'Hawks can't buy a break

San Jose won its 13th game in 14 attempts, defeating Lancaster with eight unanswered runs

Lately, the winds of fortune have been blowing toward San Jose. The Giants have won 13 of their last 14 games, and are inching closer to clinching the Valley Division's first-half title.

San Jose put another nail in the Lancaster JetHawks' coffin with a 10-8 victory before a Tuesday-night crowd of 2,865 at Municipal Stadium. An eight spot aided by three lucky bounces in the bottom of the fifth inning spurred the Giants' victory.

Lancaster, which lost two straight for the first time since May 14-15, now trails San Jose by seven games with 11 left in the first half.

"We're just not getting the breaks right now," JetHawks second baseman Adonis Harrison said. "We're playing hard. We're leaving it all on the field. But now we have to come back here (today) and win just to avoid the sweep."

Although the Giants have played outstanding baseball throughout the first half, they got a little help from the baseball gods in the eighth inning Tuesday's victory.

San Jose used six hits, two walks and an error to turn the tables on Lancaster, erasing a 6-2 Lancaster lead and building a 10-6 advantage of its own.

Michael Byas started the big fifth inning off with a bunt single, that he pushed just out of the reach of starter Julio Ayala. Travis Young followed by drawing a walk of Ayala.

Guiseppe Chiaramonte doubled both in when he slipped a ball just inside the third-base bag. Juan Dilone then tripled in Chiaramonte before scoring on Benji Simonton's single off reliever Kevin Gryboski to tie the game.

After Gryboski walked Tony Zuniga, he needed a ground ball to get out of the inning with a tie. He got a ground ball, but it wasn't exactly what he was looking for.

Angel Melendez bounced a ball off home plate high enough that Jason Regan couldn't make a play, and the bases were loaded. Two pitches later, Carlos Mendoza gave the Giants the lead with a very similar ball off the plate.

"That's the ballgame right there," Lancaster's Cirilo Cruz Jr. said. "They got a couple of lucky bounces."

After Lancaster just missed turning a double play against Byas in his second at-bat of the inning, Young bounced a third ball off the plate. Gryboski managed to field the ball this time, but had to rush his throw and overthrew Brendan Kingman at first base. That allowed Melendez and Byas to score what turned out to be the winning runs of the game.

While San Jose made a living off hits off the plate, Lancaster couldn't buy a single hard-hit ball back up the middle. Three times JetHawk batters were robbed by sure base hits when the ball caromed off a San Jose pitcher to a Giants infielder, who completed the out.

"We're still hitting the ball hard," Harrison said. "It just seems that we're hitting right at them."

The JetHawks looked to be in control after they posted four runs in the top half of the fifth. Santiestaban broke a 2-2 tie when he scored from third on a passed ball charged to Chiaramonte.

Regan stretched the JetHawks' cushion to what seemed like a comfortable four runs when he crushed a curveball over the left-field wall for a three-run home run - his 11th homer of the year.

After allowing two runs in the first inning, Ayala managed to hold off the Giants until the fifth, even though he didn't have his best stuff. He allowed five earned runs on six hits and a walk while striking out six.

Jim Stoops came on to pick up his league-leading 18th save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.