close out the middle frames. His leadoff home run pushed the Giants up by three once again, forcing the Quakes to fight back in the late stages.
Down to their final three outs, they did just that. Lucas Ramirez cracked a solo home run to begin the top of the ninth, and Felix Morrobel soon followed it up with an opposite-field single. He promptly advanced to second base on defensive indifference, allowing Hayden Alvarez to roll a base hit up the first-base line to score him, narrowing San Jose’s edge to one and placing the tying run aboard.
However, the Quakes did not have any more late magic, and the Giants saw out the late threat to deal them another close defeat.
The Quakes return to Excite Ballpark to open the weekend against the Giants on Saturday at 6:30 PM. RHP Trey Gregory-Alford earns the start for Rancho Cucamonga opposite LHP Ricardo Estrada for San Jose. Play resumes at Morongo Field on July 7th at 6:30 PM as the Quakes take on the Lake Elsinore Storm on Healthy RC Recycle Tuesday and Two Dollar Tuesday.