Quakes Win Again, Down Giants Friday

San Jose, CA – The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes held on for a second straight win on Friday night, knocking off the San Jose Giants by a final of 4-1 at Excite Ballpark.

The Rancho pitching staff enjoyed one of their best nights of the year, as River Ryan, Benony Robles and Joan Valdez combined for nine innings of one-run baseball.

Ryan matched a career-best by going five innings of scoreless baseball, holding the Giants to just three hits.

The Quakes broke a scoreless tie in the seventh, as they pushed across three unearned runs, capitalizing on two San Jose errors. Javier Armas’ RBI single plated Kyle Froemke for the first run and then Armas scored on a throwing error, making it 2-0 against Giants’ reliever Melvin Adon (0-1). Rancho got their third run on a Yunior Garcia RBI hit, bringing home Jake Vogel to make it 3-0.

Robles (4-2) held that lead until the eighth, when the Giants finally broke through. A sac fly from Victor Bericoto brought in the Giants’ lone run, making it 3-1.

In the ninth, Rancho got that run back, as Kenneth Betancourt legged out an infield single, plating Jake Vogel to make it 4-1.

That would be plenty of lead for Joan Valdez, who got the final two outs in the eighth, then worked around a two-out single in the ninth to record his third save.

Rancho (15-13, 51-43) will look for a third straight win on Saturday at 6:00pm, sending Peter Heubeck (0-0) to the hill against Eric Silva (3-6) in game five of the series.

The Quakes will eventually return to LoanMart Field on Tuesday, August 2, as they host the Inland Empire 66ers in a six-game set. Tuesday, August 2 will be a Healthy RC Recycle Tuesday. Tickets are available at rcquakes.com. We hope to see you at LoanMart Field...Go Quakes!