Wowza! Ricky Oropesa with back to back multi-HR games. I remember Jack Clark doing that back in the late 70s and I think Ellis Burks might have managed it once as well, but that's been a pretty rare accomplishment in Giantsland, non-Barry Bonds division. Holy moly, Ricky!
(that's the Indian's terrific 2014 1st round pick Bradley Zimmer getting all the wall time in these Oropesa videos, btw)
HIGHLIGHTS: RICKY.OROPESA!
* * *
Sacramento lost to Iowa Cubs, 9-1
getting swept in their four game series, 0-4
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
RF |
Jarrett Parker |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.285 |
.341 |
.458 |
LF |
Mac Williamson |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
.258 |
.371 |
.393 |
3b |
Kevin Frandsen |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.268* |
.335* |
.355* |
*Sacramento only
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Pitches |
Strikes |
Jake Dunning L 4-2 |
3.1 |
12 |
9 |
9 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6.75 |
69 |
47 |
Cory Gearrin |
1.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.79 |
15 |
10 |
After their 13 game winning streak (the last 8 of which came at home) got Sacramento two games above .500, they embarked on a disastrous 1-7 road trip to the midwest that plunged them right back down again, four games below .500. They do get to play their final 8 games at home anyway.
This one was over quickly, as Jake Dunning, making just his second start for Sacramento since May (with a lengthy DL stint in between), was beat on hard. He surrendered runs in every inning, including a three-run 1st, and a four-run 4th that ran him out of the game.
After getting just two-hits in the 12 inning night cap on Saturday night, the RiverCats managed just one more hit in the series finale. They scored a first inning run on a two-base error and a Sac Fly, and after that the team seemed to be on auto-snooze. I'm sure they can't wait to touch down back in Sacramento though there's little time to rest as they're back at it tonight. So ends their last road trip of the year. Two home series left vs. Reno and Albuquerque.
The one guy who had a pretty decent series was Jarrett Parker, so let's watch him almost go out again in the 9th inning yesterday:
Fantastic camera iso on the Pitcher reaction to start that clip!
Parker's had an excellent full season in the PCL, hitting .285/.381/.510, posting a 137 wRC+, .225 Iso, 20 HRs, 18 SB. He's also an excellent fielder with a strong arm. So why don't we love him more? It's those two other numbers that force us to wonder whether the things he does well can overcome the things he doesn't. He's posted a 33% K rate this year and a .410 BABIP. If the former goes up and the latter comes down, it's hard to see him surviving in the majors well enough to let the tools play. He'll keep working at it, though, and you never know. To borrow one of my favorite Grant-isms, this sport sure can drink.
* * *
Richmond beat Akron (Indians), 12-2
winning their four game series, 3-1
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
SS |
Rando Moreno |
5 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.281 |
.331 |
.351 |
1b |
Ricky Oropesa |
4 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
.260 |
.317 |
.440 |
LF |
Devin Harris |
4 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
.231 |
.297 |
.394 |
CF |
Engel Beltre |
5 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.258 |
.285 |
.365 |
C |
Eliezer Zambrano |
5 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.199 |
.243 |
.263 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Pitches |
Strikes |
Joe Biagini W 10-6 |
6.0 |
8 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2.46 |
96 |
61 |
Matt Gage |
2.0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4.91 |
31 |
24 |
.@GoSquirrels Acorns: Squirrels have not won a road series since 6/18 , could change today. Team is 8-1 vs. AKR., holds tiebreakers vs.ALT
— Jay Burnham (@Burnham_Jay) August 30, 2015
Oropesa didn't just homer twice again today, and he didn't just homer twice with a Grand Slam again today. He homered twice in an inning, with a Grand Slam! Engel Beltre pitched in with a homer of his own in the inning and the result was a 9-run onslaught in the 6th that turned a 2-1 nail baiter into a laugher.
The Squirrels pounded out 13 hits, seven of them for extra bases. They hit 4 HRs. And in the end, they did pretty much what they needed to do, taking three of four from Akron and pulling into a tie with them for 3rd place, three games behind Altoona. Oropesa had nine hits over the four game series and eight of them went for extra bases, including 5 HRs as he really lifted the team on his back offensively.
Joe Biagini kept the team in it for 6 innings, with only a solo HR against his record, though he was in the stretch in every inning. In the bottom of the 5th, when it was still 2-1, Biagini got out of a bases loaded one-out situation on a medium deep fly ball and a line out. And in the 6th, his final inning, Biagini survived two singles and a double without being scored on, thanks to a timely double play in between.
Three games back with just eight remaining is still a pretty good longshot, but at least they've made their final week of the season relevant. And they do have tiebreakers in their favor, so ... let's just return to that Grant-ism above.
* * *
San Jose lost at Rancho Cucumonga (Dodgers) 8-3
winning their three game series, 2-1
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
CF |
Angel Pagan |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
|
SS |
Christian Arroyo |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
.308 |
.348 |
.471 |
3b |
Ryder Jones |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.266 |
.296 |
.396 |
RF |
Tyler Horan |
4 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.209 |
.305 |
.371 |
LF |
Daniel Carbonell |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.270 |
.324 |
.391 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Jordan Johnson L 2-2 |
3.0 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.71 |
Luis Ysla |
1.2 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6.21 |
Tyler Rogers |
1.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.47 |
The Giants didn't manage to sweep the road trip, but the 6-1 trip south took care of business pretty well regardless. With seven games remaining, San Jose sits tied for 1st place (with Visalia) in the second half, and is tied with Stockton for the wild cards spots, three games ahead of Modesto. The Nuts come to the Muni for three games starting Tuesday, and taking two of three in that series would pretty much wrap up a post-season berth. The mini-series at the beginning of the Cal league, is just best 2 out of 3, so getting the home field advantage wouldn't be a bad idea. That will take being the division winner or the #1 wild card out of two (if Visalia wins the division).
Jordan Johnson's magic season hit a bit of a speed bump here (or a "sleeping policeman" as my British colleague calls it), in what was easily his worst start of the year. It was his only appearance of the year in which he failed to strike out a batter, though the stuff appears to have still been there:
Johnson sitting at 94 on the FB, t95. FB breaks like a cutter, often late and sharp. #SJGiants
— Jen Mac Ramos (@jenmacramos) August 31, 2015
The damage was all done in a single inning that got away from him, the five-run 4th. It started with a double and then Johnson gave up four consecutive singles (three ground balls). A fielding error from Ryder Jones ended Jordan's night, and then Jeff Soptic didn't help much by allowing two inherited runners to score. Fight again, another day Jordan!
At the bat, Ryder hit his team leading 29th double of the year. Hopefully some of those doubles can turn into HRs as he rises, but he's really going to have to do something about that OBP in order to be a useful player. This is now the 3rd straight level in which his OBP has been below .300. It was .293 in his short stint in the NWL last year and an abysmal .272 in the Sally. After posting a walk rate of 4.5% with Augusta, Ryder's walk rate with SJ is down to 3.9%.
In 2014, Ty Horan posted an .879 OPS over two levels and was promoted to AA for the playoffs. In his time in the Cal League (28 games) he posted an 1.046 OPS with nearly as many HRs (10) as he hit for SJ in 87 games this year (11). There've been plenty of injuries and DL stints, but there's no real way to frame the 24 year old's 2015 as anything but a developmental disappointment.
And, as long as I'm being all negative and whatnot (which is odd in writing up a team that's just completed an unambiguously successful trip), one guy who didn't have much success at all during the recent win streak was Christian Arroyo, who took a hat trick in this game. Though Arroyo has nearly doubled his season total of HRs in August, every other part of his line has suggested his worst month since his short stint in Augusta last year. He's hitting just .277/.299/.438 in August. Need to get that turned around for the stretch drive, Christian. He did, of course, make the highlight reel defensive play described by Brute at Saturday's game.
That's it for Angel Pagan with SJ. He shoots up to Sacramento for a game with the RiverCats tonight and then rejoins the Giants when the rosters expand on Tuesday.
#SJGiants will enter final week with a three-game lead over Modesto in the Wild Card & tied with Visalia in second half. Seven games remain.
— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) August 31, 2015
* * *
Augusta's game was rained out
Just 10 more rain outs and they're done! Actually, now they have back to back double headers scheduled the next two days
I'm just going to automatically assume Savannah leads MiLB in rainouts, because my goodness, it happens all the time down there.
— David Lee (@David11Lee) August 30, 2015
* * *
Salem-Keizer defeated Boise Hawks (Rockies), 4-2
winning their three game series, 2-1
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
OBP |
SLG |
CF |
Ronnie Jebavy |
3 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.264 |
.308 |
.407 |
RF |
Steven Duggar |
3 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
.284 |
.380 |
.358 |
C |
Fernando Pujadas |
3 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
.284 |
.343 |
.406 |
3b |
Jose Vizcaino |
4 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.301 |
.365 |
.479 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Nolan Riggs |
5.0 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.93 |
Eric Sim |
1.2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.70 |
David Owen, BS 2 W 2-2 |
0.2 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.75 |
Caleb Smith, S 7 |
1.2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.92 |
The Volcanoes seem to work best when Jebavy and Duggar are doing well at the top of the lineup and they certainly performed in this game. Jebavy reached base four times (including a HBP) and stole three bases (his team leading 21, 22, and 23 of the year, fifth in the league). Duggar reached base three times with an RBI double tossed in, as well as an SB of his own. Jebavy was in the middle of both of the team's two-run rallies in this game. In the 1st, he led off with a single, stole 2b, and came in on Duggar's double (Miguel Gomez would single Duggar in). And in the 7th, after the bullpen had lost the lead, Jebavy's two-run single gave SK back the lead for good. Jebavy's another kid who could do with some refining to his approach, as the 3.4% walk rate is the one thing really driving his overall line down.
David Owen kindly put on a clinic on the silliness of Pitcher Wins, allowing four of the six batters he faced to get a hit and walking away with a "victory." Caleb Smith got the very well-deserved "save" though (equally if not more silly as it may be), going five outs and striking out 4 of the 6 batters he faced. That's a 38% K rate now on the year for the LHP. Stats aside, premium velocity from the left-hand side is an excellent path to the major leagues, and barring injury, that's a thing that Caleb possesses.
So, the Volcanoes get to take a breath with their final off day of the season today, and then comes the crucible: three games at home vs. Eugene. They are currently three games behind Eugene who sits in 1st place in the division for the second half. They are tied with Eugene for the Wild Card position which would come into play if Hillsboro repeats their first half title (Hillsboro is currently in 2nd place, 1 game behind Eugene). I know you have take it one game at a time and not look too far ahead, but the Volcanoes need to seriously think about one game at a timing their way to a sweep. Think champions, guys!
Fan photos from yesterday with the trophy! #GoSKV @HalfwayCanadian @HussHuss @thebaum1 pic.twitter.com/sDo9U66D7H
— Volcanoes Baseball (@SKVolcanoes) August 30, 2015
* * *
AZL Giants season is over
* * *
DSL Giants beat DSL Rangers1, 9-3
taking a 2 games to 0 lead in the best of 5 Championship Series
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
CF |
Juan Rodriguez |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.273 |
SS |
Manuel Geraldo |
5 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
.286 |
RF |
Sandro Fabian |
4 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.300 |
DH |
Mecky Coronado |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.294 |
DH |
Brayan De Pena |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.000 |
LF |
Beicker Mendoza |
5 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
.316 |
3b |
Marco Guzman |
4 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.316 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Orleny Quiroz |
4.0 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3.86 |
Hengerber Medina |
2.2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
The Giants made a curious pitching decision here, skipping Prebito Reyes for the start in favor of Orleny Quiroz, the 22 year old LHP signed just this month who had given up 7 earned runs in 11.2 IP in the regular season. And by curious I mean what the #$@#? It looked questionable when Quiroz surrendered runs in each of the first two innings. But then the bats woke up and delivered a huge 9-3 victory that gives the Giants a commanding 2-0 lead in the best of five series, without having used several of their best starters yet in the series.
BOWKERMANIA turned out to be a flop, but now we have BEICKERMANIA to sustain us! Beicker Mendoza, who's been spraying hard hit balls all over the playoffs, had just one hit in this game, but it was a big one: a Grand Slam that put the exclamation mark on a six-run 7th inning. Mendoza has now hit HRs in three consecutive playoff games, after hitting just 1 in 180 ABs during the season. The 17 year old Venezuelan was said to have impressed the Giants with his power and arm strength when they signed him for $210k, with a raw hit tool. Beicker showed some feel for hit in the season (though with some contact issues definitely) and now some power is showing up. Exciting kid to watch. He'll be stateside next year for sure.
As will Sandro Fabian, who reached base twice continuing his nice post-season. In the 3rd with the Giants down 2-0, Fabian signled and ultimately came around to score their first run, on a Marco Guzman double.
In his two appearances in the playoffs Hengerber Medina has K'd 11 of the 16 batters he's faced. Adding to his regular season totals that gives the converted SS a 40% K rate for his first year as pitcher. Pretty good.
The DSL team is just one win away from a well-deserved, pole to pole championship. One more win guys!
* * *
Short schedule today with both San Jose and Salem-Keizer getting their final off day of the year. We enter the season's final week with three teams trying to extend their year into the playoffs and one trying to take home a championship.
These folks have the right idea: #icouldgetusedtothis
@SKVolcanoes Third time visiting the World Series trophy! #icouldgetusedtothis pic.twitter.com/q22rprcRgv
— David Baumer (@thebaum1) August 30, 2015