SF Giants Minor Lines 4/10

Very light schedule today so let's get right to it:

HIGHLIGHTS: Kelvin Beltre and Jalen Miller drove in 7 runs between them.

Sacramento lost at Salt Lake City Bees (Angels), 7-4
Getting swept in their four game series, 0-4

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
CF	Gorkys Hernandez	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.273	.385	.273
2b	Ramiro Pena	5	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	1	.357	.438	.429
DH	Mac Williamson	3	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	.267	.313	.800
C	Andrew Susac	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.200	.333	.300
RF	Jarrett Parker	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.133	.188	.133
3b	Grant Green	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.357	.400	.357

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA	Pitches	Strikes
Matt Lujan L 0-1	3.1	8	6	0	2	2	1	0	0	0.00	72	43
Steven Okert	1.0	1	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	4.50	19	11
Derek Law	1.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0.00	24	16

Viewed from one angle it appears that Matt Lujan was the victim of circumstances yesterday in his AAA debut, surrending six unearned runs all in a single inning. Viewed from another his ERA was the lucky survivor of an inning in which he surrendered a walk and five hits, including a double and a HR, and in which his defense collected one of the three outs for him when CF Gorkys Hernandez helped nail a runner at home on a double.

Either way you look at it, the 6 run 2nd inning spelled another loss for the RiverCats and a four game sweep to open the year. The runs were all unearned thanks to an inning opening error from normally reliable Hak-Ju Lee. For good measure, a Grant Green throwing error would lead to a 7th unearned run later in the game as well.

Mac Williamson continued his power-hitting trend for this series. He now has four hits on the year: two doubles and two homers.

You can really see the value of long levers and extension when Williamson gets ahold of one like that. The next time Williamson came to the plate he represented the tying run, and in the ultimate show of respect, SLC chose to intentionally walk the tying run to load the bases in order to pitch to Andrew Susac (it worked). The Giants wanted to see Williamson's power translate more into games this year, so they have to be pleased with the way he's getting out of the gates. And, as another plus, he had just 2 Ks in the opening series.

His competition for an eventual callup to SF for OF time is getting off to the opposite start.  Jarrett Parker went just 2 for 15 in the series, both hits singles, and had 7 Ks (vs. 1 BB).  The 27 year old really needs to make this the year that he establishes himself in the big leagues when opportunity comes, so hopefully he'll start to pick it up.

Also, one exciting note to report on the pitching side of the ledger as Derek Law continues his comeback from TJ:

.@DerekLaw24 touching 98 with his fastball

— River Cats (@RiverCats) April 10, 2016

We'll be seeing him at some point in the next year or so.

The RiverCats head to Vegas next, which should be a great series for hitters.

* * *

Richmond had a scheduled off day
They start a three game series in Reading today

San Jose's game was rained out again
They (hopefully) start a three game series with Visalia tonight

Final game of the series will be made up in July when the #SJGiants visit Lancaster (and will count towards the first half standings).

— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) April 10, 2016

Because Lancaster doesn't return in the first half, SJ ends up losing a home game out of the wet weekend.

* * *

Augusta won at Rome Braves, 9-2
splitting their four game series, 2-2

	Name	AB	R	H	RBI	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG
DH	Lucius Fox	5	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	.231	.286	.462
2b	Jalen Miller	5	1	2	3	0	1	0	0	1	.333	.385	.583
RF	Dylan Davis	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	.267	.353	.467
3b	Kelvin Beltre	5	2	2	4	0	0	1	0	3	.286	.412	.500
1b	Dillon Dobson	5	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	3	.200	.294	.533

Name	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	HB	WP	ERA	Pitches	Strikes
Grant Watson, W 1-0	5.2	4	1	1	0	2	0	0	1	1.59	73	46
Tyler Cyr	2.1	3	1	1	0	4	0	0	0	2.08	39	29
Ryan Halstead1	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	11	8

Kelvin Beltre has gotten off to a terrific start in the first series and he had a great game here. After muscling a ball over a drawn in infield for an RBI to start Augusta's scoring in the 4th inning, he came up with a two on and a chance to do more damage in the 5th and muscled it even further:

Beltre did have a hat-trick on the day (one of three in the lineup) in his other 3 ABs, although one of those came on a pretty questionable strike 3 call.  He's shown a willingness to work deep into counts; indeed his HR came on at the end of a great 6 pitch At Bat.

Later in the game Jalen Miller, who's off to a hot start to the year, provided the team with it's third 3-run inning with one swing of the bat:

Man this kid can turn around a fastball! Miller's reached base now in all three games he's played, and shown decent (for the Sally) contact skills with just 3 Ks in 3 games (vs. 1 walk). Two of his four hits have gone for extra bases.

Lucius Fox with the hat-trick in this game has 6 Ks now in his first 13 ABs.  Scouts see him as having a solid contact oriented swing from both sides of the plate, and definitely with his speed contact will be a priority. His one hit in this game he beat out a grounder to 2b. You get a quick shot of him flying around 3b in the above highlight of Miller's triple.

Grant Watson had a fine outing here. It wasn't dominant, but he always looked confident and in charge. His experience and, in particular, his ability to command a curveball should give him a big leg up on the A ball hitters of the Sally. I can easily see him having a Mark Reyes sort of year in 2016.

Tyler Cyr has faced 18 batters in two appearances, and has 9 Ks. That seems good.

* * *

Hopefully, if the weather cooperates, we'll get in a full slate of games today. New opponents for everybody today as Sacramento heads to Las Vegas (Mets), Richmond goes to Reading (Phillies), San Jose hosts Visalia (D'backs), and Augusta goes to Lexington (Royals).

Pitching matchups are:

Ricky Romero vs. Gabriel Ynoa
Matt Gage vs. Anthony Vasquez
DJ Snelten vs TBD
Cory Taylor vs TBD