SF Giants Minor Lines, April 25

And if I've learned anything from movies about baseball, it's that after a night of frolicking on the muddy basepaths at The Diamond, Jack Daniels in hand, Los Lobos mysteriously blasting from the stadium speakers, the Richmond team will come back refreshed and ready to start playing some winning baseball. Which is great because, among other things, it will enable me to finally bust out this bad boy that I've been sitting on for a week!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>TRUE MEN ...fear flying squirrels and teenagers in *gasp* leather jackets (via <a href="https://twitter.com/PulpLibrarian">@PulpLibrarian</a>) <a href="http://t.co/hUqL0f8Zrv">pic.twitter.com/hUqL0f8Zrv</a></p>&mdash; Jeremy Lachlan (@jeremylachlan) <a href="https://twitter.com/jeremylachlan/status/590041994065354752">April 20, 2015</a></blockquote>

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I actually found a You Tube video that I I was going to post for losses as well, but I've frankly been too kind hearted to use it up to now because I know they're scuffling hard. So let's pick it up guys!  I've got a pathetic squirrel video in my pocket and I'm not afraid to use it if I have to!

HIGHLIGHTS: Cristian Paulino, Travious Relaford, and Jonah Arenado all enjoy 2 hit, 2RBI days. Rafael Rodriguez reaches base in all 3 PA.

Sacramento loses to Tacoma (Mariners), 6-1

With their 6th consecutive loss, the RiverCats record slipped below .500 for the first time this year, after an 8-3 start. Sacramento's only run of the game came on back to back doubles from Stromsmoe and major league vet Ronny Cedeno, who between them accounted for half of the team's 10 baserunners and the only two XBH. No one else in the lineup reached base more than once in the game.  Adam Duvall failed to reach base safely for the first time since the second game of the year, a 14 game streak. Jarrett Parker had the worst day of the team, taking a golden sombrero, boosting his K rate for the year up to 30%.

Braulio Lara continues to have a tough start to his PCL season, though he did manage to break the team's streak of having their SP allow >5 runs in each of the previous 5 games. Erik Cordier's rehab moved up from the Cal league to the PCL starting out a little shaky as walked the first two batters he faced and then surrendered a double, but he then K'd two of the next three batters and got out of the jam.

Richmond's game vs. New Britain was rained out

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The game wll be made up on June 20th as part of a doubleheader beginning at 5:05PM. Sunday&#39;s game is on as planned, 1:35 tomorrow.</p>&mdash; Squirrels Baseball (@GoSquirrels) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoSquirrels/status/592059191059165185">April 25, 2015</a></blockquote>

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San Jose lost at Bakersfield (Mariners), 3-0

*Cole's OPS is combined levels.

The Mariners system dealt out a beating to the Giants' on this day as two of their affiliates won by a collective score of 9-1. San Jose was shut out in back to back days for the second time in just over a week. Moral victory: they nearly doubled the amount of hits they got in the first two games of the series, but the offense is clearly struggling as they've managed just 2 runs and 8 hits in the first three games of this series, in one of the better hitting environments in the minors. The bright spot continues to be Rafael Rodriguez, the 22 yr old who was at one time the recipient of the highest signing bonus in Giants' history. He stayed a hot presence in the middle of SJ's lineup with a perfect day at the plate. He had the Giants only XBH, one of their two BBs, and 40% of their hits. Stay hot RafRod! Still, I have to say I really miss having this guy around the daily lines:

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On the mound all the scoring damage in the game was done on a single swing of the bat, Tyler O'Niell's (#11 prospect in Seattle's system by BA) three run HR off of Luis Ysla. However, Ysla's had another really messy outing, walking five of the 13 batters he faced in 2+ innings of work. In his two starts on the young year he's now walked nine batters in 3.1 IP.  His line yesterday could have ended much worse were it not for a line drive double play in the 2nd inning.  Martin Agosta relieved Ysla and either K'd or BB'd seven of the 12 batters he faced. Frankly it's somewhat amazing that they allowed only 3 runs given that Ysla and Agosta walked 8 in the first 5 innings of play.

Augusta won at Rome (Braves), 8-7

Heading the other direction from Sacramento, Augusta's see-saw victory got them back to .500 for the year at 8-8.  As has been the case for much of Augusta's year, the game saw several lead changes, particularly in the late innings where 8 runs were scored in the 8th and 9th. The Greenjackets prolific offense put 18 runners on base in the game and stole 4 more bases (though Fargas was once again CS for the 5th consecutive attempt. Guess once he gets up to 9 CS he'll start on a successful streak). The biggest hit, and parenthetically the best Arenado highlight of the day, was this one:

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The one sour note from Augusta hitters on this day was that Aramis Garcia continues to rack up Ks, which is concerning for a supposedly polished college bat in A ball.  Garcia's K rate is now just over 30% in 50 PA following a debut in the NWL last year where it was 25%. I don't think that's the guy the Giants thought they were getting with their 2nd round pick.

Once again the Augusta pitching staff, which is looking like the weakest staff in the system right now, did their all to outpace their hitters, but on this day they didn't quite manage it as the hitters staged come from behind rallies in both the 8th and 9th innings, with Arenado's line drive single ultimately driving in the winning run.

Five games on tap today (with Augusta playing another DH), two of which are already underway. Ty Blach, Matt Lujan, Nick Vander Tuig, Sam Coonrod, and Nick Gonzalez are the scheduled starters as the top three clubs attempt to break losing streaks of 6, 8, and 3 games.