By CHRIS BRANAM
Staff Writer
LANCASTER - An early lead.
A Jose Cruz Jr. home run.
An increasingly consistent Ivan Montane on the mound, setting down the visitors in order in the first.
These were the kind of things that indicated the Lancaster JetHawks' May doldrums were over.
Gone was the memory of the 10game losing streak, exorcised by an encouraging series in Modesto and a strong first inning against the San Jose Giants, the winners of eight in a row heading into the game.
"We came out of the shoot and tried to set the tone for the game," Lancaster manager Dave Brundage said.
Down came the roof in the second.
The Giants scored five times to quiet the 4,125 wind-swept fans and withstood a ninth-inning rally at The Hangar en route to a 7-4 victory.
San Jose, leading the California League's Northern Division, improved to 29-16. The JetHawks dropped to 21-25, the second time this season they've fallen four games under .500.
Lancaster put together threestraight hits with two out off Giants starter Jason Myers to take a 2-0 lead.
Cruz began the rally with a drive to right-center field that got into the 30 mph tailwind and sailed over the wall for his second homer of the season.
Scot Sealy followed with a double over left fielder Tim Garland's head, and Carlos Villalobos drove him in with a single to right that made it 2-0.
That lead was short-lived, though.
After Jesse Ibarra grounded out, the next six San Jose batters reached base in the second, five came into score.
"I went after them and they hit it," Montane said. "Good hitting on their part. I don't think I made bad pitches."
Joel Galarza singled to start the rally.
Derek Reid doubled, sending Galarza to third and Todd Wilson drove both runners home on a single up the middle to tie the score at 2.
Rey Curujo walked, and then Jose Alguacil singled to load the bases for Garland.
Garland singled through the hole in the right side, for two more runs as San Jose took a 4-2 lead.
That looked like the extent of the Giants' damage in the half-inning when Wilson Delgado grounded out to second.
But Dusty Wathan's passed ball allowed Garland to come home without a throw and cap the halfinning.
Five of the eight hits the Giants got off Montane came in the second.
"Aside from that inning, Ivan pitched a great ball-game," Brundage said.
Montane finished strong as he shut out the Giants over the next five innings and lasted into the seventh for the first time this season.
But the five-run second was the worst he's looked since his last decision, an April 30 loss at home to San Bernardino in which he gave up five runs in six innings.
"I felt stronger as the innings went by," he said. "My delivery was too slow. My balance was off."
The Giants added to their lead off reliever John Daniels in the eighth on back-to-back RBI doubles by Wilson and Carujo that made it 7-2.
The Giants would need those runs, because the JetHawks rallied for two runs in the ninth and had the tying run at the plate with two out.
Wathan's single off the wall in right drove in two and made it 7-4, and Luis Molina singled.
Marcus Sturdivant struck out to end the game.
Myers, a 22-year-old lefthander from San Bernardino, settled down after the first.
He gave up a lead-off single to Jason Cook in the second and induced an inning-ending double play one batter later.
Villalobos singled with one out in the fourth and was stranded. Molina did the same in the fifth.
Myers gave way to reliever Aaron Fultz to start the eighth, walking just one in seven innings and striking out three.