Highlights from the Giants' farm as both Connecticut and Salem-Keizer won their playoff games: (a) Eddy Martintez-Esteve homered and doubled while reaching base in all five plate appearances; (b) Ben Snyder had perhaps the best start of his pro career with 8.0 shutout IP before allowing a couple runs in the 9th inning; and (c) Craig Westcott had the best start of his young pro career with 7 .0 shutout IP.
AAA: Fresno ended its season on Labor Day Grizzlies on PCL leaderboards in selected stats: AA: Connecticut defeated New Britain 6-2 Connecticut: CF Mike McBryde: 0 for 4, SH, 3 SO Connecticut: LHP Ben Snyder: 8.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K--1 HB EME's three hits paced the Defenders' thirteen hit attack. He reached base in all five plate appearances, and his three hits included a homer and a double. Also reaching base three times were Pill and Williams. While all the other Defenders in the lineup had at least one hit, McBryde had the oh-fer, including a hat trick. Filling in for Madison Bumgarner after his promotion to the majors, Snyder, who had made just five starts in 34 appearances this year and who had an ERA over 5.00 in those five starts, had presumably his best appearance since being promoted to the upper minors midway through the 2008 season. Given the playoff context, maybe it was his best appearance as a pro to date. He had 8.0 shutout IP before all three batters he faced in the 9th inning reached base. Through eight innings he faced just three batters over the minimum. After Snyder and Kaufman combined to allow five of the first six Rock Cats batters to reach base in the 9th inning, bringing the tying run to the plate with the bases loaded and one out, Yourkin retired the final two batters for the save. Guerra, whom the Twins acquired in the Johan Santana trade and who had allowed 5 ER against the Defenders in late August, once again allowed 5 ER. A+: San Jose has a first-round bye in the Cal League playoffs A-: Augusta ended its season on Labor Day ssA: Salem-Keizer defeated Tri-City 7-0 Salem-Keizer: CF Evan Crawford: 3 for 4, 2 2B, BB, SO, CS Salem-Keizer: RHP Craig Westcott: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K Crawford had three hits, including two doubles, to pace the Volcanoes' twelve-hit attack. Biery also reached base three times. One of Martinez's two hits was his second double of the series, and he continues to lead the Volcanoes offense this post-season with a .455 AVG. Crawford was the only other Volcano in last night's lineup with a post-season AVG above .250. Westcott had his best and longest start as a pro. In his seven previous start, only once had he even pitched into the 6th inning and only once had he not allowed an earned run. That said, his peripheral stats in his seven regular season stats were more impressive than his 3.26 ERA with 28 H, 9 BB, 1 HR, and 42 K in 30.1 IP. After Rodriguez walked the bases loaded with one out in the 8th inning, Graves stranded all three runners and worked 1.2 perfect IP to complete the shutout. R: Giants lost AZL championship game on August 31 DSL: The Gigantes finished their DSL championship series sweep on August 31
--Hitters:
AVG: Bowker 1st, Guzman 5th
OBP: Bowker 1st
SLG: Bowker 3rd
OPS: Bowker 1st, Guzman 12th
HR: Bowker 12th
2B: Rohlinger 4th, Downs 7th
H: Guzman 8th
BB: Bowker 4th
SO: (none--Rohlinger led team with 90)
AB: Rohlinger 13th
RBI: Bowker 9th
SB: (none--Velez led team with 16)
--Pitchers:
ERA: Ortiz 2nd
WHIP: Ortiz 4th
K: Kinney 2nd, Ortiz 8th
IP: Pucetas 4th, Kinney 5th, Hammond 6th
G: Espineli 5th
GS: Kinney 1st, Hammond 3rd, Pucetas 3rd
W: Hammond 4th, Pucetas 8th
L: Kinney 1st, Hammond 3rd
Sv: Espineli 7th
(after scoring four runs in 1st inning in game 1 of the best-of-five series)
Connecticut: 1B Brett Pill: 1 for 3, 2 BB
Connecticut: DH Eddy Martinez-Esteve: 3 for 3, HR, 2B, BB, HBP
Connecticut: C Jackson Williams: 2 for 3, 2B, BB
Connecticut: RHP Shane Kaufman: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB
Connecticut: RHP Matt Yourkin: 0.2 IP, 1 K
New Britain: RHP Deolis Guerra: 4.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 4 K--1 HR, 1 WP
(Modesto defeated Bakersfield 5-3 in game 1 of their best-of-three series.)
(missing the post-season despite having the most wins of any teams in its eight-team division over the course of the entire season)
(scoring all seven runs in the first three innings and taking a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series)
Salem-Keizer: 3B Drew Biery: 2 for 4, 2B, BB
Salem-Keizer: 2B Juan Martinez: 2 for 4, 2B, SO
Salem-Keizer: LHP Mario Rodriguez: 0.1 IP, 3 BB, 1 K
Salem-Keizer: LHP Brandon Graves: 1.2 IP, 2 K