3B A.J. Vukovich broke a 9th-inning tie with an RBI double as the Visalia Rawhide beat the Fresno Grizzlies 6-5 on Friday night. Visalia walked off with a win for the second time in this series which is now even at two games apiece.
Visalia’s offense pounded out 12 hits, led by 1B Ramses Malave who went 3-for-4 with two homers (his 3rd and 4th of the season) and 4 RBIs. Vukovich went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs and 2B Ronny Simon went 3-for-5 from the leadoff spot with 2 runs scored.
The Grizzlies opened the scoring in the 2nd inning when Eddy Diaz singled in a run but Visalia tied it in the bottom half on Malave’s first homer of the night. 3B Julio Carreras put Fresno back on top with a sac fly in the 3rd, then in the 4th they added on with the help of some throwing errors by Visalia to get out to a 4-1 lead.
Visalia took their first lead in the 5th on an RBI single from Vukovich and Malave’s second homer of the night, a 3-run shot to make it 5-4. Fresno tacked on a run in the 7th to even it up at 5-5 before Vukovich closed it out in the bottom of the 9th.
RHP Bobby Ay (W, 2-2) was the last of six Visalia pitchers and he earned the win with a scoreless top of the 9th, allowing no hits or walks while striking out two. Ay has gotten both wins out of the bullpen in this series.
Fresno starter Breiling Eusebio gave up 5 runs on 8 hits and 1 walk over 5 innings while striking out 8 and allowing 2 home runs. SS Ezequiel Tovar went 3-for-5 on the night and is 8-for-14 in the four games of the series.
Visalia (13-33) is 10.5 games out in the South division while Fresno (28-18) trails San Jose in the North by 4 games.
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 2
SAN JOSE – 8
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The team with the best record in Low-A West kept it going on Friday night as San Jose beat Rancho Cucamonga 8-2 at Excite Ballpark. SS Marco Luciano broke a 1-1 tie as he cleared the bases with a double in the 3rd inning and came around to score on a wild pitch as San Jose took the lead for good.
DH Luis Toribio hit his 3rd homer of the season in the 7th inning, a two-run shot. RHP Prelander Berroa (W, 1-3) went 5 innings and allowed 1 run on two hits and 1 walk with 8 strikeouts. Berroa threw 73 pitches, 46 for strikes.
1B Ricardo Geneoves had a 2-for-2 night with 3 walks and has gone 6-for-14 in the series to improve hit batting line to .338/.441/.551.
C Diego Cartaya hit his 7th homer of the season for the Quakes.
The Giants (32-14) have won all four games in the matchup of first-place teams so far and have a 4-game lead on second-place Fresno in the North. Rancho Cucamonga (23-22) is leading by just a half-game over Lake Elsinore in the South.
MODESTO – 8
LAKE ELSINORE – 9
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2B Euribiel Angeles stroked a walk-off single as Lake Elsinore won for the third time in four games against Modesto Friday night. The Storm got to .500 at 23-23 and have creeped to within a half-game of first-place Rancho Cucamonga in the South division.
RHP Nick Thwaits went 5 innings for LE allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5.
Modesto scored 6 runs in the 8th and 9th innings to tie up what was once an 8-2 game before the Storm pulled it out in the bottom of the 9th.
Angeles went 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs and 3B Sean Guilbe also went 3-for-5 and scored the winning run after leading off the 9th with a double. Angeles is now batting .319 on the year.
Modesto had three players (Victor Labrada, Dariel Gomez and Cesar Izturis Jr.) with two hits apiece as they scored their 8 runs behind 11 hits and 9 walks. The Nuts are now 24-22, 8 games out of first in the North.
STOCKTON – 0
INLAND EMPIRE – 1
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Inland Empire’s LHP Jose Salvador shut out Stockton for 7 innings on Friday night and the 66ers pushed across a single run in the 6th inning to win a spectacular pitching duel at San Manuel Stadium. Salvador (W, 3-1) allowed 5 hits and 0 walks, striking out 11 batters in a 94-pitch effort.
RHP Emilker Guzman blanked the Ports over the final 2 innings with no hits, 1 walk and 3 Ks.
RF Caleb Scires singled in the only run of the game in the bottom of the 6th inning. Stockton had just 5 hits, the 66ers had 4.
RHP Jake Walkinshaw (L, 2-3) went 6 strong innings for Stockton, allowing the one run on 4 hits and 2 walks with 3 strikeouts. RHP Edward Baram finished it off with 2 clean innings, no hits, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.
Inland Empire (21-24) is 2 games out of first place in the South. Stockton (19-27) is 13 games back in the North.
