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SAN JOSE — At every San Jose Giants home game, one opposing hitter is designated as the “Beer Batter.” The premise is simple: If that batter strikes out, the beer at Excite Ballpark is half off for 15 minutes. On Thursday evening, that designation belonged to the Stockton Ports’ Edgar Montero.
Jackson Flora , ever the showman, didn’t want to disappoint. Flora fell behind after a first-pitch ball, but landed his second offering in the zone for strike one.
The people could taste the discount. Flora’s third offering, a fastball, also caught the zone.
Excite Ballpark buzzed. The 21-year-old fed off their anticipation as his next pitch touched 100 but landed in the opposite batter’s box.
“When I got two strikes on him,” Flora said, “I figured I would let one eat.” Montero continued to battle. He fouled off Flora’s fifth pitch, then laid off the sixth, another errant fastball.
With the count full, the people pleaded. They asked, and they received.
Flora, who grew up roughly 30 miles away in Pleasanton, gave the people what they wanted. His seventh and final pitch to Montero was a backdoor breaking ball, and Montero could only watch it go by.
Flora not only struck out the Beer Batter, but the side entirely. The crowd erupted, and those of age bolted for the concessions.
His performance — two innings, no runs, no hits, two walks, four strikeouts — set the tone for the Giants’ 3-1 win over the Ports, clinching a spot in the California League Championship Series. Having made his mark, Flora played to the crowd, doffing his cap as he walked off the field.
“To come in here and help the team win in a playoff game and be able to celebrate in the clubhouse like that just really just … motivates you even more to get up to the big leagues and help that team win and be able to celebrate on that stage,” Flora said.
“Everyone always knows when it’s the beer batter,” said pitching coach Dan Runzler.
“Our funny little thing is you can get your butt kicked a little bit, but if you strike out the beer batter, the fans are going to love you.” Many Giants fans have already grown fond of Flora, the hometown kid who was selected with the fourth overall pick by his hometown team.
The fanbase’s love will grow even stronger if he continues dominating as he did on Thursday.
Flora flashed the electrifying stuff that made him the first pitcher selected in this year’s draft, sitting in the mi d-to-upper 90s with his four-seam fastball while mixing in breaking balls and his new kick changeup.
He showed off some sauce, too, confidently strutting off the mound after ending the first inning with a strikeout. “He’s just very diligent about what he does,” Runzler said.
“It’s really impressive to watch. He’s very accountable for what he does.
He asks a lot of questions, even as a young, new draft guy. Obviously, the sky’s the limit.
You guys see all the stuff; it is real. I don’t think anyone thinks — even himself — he’s a finished product.” “The ability to slow the game down was unbelievable,” said San Jose manager Ydwin Villegas.
“It was a big game tonight, and he was acting like he was here since day one. That’s pretty impressive to see from a kid that was making his second outing so far.” For Flora, the Giants’ No.
4 prospect per Baseball America, Game 2 of the North Division Series might’ve been his final outing of the year. San Francisco has been cautious with Flora, who threw a career-high 102 innings as a junior at UC Santa Barbara.
After being drafted, Flora spent several weeks at the team’s minor-league facility in Scottsdale before tossing a scoreless inning in his professional debut on Sept. 4.
Flora would be in line to start Game 3 of the California League Championship Series (a best-of-three) on six days’ rest, but Runzler acknowledged that the decision will be up to the Giants’ brass.
“Hopefully we don’t need a Game 3, and we can just take it home in two games, but if they need me to go out there, I feel healthy and I feel ready to go,” Flora said.
The 21-year-old Flora emerged from San Jose’s first-base clubhouse soaked not in champagne but apple cider, a reminder that many of his teammates are still below the drinking age. That includes the 18-year-old Josuar Gonzalez and the 17-year-old Luis Hernandez, the Giants’ No.
1 and No. 2 prospects , respectively.
Hernandez likely won’t play another game this season because of a hip ailment, but Gonzalez set the table in the bottom of the first, hitting an opposite-field double and scoring the game’s first run.
Headlined by Flora, Gonzalez and Hernandez, the Giants’ farm system has become one of the best in baseball over the past year.
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