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SF Giants Minor Lines 4/21

Quite a night.... we had a clean sweep of victories! we had a walk off HR and a five K inning. We had frightening moments, odd moments, and really cool moments. Quite a night at the ballyard.

By Roger

There's almost too much to talk about today, but let's start with the history. Charleston RiverDogs left-handed reliever James Reeves was simply unhittable last night. But unfortunately for him, he was uncatchable as well. After striking out two of the three batters he faced in the top of the 9th, Reeves came out for the 10th and proceeded to strike out the first four batters he faced. Two of them (Jean Angomas and Manuel Geraldo) reached base when his sliders escaped the grasp of RiverDogs Catcher Radley Haddad.

By the end, Charleston managed the historical oddity of striking out 5 Augusta batters in the fateful 10th inning, and yet surrendered 4 runs to lose the game 6-2. You can read the full story, and watch the historic 5th K here:

HIGHLIGHTS: Gorkys Hernandez hit a walk off HR; Rando Moreno had his 4th consecutive multi-hit game; Andrew Suarez K'd 9 over 7 one-run innings.

Sacramento beat the Las Vegas 51s (Mets), 3-1

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

Other

CF

Gorkys Hernandez

4

1

2

2

0

0

1

0

1

.211

WALKOFF

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Albert Suarez

6.0

5

1

1

1

5

0

0

0

3.46

80

54

Martin Agosta

0.1

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

2

0.00

13

1

YEAH IT WAS!  Photographic evidence!

The RiverCats collected just three hits on the night vs. 51s starter Gabriel Ynoa and three relievers, but they picked up 5 walks as well, and those walks ended up getting them the runs they needed. Back to back walks in the 8th led to a Sac Fly that tied the game up at 1-1 and then with two out in the 9th Walkin' George Kottaras worked a free pass to set the stage for Gorkys' dramatic ending.

Other than the walkoff, the key moment in the game came in the inning of Martin Agosta's AAA debut. Agosta was perhaps a little overamped for the big debut, as he opened up with 12 straight balls, including two wild pitches. The coup de grâce was walking the opposing pitcher on four pitches to load the bases with 0 outs. But then Dilson Herrera lent a helping hand, swinging at the first pitch Agosta threw him and grounding a comebacker to the mound. That was it for Agosta, but Vin Mazzaro relieved and he too got an infield grounder that allowed a runner to be cut down at home, before a third infield grounder got them out of the inning unscathed.

Once Sacramento got through that inning, it was all gorkys! Don't tell me they're not giving their fans the good stuff at Raley!

* * *

Richmond won at Altoona Curve (Pirates), 5-1

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

Other

SS

Rando Moreno

5

1

2

1

1

0

0

0

1

.383

3b

Christian Arroyo

5

0

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

.293

CF

Austin Slater

5

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

.200

1b

Ricky Oropesa

2

1

0

0

0

0

0

2

1

.204

HBP

RF

Hunter Cole

4

1

1

0

1

0

0

0

3

.200

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Chase Johnson W, 1-1

5.1

4

1

1

2

2

0

0

0

4.05

90

58

Ray Black

1.0

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

7.94

13

10

Rando Moreno had his 4th consecutive multi-hit game to lead an opportunistic Richmond offense that managed to score 5 runs on just 8 hits. Moreno has been hitting out of his gourd this week, going 9 for his last 16 ABs since Monday.  He's reached base at least twice in his last 6 games, with an OBP of .565 over that week. Crazy hot, Rando!

The Squirrels used five doubles and three walks (plus to HB) to scratch out their five runs.  Myles Schroder's two run double in the 4th was the big blow of the game.  Two guys who didn't contribute much were Slater and Cole, who are both getting off to rough starts with identical .200 BA after the first two weeks of the year. Both took hat-tricks in this game which has been an issue for the pair so far. Slater now has 19 Ks in 55 ABs (vs. 8 walks) while Cole has struck out 15 times in 45 ABs (vs. 4 walks). For guys who don't really possess a ton of power, that's entirely too much swing and miss. Hopefully they turn the corner soon.

We haven't gotten to watch Christian Arroyo do much hitting yet this year, so let's check him out knocking in the game's first run.

All that was more than enough support for Chase Johnson and two relievers, who combined to surrender just four hits and two walks. Oddly, though the game featured just 12 hits in all, 7 of them went for extra bases including six doubles and a triple.  Chase Johnson's command wasn't exactly on point, but he battled well into the 6th inning, keeping Altoona off the board. Chase has opened the year with some unexpectedly dour peripherals as he now has just 10 Ks in 13 IP, against 5 walks. Not quite the power stuff we're used to seeing from Chase.

Ray Black has been pretty steadily working on one day's rest this year. And while he's had a ragged couple of outings prior to this, in this game he stayed in the strike zone, needing just 13 pitches to retire the side in order, including two Ks.  When he stays in the strike zone, he's pretty tough for teams to deal with. Black now has 13 Ks in 5.2 IP, with 6 BB. Here he is ending the game in strike throwing style:

PS. on the first batter of the inning Black threw an 0-2 fastball over the guys head at 99 mph, then struck him out on a slider on the next pitch, which is sort of mean.

* * *

San Jose beat the Modesto Nuts (Rockies), 5-2

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

Other

DH

Johneshwy Fargas

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

.209

SS

CJ Hinojosa

3

1

1

1

0

0

0

1

0

.333

1b

Chris Shaw

3

0

1

1

1

0

0

0

1

.302

RF

Steven Duggar

3

1

2

1

1

0

0

1

0

.364

SB (2)

2b

Brandon Bednar

4

1

3

1

0

0

0

0

0

.268

SB (3)

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Andrew Suarez, W 1-1

7.0

6

1

1

0

9

0

0

0

3.38

82

63

First things first, there was a very scary moment in this game when Johneshwy Fargas, whose 2015 ended with a fastball to the face, was hit in the head with a pitch. This time the helmet took the brunt of it, and Fargas was able to get to his feet relatively quickly and seemed responsive in talking with the trainer and coach. But the team was naturally cautious, especially given his recent history, and removed Fargas from the game. I assume he went through some concussion protocols. Hopefully, Johneshwy escaped the worst in this case and will be back on the field soon.

Having said that, the guys in the middle of the SJ lineup continued to spur the offense. CJ Hinojosa reached base twice more in this game.  Hinojosa's OBP is up to .435 now, as he's reached base in every game he's played and gotten a hit in 10 out of 11.  Chris Shaw, who doubled in a run in this game, now has a 9 game hitting streak that has pushed his season average over .300. He's batting .371 during the streak with four doubles.

But the big numbers continue to be coming from the bat of Steven Duggar, whose OPS is over 1.200. He reached base three times in this game, got another XBH, and even stole his 2nd base of the year. Not only does Duggar have nearly as many walks (8) as Ks (10) on the year, but he's close to have as many XBH (8) as Ks. Just a terrific start to the year.

Andrew Suarez's brief pro career has basically been one success after another, but last night he put together pretty clearly his best night so far as a pro. He set career bests in both IP and Ks, while walking no one and allowing just one run.  In 16 innings so far this year, Suarez has 20 Ks vs. 3 BBs, and he's running himself into the upper echelon of the system pitching prospects very quickly.  With all the power arms in the system, it's probably a surprise to see that Suarez is 3rd the system in K's so far, behind just Phil Bickford and another hard thrower I'll get to in a minute (who might surprise you: see if you can guess before I mention him).

* * *

Augusta won at Charleston RiverDogs (Yankees), 6-2 in 10 inn

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

Other

2b

Jalen Miller

4

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

3

.275

CF

Seth Harrison

5

1

2

2

0

1

0

0

0

.244

1b

Dillon Dobson

5

0

2

2

0

0

0

0

1

.339

3b

Kelvin Beltre

3

1

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

.229

SB, CS, HBP

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Logan Webb

6.0

4

2

2

1

4

0

0

0

3.21

82

55

Tyler Cyr W 1-1

3.0

0

0

0

1

5

0

1

0

1.35

49

33

With this strange little win, the Greenjackets climbed above .500 for the first time this year at 8-7.  While the youth has been where much of the excitement has concentrated for this team, it was the old guys who spurred this victory with Seth Harrison getting the big blow in the 10th and Dillon Dobson continuing his tear through the Sally league with two more hits and two more RBIs. Kelvin Beltre also had a nice game, reaching base 3 times with his third multi-hit game in his last five. Here's Harrison's crucial hit in the 10th.

Augusta won despite piling up 15 strikeouts on the game! Miller, Dylan Davis, and Manuel Geraldo all had hat-tricks and Harrison was the only batter in the lineup who escaped a K in the game.

Ok give up yet?

Relief pitcher Tyler Cyr is second in the system with 22 strikeouts against 4 walks in just 13.1 IP.  That's against 53 total batters faced! As the Charlestown announcer put it last night: "Tyler Cyr is doing what he does, which is wracking up Ks." He also gets it and throws it back, which I always like to see.

Logan Webb had one of his better starts last night, to help get the game to extras. His 6 innings was a mark he's only surpassed once in his career, and the 4 Ks was his best effort of the year, as was the 4 hits allowed.

Not related to last night's game, but there's  a bunch of good Greenjacket footage in this video David Lee posted of Michael Soroka, particularly Lucius Fox, Jalen Miller, Dillon Dobson, and Gustavo Cabrera.

Speaking of which, on a sad note David wrote me to tell me that the Augusta Chronicle will no longer have a daily Greenjackets beat and he'll be assigned elsewhere in the future.  He very graciously asked me to pass along his heartfelt thanks to the folks at this site who have supported his work so well the past couple of years. David has been an incredible resource for us and his loss from the Augusta beat is going to leave an awful big hole in Minor Lines in the coming months. I encourage everybody to drop him a note on Twitter and let him know how much we've enjoyed his work. The best minor league beat reporter there ever was! He did say he'd still try to get to games on his own time and post stuff on his personal blog, and he'll still be writing for BP so he's not going away entirely, just not quite "our David" anymore.

* * *

So if you were paying close attention, that's a perfect 4-0 record on the night. First time this year. That's an excellent night of entertainment, fellows! I believe that deserves some of these:

Today's Pitching Matchups:
Sacramento: Clayton Blackburn vs. Sean Gilmartin
Richmond: Joan Gregorio vs. David Whitehead
San Jose: Sam Coonrod vs.TBD
Augusta: Grant Watson vs. Domingo Acevedo

Gregorio looks to keep his fantastic season going, while Augusta tries to get revenge against Acevedo who really handed it to them the other night in Augusta.

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