MVP Matos Leads Giants To Fourth Straight Victory

On the day he was named team MVP, Luis Matos had a banner game for the San Jose Giants reaching base in all five of his plate appearances during Saturday’s 9–2 victory over the Stockton Ports. Matos, Najee Gaskins and Rodolfo Bone each homered while every player in the Giants lineup finished the evening with at least one hit. The win was San Jose’s (71–42) fourth straight against the Ports in the series.

Matos was recognized as the 2021 San Jose Giants Most Valuable Player before the game on Saturday before the 19-year old outfielder enjoyed a perfect night at the plate in the convincing win. Matos finished 3-for-3 with a single, his team-leading 31st double, his 13th homer of the year, a pair of walks and two RBI’s. Matos raised his season batting average to .304 while he continues to lead Low-A West in hits and RBI’s.

The playoff-bound Giants never trailed in the contest scoring single runs in the first and second innings to take a 2–0 lead. San Jose made Stockton starter Diego Granado throw 35 pitches during a lengthy bottom of the first. Luis Toribio started the rally by drawing a one-out walk before Yorlis Rodriguez singled and then Matos walked to load the bases. After Ghordy Santos struck out, Jimmy Glowenke worked a full-count walk to force home Toribio with the first run of the game. An inning later, Grant McCray drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Gaskins’ single. Toribio then produced an RBI single as McCray scored to make it 2–0.

Nick Swiney started on the mound for San Jose and allowed only one hit and one unearned run over his 3 2/3 innings. The Ports scored once in the top of the third as Jack Winkler reached second on an error with one out before Zack Gelof walked. T.J. Schofield-Sam then grounded an RBI single into right to bring Stockton to within 2–1. Gelof, the potential tying run, advanced to third on the play, but was stranded there as Swiney came back to strikeout Kevin Richards and then retired Nick Brueser on a deep fly ball to center.

Swiney returned to the mound in the top of the fourth with a one-run lead and promptly struck out the first two batters of the inning. Swiney was then removed from the game after reaching his pitch limit and Haydn King entered from the bullpen and needed only one pitch to record the third out.

The Giants then erupted for four runs in the bottom of the fourth to extend their lead to 6–1. With one out, Gaskins stepped to the plate and hit a solo home run down the left field line. The homer was Gaskins’ first with San Jose this season.

Toribio restarted the rally with a single before Rodriguez popped out. Four straight two-out hits than followed for the Giants. Matos was up next and he laced a double into the left field corner to score Toribio all the way from first base to make it 4–1. Santos then delivered an RBI single for a 5–1 advantage. After Glowenke singled, Harrison Freed stepped to the plate and singled sharply into right bringing home Santos to stretch the lead to 6–1.

Bone made the score 7–1 when he launched a solo home run down the left field line in the bottom of the fifth. It was Bone’s second round-tripper of the season.

The Ports got one run back in the top of the sixth as the first three hitters of the inning reached safely against King with Richards collecting an RBI single. However with the score at 7–2, Randy Rodriguez was summoned and he needed only seven pitches to retire the next three hitters to quickly end the inning.

After Rodriguez breezed through a scoreless top of the seventh, San Jose pushed across another run in the bottom of the frame. McCray led off with a double off the fence in deep left. Two batters later, Gaskins grounded an RBI double down the left field line for an 8–2 cushion.

Matos then capped the scoring for the night with a towering solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to bring the final margin to 9–2.

Cole Waites struck out the side in a perfect top of the ninth inning for the Giants to seal the victory.

GIANTS NOTES

Four Wins In A Row
The Giants have outscored Stockton by a 39–9 margin over the last four games. San Jose has now claimed four of the first five games in the series and improved to 8–3 on the homestand. The Giants are a season-high 29 games over .500 for the year.

Hitting Standouts
In addition to Matos’ three-hit night, Najee Gaskins (3-for-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) knocked out three hits and was a triple shy of the cycle. Luis Toribio (2-for-4, RBI) and Ghordy Santos (2-for-4, RBI) also had multi-hit games. The Giants out-hit the Ports 15–4.

Nearing Home Run Record
With three round-trippers on Saturday, the Giants have now hit 142 home runs this season — one shy of matching the single-season team record (143 HR in 2005). San Jose has seven games remaining in the regular season.

Swiney Still Perfect
Nick Swiney has now thrown 20 innings without allowing an earned run for the Giants this season. On Saturday, Swiney struck out five and walked two during his 3 2/3-inning start. He threw 70 pitches.

In The ‘Pen
Haydn King (1 1/3 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO) was credited with the win out of the San Jose bullpen. Randy Rodriguez (3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 SO) retired nine of the 10 batters he faced during his long relief outing and has now thrown 25 consecutive scoreless innings dating back to late-July. Cole Waites (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 SO) has still not allowed a hit since joining the Giants (8 1/3 innings).

Roster Move
The Giants added catcher Max Wright from the Arizona Complex League (Rookie-level) before the game on Saturday. Wright was a non-drafted free agent signee of the San Francisco Giants in July out of Indiana State University.

On Deck
The Giants play their final home game of the regular season on Sunday evening when they host the Stockton Ports at Excite Ballpark. First pitch is set for 5:00 PM. Will Bednar is San Jose’s scheduled starting pitcher.

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