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Highlights: Well, Chuckie Jones showed some real pep. No one else really did.
San Jose was defeated by Rancho Cucamonga (Dodgers), 11-3; RC leads the Best-of-5 Series, 1-0
| Name | AB | R | H | RBI | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | SO | Other | |
| LF | Chuckie Jones | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| SS | Christian Arroyo | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 E |
| 1B | Angel Villalona | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Name | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | WP | HB |
| Martin Agosta, L | 5.1 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Jose Reyes | 0.1 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Carlos Diaz | 1.0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jason Forjet | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Polonius | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The San Jose Giants got jolted by the Quakes, as some of the middle relievers in the bullpen collapsed and the game was blown wide open.
Things seemed to be getting off to a good start, as starter Martin Agosta got through the first four innings giving up just two hits. Meanwhile, Chuckie Jones hit a 2-run home run in the third inning to give San Jose a 2-0 lead.
But Rancho Cucamonga began to come back in the fifth. Paul Hoenecke led off the inning with a home run, and a second run came in later that inning on a sacrifice fly to tie the game. And then, the sixth inning happened.
With one out, Christian Arroyo committed an error to let a runner on, and Agosta gave up a two-run home run to Tyler Ogle to give Rancho Cucamonga a 4-2 lead, and Agosta was taken out for Jose Reyes. Reyes, a starter most of the year with San Jose, gave up a walk and a double right away, and after a pop out, let the next five runners get on, including a three-run homer, before being lifted. HIs replacement, Carlos Diaz, gave up a walk to load the bases but got out of the inning. With those 7 runs, Rancho Cucamonga was up 9-2.
Diaz's troubles, however, were not over. He gave up a leadoff double the next inning, and after a one-out walk, gave up three straight singles. Things were so bad that the Giants eventually lifted Diaz and put in the announced Game 4 starter, Jason Forjet, to finish off the seventh inning. That shouldn't affect Forjet's availability for Game 4, if needed.
The Giants then put up John Polonius, who had primarily played second base off the bench for the Giants. Polonius had actually pitched twice before this season (though never before in his pro career). He pitched 1.2 innings against Lake Elsinore in August, taking the loss while giving up three hits. He also got a single out in another August game against Stockton, in a blowout loss. Tonight, he collected his first career strikeout in a quiet inning.
The only bright spot on the offense was Jones. Aside from his two-run homer, he led off the eighth with a walk, and then moved to third on a groundout to third base by Brandon Bednar. That put him in position to score on Arroyo's groundout.
This is about the prettiest thing you're going to look at from this game, so enjoy!
Championship Series Game 1 pic.twitter.com/j56DVzwWX5
— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) September 18, 2015
The Giants will send Jordan Johnson to try and tie the series up. Johnson has noticeably slipped late in the season, and gave up four earned runs in both his last start of the regular season and his lone playoff start against Visalia. The Quakes will put up Scott Barlow, who had a 2.52 ERA in 14 appearances (13 starts) for Rancho Cucamonga, and has a 3.35 ERA overall this year with appearances all up and down the Dodger system. He also faltered late in the season, though it included a lone start in Triple-A, and he gave up four earned runs in his only playoff start, against High Desert in the Divisional round.