July 4th sellout crowd of 11,076 at Chukchansi Park watches walk-off balk as Grizzlies sneak past Giants 5-4 in 10 innings

Fresno, CA (Tuesday, July 4) – In front of a July 4th sellout crowd of 11,076, the Fresno Grizzlies (45-31, 9-1) walked-off on the San Jose Giants (43-33, 3-7) 5-4 in 10 innings Tuesday night at Chukchansi Park. The red-hot Grizzlies improved to 12-2 in their last 14 games and 22-5 in their last 27 contests. Fresno enjoyed their sixth walk-off win of the year, which came on a balk in the bottom of the 10th. Parker Kelly scored the winning run, moving Fresno to 6-1 in extras (4-0 at home). The Grizzlies evened up the season-series with the Giants at eight games apiece and have won three in a row against their division foe. Since 2005, Fresno is now 9-9 on the Fourth of July.

San Jose grabbed a 3-0 lead thanks to a run in the second, third and fifth innings. Tanner O’ Tremba hammered his fourth homer of the season, a solo shot to left-center field. Matt Higgins swatted a single to shallow left, scoring Alexander Suarez. Then, Diego Velasquez knocked in Suarez with a sacrifice fly. Despite the early deficit, Fresno did not go down without a fight. Skyler Messinger pummeled a two-run clout to center field, his sixth longball of the year. Messinger finished a triple shy of the cycle, the only Grizzlies player to relish a multi-hit and RBI game.

In the bottom of the eighth with two outs, Fresno took a 4-3 lead with a pair of singles to left. Andy Perez hit a chopper over third and Jesus Bugarin hit a rocket that ricocheted off the shortstop. Bugarin extended his hit streak to 10 games, two shy of his season-long, and tallied his 19th RBI in the current stretch. In the top of the ninth, Suarez sent the game to extras with a solo tater to deep left-center field. It was his fourth bomb of the year. After a clean top of the 10th, the Grizzlies offense looked to walk it off. Kelly, the automatic runner at second scampered to third on a wild pitch. On the next pitch, Julio Rodriguez (3-3, loss) did not come set and Kelly was awarded home, sending Growlifornia into a confused frenzy. Sergio Sanchez (1-1) yielded the victory after a perfect frame. The clubs are back to battle tomorrow night from Chukchansi Park.

Tonight’s article was written by ChatGPT

Top Performers: Fresno Grizzlies (Colorado Rockies)

• 3B Skyler Messinger (3-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, R)
• PR/1B Parker Kelly (0-1, 2 R, SB; Walk-off balk)
• 2B Andy Perez (1-3, RBI, R, BB, SB)

Top Performers: San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants)

• DH Alexander Suarez (3-5, HR, 3B, RBI, 3 R)
• RF Tanner O’Tremba (1-4, HR, RBI, R, BB)
• LF Matt Higgins (3-5, 2B, RBI)

On Deck:

Wednesday, July 5 vs. San Jose Giants, San Jose RHP Manuel Mercedes (1-3, 3.36) vs. Fresno LHP Albert Pacheco (3-1, 4.09), 6:50 pm PT

ON THAT FRES-NOTES:

The 11,076 was the highest-attended game for the Grizzlies this season.

This season, 37 of the Grizzlies 76 games have ended in one or two-run affairs (49%). Fresno is 16-9 (11-4 at home) in one-run games and 7-5 (5-2 at home) in two-run contests. Overall, the Grizzlies are 23-14 in those games with a 16-6 record at home.

This season, the Grizzlies have scored 37% of their runs in innings 7-9 (164 runs of 442 total runs). The seventh inning has been the most productive for Fresno with 68 runs scoring.

Dyan Jorge made a web gem play at short in the third.

Davis Palermo tossed a career-high one and two-thirds scoreless innings.