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Minor Lines, 9/16/15

San Jose completes a 2012-level playoff comeback, and move on to the California League Championship against the Dodgers' affiliate, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes

By Kevin J. Cunningham

Highlights: Uh....I let you take a wild guess.

San Jose defeats Visalia (Diamondbacks) 6-5 in 11 innings; San Jose wins the Best-of-5 series, 3-2

Name AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO Other
1B Angel Villalona 5 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
DH Brian Ragira 5 2 3 2 0 0 1 0 0
2B Brandon Bednar 3 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 Sac, HBP
Name IP H R ER BB SO HR WP HB
Samuel Coonrod 5.2 5 3 3 2 7 1 0 0
Tyler Rogers, H 1.1 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0
Dan Slania, BS 1.0 1 1 0 1 3 0 0 0
Jake Smith, W 2.0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0
Ray Black, S 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0

Well, Angel Villalona's name is becoming legend in San Jose.

The portly slugger won Tuesday's Game 4 on a extra-inning, walkoff home run.  On Wednesday, he couldn't pull off a walkoff because the Giants were the road team, but he still got the game-winning, extra-inning parts right.  Villain's 11th inning home run led off the inning and flew so close down the left field line that it was almost foul.  But it was fair enough, and the Giants would hold on to win the game.

The game had an auspicious start even before the first pitch for San Jose.  Daniel Carbonell, who hit .279 with a .746 OPS in 66 games in San Jose this season, was Designated for Assignment by the San Francisco Giants as they removed him from the 40-man roster to make room for other major leaguers.  This meant he could not continue playing for San Jose.

The game was the first start at the High-A level for Samuel Coonrod, who's made quite a name for himself in Augusta.  And the Giants gave him a lead to work with early.  Brandon Bednar, who moved into the #2 spot in the batting order as part of the lineup shuffle the Carbonell DFA had caused, hit a solo home run in the first to put San Jose up 1-0.  In the second, Brian Ragira led off the inning with a single, and came home on a Jonah Arenado single.  Later in the inning, Tyler Horan scored on a fielding error by the Visalia pitcher, and the Giants had a 3-0 lead.

The Rawhide did get to Coonrod eventually, however.  A one-out single in the fourth was only the second Visalia hit, but it was soon followed by their third, a two-run home run to bring the game to within one run.

Brian Ragira gave the Giants a little breathing room in the 6th, as Bednar singled ahead of a Brian Ragira home run to make it 5-2.

Visalia, however, fought back, scoring single runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th to tie the game and force another game into extra-innings.

San Jose has been spectacular in elimination games, however, winning all four they have faced, and three went into extra-innings.

Here's some amazing stats courtesy of Joe Ritzo.

The Giants found out in the clubhouse that their destination would be Rancho Cucamonga, who scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat High Desert in their own Game 5 drama.  San Jose will have home field advantage in the championship, which alternates from year-to-year.  In a cash-strapped and time-strapped league, however, this means the first two will be in Rancho Cucamonga, with the following three (if all are necessary) will be in San Jose.

And San Jose is undefeated at home in these playoffs.

At press time, no video was available of the game-winning home run.  I will post if I see it later today.

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