Before diving into all the Giants' system news of the night, I'll borrow Russell Carlton's schtick and say: I command you to read this BP story about a HS kid in Florida. It's pretty amazing stuff and made this reader anyway feel quite good about loving baseball.
Also before getting to last night, let's have a bonus highlight from Tuesday, with Hunter Strickland making some guy look like a Pitcher up there with the bat:
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HIGHLIGHTS: Adam Duvall had a double and his 8th HR. John Riley and Aramis Garcia reached base 4x.
Sacramento lost in Reno (Diamondbacks), 6-3
they finish their 4 game series Thursday
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
OPS |
2b |
Skyler Stromsmoe |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.738 |
3b |
Adam Duvall |
4 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.031 |
RF |
Jarrett Parker |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
.864 |
C |
Ben Turner |
4 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.763* |
*over two levels
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Kevin Correia |
6.0 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3.00 |
Erik Cordier |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.60 |
Juan Gutierrez, L, 0-1 |
1.0 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5.52 |
Sacramento did all the scoring they were going to do in this one before an out was recorded as the first three batters of the game produced a single, HB, and Adam Duvall's 8th HR of the year.
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Once an out was recorded the spell was broken, and for the rest of the game the RiverCats managed just 6 baserunners on 4 singles, 2 doubles, and 0 BB. From that early high, the game devolved into a slow drip of defeat, as Reno scored single runs off Kevin Correia in three separate innings, the last coming on Pete O'Brien's solo HR, also his 8th of the year. Jarrett Parker put up another hat trick in this game. Despite his healthyish OPS, Parker now has 35 K's in 112 PA on the year for a 32% K rate.
Erik Cordier threw a perfect inning with 2 Ks in the 7th. His rehab will by rule end by the end of next week at which point the Giants will no doubt try to sneak him through waivers. Their run of bullpen dominance of late came to an end in the 8th inning however as Juan Gutierrez went kablooey (or whatever the extreme slow-mo version of kablooey is) all over the 3-3 game and when the dazed crowd looked up they gazed upon a 6-3 final (at least that was always my experience of watching a Johnny Gutierrez performance).
Richmond won at Altoona (Pirates), 4-1
The Squirrels cannot be contained!
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
OPS |
LF |
Devin Harris |
4 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.675 |
RF |
Mac Williamson |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
.761 |
3b |
Mitch Delfino |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.678 |
1b |
Ricky Oropesa |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.572 |
CF |
Daniel Carbonell |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.392 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Jack Snodgrass, W, 2-3 |
6.0 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
5.04 |
Stephen Johnson |
1.2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.38 |
Jose Casilla, S, 1 |
1.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.71 |
Tyler Glasnow, (Altoona) |
3.0 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.40 |
Unlike the "get it over with" RiverCats, the Squirrels savored the art of the slow burn, taking six whole batters to score their three runs in the top of the 1st; they even managed to save a run for later! The damage was really done on three consecutive pitches vs. Pirates #1 prospect Tyler Glasnow on which Devin Harris and Mac Williamson hit back to back doubles, and Mitch Delfino a single.
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A WP followed the Delfino single, but after that Glasnow settled in and the only baserunner he allowed in his final 10 batters would come by way of an error. However, in the bottom of the 3rd he would single and tweak his ankle sliding into 2b and depart the game. Two hundred miles away, Max Scherzer would subconsciously cluck his tongue and stroke his beard in reproach.
Following the top of the 1st uprising, the Richmond hitters would, like Sacramento, have little success the rest of the game, as they tallied only three hits (all singles) and four baserunners subsequently. They did manage to crowd two of those singles and the walk into the 6th inning to score their fourth run of the game. They also struck out 9 times. Williamson after the 1st inning double took a hat trick in his final three PA, pushing his season K rate over 20% and looked a bit swing happy throughout the game.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is the Jack Snodgrass we know and love! 6 innings, 1 run, 6 Ks. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoSquirrels?src=hash">#GoSquirrels</a></p>— Squirrels Baseball (@GoSquirrels) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoSquirrels/status/596102420788355072">May 7, 2015</a></blockquote>
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After a tough month of April, Jack Snodgrass looked a lot more Snodgrassy on this night, snapping off curve after curve to the frustration of the Altoona hitters. It was his longest start of the year, and with a 6:1 K:bb to go with just 1 run allowed, likely his best. Stephen Johnson has now K'd 22 of the 57 batters he's faced on the year (13.1 IP) and leads the EL in K% and K/9.
Richmond rather amazingly goes for the 4 game sweep this morning, though will do so without Kyle Crick, who's spot in the rotation is being pushed back a few days with what they're calling mild discomfort in the right wrist. He's not being placed on the DL and the team considers the issue a minor one. They're hoping he'll be able to take the mound again in the next series.
San Jose lost to Lake Elsinore (Padres), 5-4 in 10 innings
They too complete a four game series tonight
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
OPS |
DH |
Hunter Cole |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
.737* |
2b |
Austin Slater |
5 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.861 |
1b |
Travis Ishikawa |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
RF |
Dylan Davis |
4 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
.740 |
SS |
John Polonius |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.631 |
PH |
Ryder Jones |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.798 |
*over two levels
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Keury Mella |
5.0 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4.76 |
Martin Agosta |
3.0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4.43 |
Daniel Slania, L, 0-2 |
2.0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2.92 |
As the lone home team in the system tonight, the San Jose hitters apparently didn't have the top of the 1st special available to them, and SJ starter Keury Mella felt no great desire to be a participating location either. So this game proceeded mostly as a series of single run scoring innings. The Giants managed 11 baserunners on 8 hits, all but one of them singles. Slater's double extended his hitting streak to 10 games and he continues to be the best hitter in the lineup. Davis, in RF tonight, took the hat trick. The third round pick last year out of Oregon St. has the classic LTP with lots of contact issues profile that has been something of a 3rd round pick classic for the Giants in recent years (Williamson, Oropesa, Dominguez, Kieschnick, Bowker). Davis now has 8 Ks in 28 PA for SJ.
Here's an extended clip of one of the key parts of the game for Keury Mella last night, it features his only swinging strikeout of the night, and Joe Ritzo's commentary gives a feel for the kind of stuff Mella took the mound in this game and is definitely worth listening to, despite some audio issues at the top of the clip.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8zFf-eqSuXs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Martin Agosta had another nice night in relief and has brought his ERA down from the 13 or so range after his disastrous final start. Since reverting to the pen his K:BB is 16:8, with 7 of those 8 walks coming in back to back appearances. Dan Slania came on to a tie game and threw a perfect 9th with two Ks, but in his second inning of work he ran into trouble. Though he ultimately struck out the side, with two outs he walked a batter allowed the 2 run HR to Gabriel Quintana that lost the game.
SJ made a valiant comeback attempt in the bottom of the 10th loading the bases with 1 out on three straight singles. But a Matt Pare RBI groundout was all they could manage and the game ended with PH Ryder Jones flying out to CF. The Giants have lost three straight games 5-4, and face the possibility of a four game sweep at the hands of Lake Elsinore tonight.
Do you know Gary Davenport? Well you should, because he's great and his Dad (Jim) was great and they've both been great behind the scenes Giants folks for a billion years. Gary's done several different things in minor league ops for the Giants, but this year he's taken over from new Richmond manager Jose Alguacil, as the system's roving infield instructor. Listen to what he has to say here:
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Augusta won at Lakewood (Phillies), 10-8
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
SB |
CS |
OPS |
CF |
Johneshwy Fargas |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.768 |
RF |
Seth Harrison |
5 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
.538 |
C |
Aramis Garcia |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.761 |
DH |
John Riley |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.799 |
2b |
Will Callaway |
5 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
.866 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Matt Gage |
3.0 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.16 |
Dusten Knight |
3.0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.00 |
Nathaneal Santiago |
0.0 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
4.74 |
Carlos Alvarado, S, 2 |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.68 |
The Greenjackets went back for seconds on the blue diamond special, scoring 6 runs in the top of the first as 7 of their first 8 batters (and 8 of their first 10) on the night reached base (albeit one on an error). In what seems to be typical Augusta fashion in the 2015 season, they burst out to a 7-0 lead after two innings, and then held on for dear life to a 10-8 victory in a wild game that featured 10 walks, 2 HB, 7 errors and a PB cumulatively. Augusta knocked out 10 hits on the night, all but one singles. Everybody in the lineup other than Arenado and Relaford (who both went 0 for 5) had at least one hit, and five members of the starting lineup reached base at least twice. DH John Riley not only had the team's lone XBH, he also had 3 of the team's 5 walks. And Aramis Garcia, who is starting to heat up, reached based 4 times, with two hits, a BB and a HBP, though he also had his 3rd PB of the year.
It's unclear why Matt Gage was removed from the game after 3 innings. It's conceivable that he reached the 30 pitch inning in a 2 run third inning, or he may have come out for medical reasons. Have to wait and see on that one. It appears that the mysterious Nathanael Santiago has been removed from the rotation at this point. His appearance did the most to make this a competitive game as he retired none of the 4 batters he faced and left with the bases loaded. Ramon del Orbe then proceeded to unload them, though in fairness he would have gotten out of the mess had Will Callaway not thrown away an inning ending double play ball on the turn. Carlos Alvarado, who had blown saves in each of his previous two appearances, pitched a perfect 9th to finally put the lid on the this game.
A full slate again today. Richmond is playing the classic 10:30 am getaway day game so they might be done by the time many of you are reading this. Everybody else is at night. Scheduled starters are Austin Fleet (who's back in Sacramento again), Matt Lujan, D.J. Snelten, and Mark Reyes.