SF Giant Minor Lines 4/9

After a minor medical scare on opening day, Lucius Fox was back playing last night, and rang up quite a few professional firsts. For his first hit, he provided one thing nobody expects out of him:

#Giants prospect Lucius Fox first professional hit is a HR on a 79 MPH change up that did nothing from #Braves Max Fried.

— Chris Blessing (@C_Blessing) April 9, 2016

Hit the mistakes, Lucius! Good first step.

HIGHLIGHTS: Lucius Fox 2 for 5 with HR, SB. Joan Gregorio threw 4 hitless innings with 6 Ks. Ricky Oropesa homered in both halves of a DH.

Sacramento lost at Salt Lake City Bees (Angels), 6-0

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA
RF	Mac Williamson	4	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.250
DH	Jarrett Parker	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.167

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA	Pitches	Strikes
Chris Stratton L, 0-1	6.0	9	6	6	0	3	0	1	1	9.00	82	61
Jake Dunning	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	16	10

View from the booth in #SaltLake. Great place to call a game. #ClawsUp pic.twitter.com/6W5OyrxT5k

— Johnny Doskow (@JDoskow) April 10, 2016

Maybe it was the gorgeous views that distracted them, or maybe it was the cold Rocky Mountain spring that chilled out the offense, but either way the RiverCats' bats have spluttered out of the gate in their 0-3 start. They managed just six total baserunners in getting shut out, with 4 hits and 2 walks. Mac Williamson provided the sole XBH. In the first three games Williamson has just three hits, but all have gone for extra bases, with two doubles and a HR.

Chris Stratton had a noteworthy major league camp this spring, but he failed to take those good vibes into his first start of the year. He was imminently hittable through his 6 innings, allowing 10 base runners in all. He surrendered runs in three of his first four innings, and with little offensive support, that was enough to put the game out of reach.

Matt Lujan goes to the hill today, to try and help Sacramento avoid a season opening four game sweep. The offense will go to work against former Diamondback and Angels LHP Tyler Skaggs.

* * *

Richmond lost to Hartford Yard Goats (Rox), 5-1 in Gm 1 of DH (7 inn)

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA
2b	Christian Arroyo	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.455
3b	Ryder Jones	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
1b	Ricky Oropesa	3	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	.333
RF	Hunter Cole	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
CF	Austin Slater	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.100

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA	Pitches	Strikes
Chase Johnson L, 0-1	4.0	4	3	3	2	3	1	0	1	6.75	60	36
Antonio Senzatela (Hartford)	6.0	3	1	1	1	6	1	0	1	1.50

Richmond beat the Hartford Yard Goats (Rox), 4-0 in Gm 2 of DH (7 inn)
losing the four game series 1-3

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA
2b	Christian Arroyo	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.400
3b	Ryder Jones	3	0	1	3	1	0	0	0	1	.333
1b	Ricky Oropesa	3	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	.333
RF	Hunter Cole	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
CF	Austin Slater	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.214

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA	Pitches	Strikes
Joan Gregorio	4.0	0	0	0	3	6	0	0	1	0.00	72	47
Dan Slania W, 1-0	2.0	1	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0.00	26	19
Ray Black	1.0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0.00	16	11

Chase Johnson's 2016 could hardly have gotten off to a worse start, as he walked the first two batters he faced and then served up a 3-run HR to Rockies' CF prospect David Dahl. Johnson would settle down over the next four innings of work, but as can be seen from the Pitches/Strikes category he was never sharp with his control. Instead, the exciting pitching duel between him and Colorado's Antonio Senzatela was a one-way fight, as Senzatela completely dominated the Squirrels' hitters, with the exception of one historic swing of the bat (more on this in a sec).

In the second game, it was Richmond's pitchers who did the dominating. Joan Gregorio started things off right with 4 no-hit innings with 6 K's though his control was a tiny bit wobbly. Still, combining with Dan Slania and Ray Black (in his first appearance of the year), the three Richmond pitchers allowed just 1 hit in the game while striking out 12 in 7 innings of work. That effort got all the support it needed when Ryder Jones came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the 1st.

The Squirrels final run came on a record setting HR from Ricky Oropesa, who homered in both halves of the DH to tie and then break Jarrett Parker's franchise record for HRs for a Richmond Flying Squirrel.  Of course, having franchise records in the minors is a dubious honor, and Ricky looks like he really wants to hit his way to Sacramento to join Parker, with 3 HRs in the first 3 days of play. Congrats, Ricky! Let's have a look at the record setter.

Of note, the Giants have said they were going to move Arroyo around to build up his defensive flexibility this year, and Arroyo got started on that plan playing 2b in both of the DH games, with Rando Moreno shifting back to SS. Arroyo had a rough day at the plate though, striking out in 3 of his 7 ABs.

Lastly, John O'Connor has a feature in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch on Kyle Crick, who will be making his first start of the season on Tuesday.

Squirrels' RH and Giants' prospect Kyle Crick resolves to get ahead, stay ahead in 2016. https://t.co/3ECw7wGqU4 pic.twitter.com/Bi8GLEKZKF

— John O'Connor (@RTDjohnoconnor) April 10, 2016

* * *

San Jose's game was postponed due to rain

Due to inclement weather, tonight's #SJGiants has been cancelled. In brighter news, doubleheader tomorrow @ 1 PM! pic.twitter.com/43o2hyT3iW

— San Jose Giants (@SJGiants) April 10, 2016

By the way, pay no attention to that "in brighter news" part, because today's scheduled DH has been canceled too. In the end, they only managed to complete one game of their scheduled four-game series, makeup dates to be determined later.  This is going to cause some scheduling issues down the line, as Lancaster only has two more trips to SJ this year, both 3-game series and both in the second half of the year.

* * *

Augusta won at Rome Braves, 4-3

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	Other
SS	Lucius Fox	5	2	2	2	0	0	1	0	1	.250	SB (1)
2b	Manuel Geraldo	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.083
1b	Dillon Dobson	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.200
3b	Kelvin Beltre	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.222
DH	Tyler Brown	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.167

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA	Pitches	Strikes
Logan Webb	4.0	6	3	3	1	1	0	1	0	6.75	66	41
Connor Kaden W, 1-0	3.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0.00	30	19
Heath Slatton	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4.50	13	8
Caleb Smith, S 1	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0.00	11	9

Lucius Fox' first professional hit was a bolt over the LF fence off Max Fried, the former #7 overall pick for the Padres who the Braves acquired for Justin Upton. Fox' no doubt tater showed off his plus bat speed, and the slightly more power that appears to be in his RH swing.

Later, Fox showed off his more expected skills to help Augusta win their first game of the year:

Fox created Augusta's winning run by bunting for a hit, stealing 2b, and taking both 3rd and home on Wild Pitches. Rome's announcers after the stolen base described Fox as having "some Jorge Mateo type speed." Mateo is the Yankees' SS prospect who's extraordinary speed made him the Sally League's "Most Exciting Player" in 2015. Chris Blessing, again at the game, timed Fox under 4 seconds to first from the LH batter's box.

#Giants Lucius Fox to first on bunt single. 3.97 seconds from LH batters box. Steals 2nd easily off slow pitcher to home. Not a great jump

— Chris Blessing (@C_Blessing) April 9, 2016

3b Kelvin Beltre continued to show off his OBP skills with his 3rd walk of the year along with a single. Beltre, who's OBP is now .417, showed off some speed as well, scoring from 1b on an errant pickoff throw.

Final note from Rome, while Gustavo Cabrera has begun the season on the DL, he doesn't appear to be really hurt. Perhaps, recalling last year's abbreviated comeback effort, the club is being cautious with Cabrera in this chilly spring:

@rog61 He participated in workouts. I’ll ask around today.

— Chris Blessing (@C_Blessing) April 9, 2016

* * *

Only two games today as Richmond travels on this Sunday to begin a northern road trip on Monday, and SJ's game has already been cancelled.