San Jose Giants Weather Lake Elsinore Storm Easily Winning 6-0 - Adv A, California League

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Giants pitchers Ben Snyder and Dan Griffin combined on San Jose’s second straight shutout of the Lake Elsinore Storm in a 6-0 victory on Wednesday night. In front of 2,504 fans at Municipal Stadium, Snyder tossed seven dominant innings to maintain his perfect record this season.

Offensively, the Giants rapped out 10 hits with Mike Mooney connecting for a home run. With the victory, San Jose improves their record to 21-12. Omar Vizquel, in the second game of his rehab assignment with San Jose, was 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and an RBI. The 11-time Gold Glove winner hit leadoff and played the first seven innings of the contest at shortstop. Vizquel is expected to continue his stay in San Jose for Thursday afternoon’s series finale versus the Storm.

Snyder (4-0) allowed just four hits during his stint on the mound. The left-hander, who lowered his ERA to a league-best 0.85, walked two, struck out five and threw 88 pitches.

The Giants jumped on the board first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning against Lake Elsinore starting pitcher Cory Luebke. Dom Duggan started the frame with a walk before Mike McBryde smacked a double off the fence in left center field to put runners on second and third. Vizquel followed with a line drive single into right field plating Duggan with the first run of the evening.

Then Matt Downs lifted a sacrifice fly to right field scoring McBryde for a 2-0 advantage. In the bottom of the fourth, Mooney doubled to deep left center field with one out before stealing third base. He then scored on Duggan’s sacrifice fly to right.

San Jose knocked Luebke out of the game with a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth inning. Consecutive two-out singles from Brett Pill and Mooney put runners on first and second. Then Duggan blooped a double down the right field line to score Pill and force a pitching change. Luebke (1-2), a supplemental first round draft pick of the San Diego Padres in 2007, was saddled with the loss. The left-hander allowed four runs (all earned) on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings.

The Giants kept the pressure on with another run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Vizquel started the rally with a single before advancing to second on a wild pitch. The San Francisco Giant took third base when Downs grounded out and then scored on Pablo Sandoval’s sharp single into center field.

Mooney capped the scoring with a mammoth solo homer to deep left field in the bottom of the eighth inning. For Mooney, it was his second home run of the season. Mooney (3-for-4, 2B, HR, RBI, SB) and Vizquel were the lone Giants players to finish with multiple-hit games at the plate.

San Jose out-hit Lake Elsinore by a 10-6 margin. The Storm’s best chance to score against Snyder came in the top of the first inning when a walk and a double put runners on second and third with one out. But a fielder’s choice ground out to third base and a fly out to left got Snyder out of trouble.

The left-hander would finish his outing by retiring 11 of the last 12 Lake Elsinore hitters he faced.

Notes: The Giants have outscored the Storm 14-0 in the first two games of the series … Prior to this series, Lake Elsinore had not been shutout this season (31 games) … San Jose leads the California League with a 3.00 ERA … Vizquel is 3-for-6 with three singles and two walks in the first two games of his rehab assignment … Griffin (2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO) lowered his ERA to 1.33 … Snyder has allowed just four earned runs over 42 1/3 innings through seven starts this season … Mooney is 11-for-19 (.579 AVG) in five games since returning to the club from Extended Spring Training … Prior to the game, the Giants placed relief pitcher Ryan Shaver (0-0, 4.50 ERA) on the Disabled List due to tendonitis in his right elbow … San Jose has won 11 straight games over Lake Elsinore at Municipal Stadium dating back to last year (includes postseason) … The Giants moved to within three games of the Stockton Ports (24-9) for the top spot in the North Division.

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