San Jose Giants keep season and Cal League title hopes alive with no-hitter

The San Jose Giants dominated the California League all summer, but with the season on the line Tuesday night the San Francisco Giants’ Single-A affiliate displayed its flair for the dramatic.

Three San Jose pitchers combined on the third no-hitter in franchise history to beat the Lake Elsinore Storm 9-1 in Game 2 of the California League playoffs at Excite Ballpark. The Giants, who are the defending league champions, forced a winner-take-all Game 3 tonight in San Jose. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m.

San Jose is seeking its ninth Cal League title since it became the San Francisco Giants’ affiliate in 1988.

San Jose was a league-best 80-52 during the regular season and, for the first time since 2009 won the first and second half North Division titles. The Giants ended the season on a 20-2 run and then swept their first-round series against Stockton.

But Lake Elsinore (the Padres’ affiliate) stunned visiting San Jose 12-1 in Game 1 of the championship series on Sunday. The Storm had lost their final nine regular-season games against San Jose.

The Storm had momentum after Game 1, but the Giants hadn’t lost consecutive games since they lost three in a row from Aug. 9-12, and they kept that streak alive with an exclamation point.

Despite not allowing a hit to the Storm — the run was scored on a steal of home — San Jose trailed heading into the bottom of the fourth inning. But two-out rallies in the fourth and fifth put the Giants ahead for the first time in the series. In all, San Jose scored six of their nine runs on Tuesday with two out.

Giants starter Argenis Cayama pitched the first five innings and struck out seven of the 21 batters he faced. The right-hander’s only brush with trouble came in the third inning after he had quickly retired the first six batters he faced, including striking out the side in the second. Storm center fielder Dawson Willis drew a walk to lead off the third and went to second on a balk. Cayama struck out the next two batters, but following a passed ball that moved Willis to third base and another walk, the Storm pulled off a double steal to take a 1-0 lead.

Cayama retired the next seven batters he faced before Giants manager Ydwin Villegas, who this week was named Cal League manager of the year for the third straight season, went to his bullpen and two of the newest faces in the organization finished the no-hitter. Ian Korn, the Giants’ 10th-round draft pick this summer, and Eric Nachtsheim, their sixth-round pick, each retired all six batters they faced.

San Jose, which set a club record with 897 runs scored (6.8 runs/game), didn’t score until the top of the ninth in Game 1, but rebounded in Game 2 with 11 hits. Center fielder Andy Polanco had three hits, including a two-out RBI single that tied the score in the fourth. DH Drew Smith’s two-out double gave the Giants a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

The Giants broke the game open with a three-run sixth and four-run seventh that included a two-out, two-run single by Josuar Gonzalez, the 18-year-old shortstop who is considered one of the top prospects in the minors.