Jairo Pomares singled in a run in the top of the 9th inning that proved to be the difference Friday night as the San Jose Giants beat the Fresno Grizzlies 6-5 at Chukchansi Park in Fresno. Pomares’ third hit of the game gave San Jose a 6-4 lead that held up as the Grizzlies were able to push across just one run in the bottom of the 9th.
Having just been named July’s Low-A West Player of the Month, Pomares celebrated with a 3-for-5 night and boosted his batting average up to .356 on the season.
After Fresno went up 2-0 in the first inning, San Jose came back with three runs in the second to take the lead. After a run came in on an error, 1B Tyler Wyatt doubled in two runs to give the Giants the lead. CF Luis Matos added on in the 5th with an RBI single to make it 4-2 before Fresno’s SS Julio Carreras homered in the bottom of the 5th to make it a 1-run game again.
Back came the Giants in the 6th on Luis Toribio‘s solo HR, his 5th of the year, and it was 5-3. CF Jack Yalowitz doubled in a run for the Grizzlies in the bottom of the 8th to make it 5-4 before the clubs traded single runs in the 9th.
Both clubs saw their star shortstops promoted to High-A this week as Ezequiel Tovar (Grizzlies) and Marco Luciano (Giants) moved up. The teams teams are now separated by one game in the standings and remain in the two playoff positions, with Rancho Cucamonga 6 1/2 games behind second-place San Jose.
INLAND EMPIRE – 6
VISALIA – 7
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LAKE ELSINORE – 12
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 7
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MODESTO – 6
STOCKTON – 3
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