Friday highlights from the Giants' farm: the four starting pitchers--Shawn Sanford, Craig Westcott, Hector Correa and Kyle Crick--combined to allow just 3 ER. Also notable, Ryan Lollis had four hits.
AAA: Fresno lost to Colorado Springs 5-1
Fresno: C Jackson WIlliams: 1 for 2, 2B, HBP, SO
Fresno: SP Shawn Sanford: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K--1 HB
Fresno: RP Heath Hembree: 1.0 IP, 1 R--1 HB, 1 WP, 1 E
Colorado Springs: RP Rex Brothers: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K
Williams was the lone Grizzly to reach base twice. His 7th double was one of their four hits.
Called up to Fresno for a spot start, Sanford had one of his better starts of the year. He did allow nine batters to reach basely (WHIP of 1.50) but kept the damage to a couple unearned runs. Hembree allowed an unearned run after hitting his first batter and committing an error on a pickoff attempt. Brothers, whom the Rockies optioned to the minors about a week ago, struck out five of his seven batters for the two-inning save.
AA: Richmond defeated Trenton 4-1
Richmond: CF Gary Brown: 0 for 3, HBP, SO, CS
Richmond: 3B Daniel Mayora: 2 for 3, 3B, BB
Richmond: C Tommy Joseph: 2 for 4, 2B
Richmond: SP Craig Westcott: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Richmond: RP Austin Fleet: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 4 K
Joseph, who had his 7th double, and Mayora, who had his 1st triple, were two of the three Flying Squirrels with two hits each. Joseph had a lukewarm bat to start the season with a .737 OPS in April, but it has gone cold in May with a sub-.600 OPS. Top prospect Brown reached base once.
Westcott had his sixth straight start with 3 ER or less in at least 6.0 IP. He has lowered his ERA to 3.86, but from a statistical perspective it is hard to project too much success at higher levels given his 11 K in 38.1 IP over those six starts. Fleet faced the minimum in 3.0 IP, striking out four of his nine batters. His peripheral stats are now 20 H, 7 BB, 0 HR and 25 K in 21.0 IP.
A+: San Jose defeated Bakersfield 9-5
(after scoring five runs in the 6th inning to take a 9-4 lead)
San Jose: CF Ryan Lollis: 4 for 5, BB, CS
San Jose: 3B Adam Duvall: 3 for 4, 2 BB, SO
San Jose: LF Jarrett Parker: 3 for 5, 2 2B, 2 SO, PO
San Jose: SP Hector Correa: 4.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K
Lollis and Duvall each reached base five times, while combining for seven hits. Lollis's .347 AVG ranks 7th in the league. Parker had a couple doubles. With just two XBH previously this month, he has slugged just .305 in his 59 AB this month.
Correa made his second start in five appearances. He has a season-high 6 K in a season-high 4.0 IP. But he also had 4 BB after having issued just 2 BB over his previous four appearances.
A-: Augusta defeated Savannah 2-1
Augusta: 2B Jose Cuevas: 2 for 3, 2B, BB, SO, SB
Augusta: SP Kyle Crick: 4.0 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
Reaching base three times, Cuevas improved his season line to .216/.291/.353 through 153 AB. That is well off the pace of .337/.403/.639 which he enjoyed last summer in 166 AB in the more hitter-friendly AZL.
Crick had an odd stat line with 8 H but 8 K in 4.0 IP. It suggests that while he had control (few walks), he did not necessarily have command (i.e., good location within the strike zone). Then again, just one of the eight hits went for extra bases, so it's not clear from the box score whether he was hit hard or just unlucky. This was his third start with a season-high 8 K, but the 8 H easily surpassed the previous high of 5 H, which came in his previous start. Still, the 0 BB is a definite improvement, if just a statistical improvement, over the 6 BB in his previous start. (Confused yet?)