JetHawks Stuck In Between and Lose, 7-4

It was too little too late for the JetHawks, but at least it gives them something nicer to take home with them.

After a mostly pathetic offensive performance, the JetHawks scored two runs with a two-out rally in the ninth to make Tuesday night’s 7-4 loss to the San Jose Giants somewhat exciting for the 4,125 fans at the Hangar.

“I guess if you are looking for something positive, it’s nice to see,” JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage said. “But I’d like to see us that way from the first.”

It looked so promising in the first, when Jose Cruz Jr. hit a solo home run, his second, over the right field fence. Scot Sealy followed with a double off the wall and he scored on Carlos Villalobos’ single.

But the slugging JetHawks--the guys who hit a collective .300 for the first three weeks--went into hiding for seven innings.

Losers of 16 of 19 games, the JetHawks (21-25) continued to swing at bad pitches and look at good ones. After the first, they managed just three singles against San Jose left-hander Jason Myers, who pitched seven innings.

“We got him for a couple runs then I figured we’d keep it going,” Cruz said. “Then he started hitting his spots and we couldn’t make adjustments.

“He showed confidence and didn’t back down. He’s got to get credit for that.”

The JetHawks’ two runs in the ninth came on a two-out single off the fence by catcher Dusty Wathan.

“It’s coming along well, we’ll be all right,” Wathan said. “We’re not hitting as bad as during the 10-game losing streak. We’ve got that behind us. We’re not playing that bad of baseball right now.”

But it wasn’t even enough to erase the deficit the JetHawks were in by the second inning.

JetHawk starter Ivan Montane (2-2) retired the first four San Jose hitters before he gave up Joel Galarza’s single, Derek Reid’s double and Todd Wilson’s two-run single.

Montane walked Rey Corujo, gave up an infield single to Jose Alguacil and a two-run single to Tim Garland. Alguacil scored on a passed ball, making the score 5-2.

But Montane pitched well aside from the second. He lasted seven innings in his longest outing of the season. He faced only two hitters over the minimum, discounting the second.

“Aside from the second, Ivan pitched a great ballgame,” Brundage said.

San Jose 7, JetHawks 4

San Jose: 050 000 020 -- 7 11 0

JetHawks: 200 000 002 -- 4 8 0

Myers, Fultz (8) and Mayes; Montane, Daniels (8), Gould (9) and Wathan.

W--Myers (4-2). L--Montane (2-2).

2B: SJ--Reid, Ibarra, Wilson, Corujo; J--Sealy. HR:J--Cruz (2).

Records: San Jose 29-16; JetHawks 21-25.