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So, feeling like taking a different tack at the top today. For those who haven't seen this yet, please take the time to watch it and men especially should force yourself to watch it to the end, which is very very difficult to do (and prepare for vile language). It's important. It's the most important sports story of the day I think, and I have tremendous respect for Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro and the makers of this video, as well as all the legion of professional women whose daily lives are reflected in it. Empathy is a moral imperative.
Contrary to popular belief, it's not part of someone's job to endure this-Powerful piece @SarahSpain & @JulieDiCaro https://t.co/jBrCmilTSE
— Cassidy Hubbarth (@CassidyHubbarth) April 26, 2016
And, now that I've blown my nose and wiped my eyes, back to your regularly scheduled Minor Lines:
Sacramento won at Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners), 1-0
winning their four game series, 3-1
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
Other |
2b |
Ramiro Pena |
4 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
.317 |
SB (2) |
|
Rest of team |
26 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
7 |
|
2 SB, 1 CS |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Pitches |
Strikes |
Albert Suarez |
6.0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.37 |
86 |
56 |
Vin Mazzaro W 1-0 |
2.2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.64 |
32 |
19 |
Phil Mormick |
0.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2.25 |
4 |
2 |
Duke Welker S 1 |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
11 |
5 |
The Rainiers' Adrian Sampson and Not Andrew Suarez locked up in a classic getaway game pitchers' duel, trading zeros back and forth until the 9th inning. Opportunities for scoring were few and far between, as the RiverCats put only 5 men on base in the game, including one via a Tacoma fielding error, while the Rainiers managed to get 8 men on base thanks to 3 walks and 5 hits. Each team managed one XBH, but Sacramento's left the field of play, courtesy of Ramiro Pena who was the only player on either team to reach base twice, and tossed in a SB just for the fun of it! Have a highlight, Ramiro!
That's "Future SF Giants MI reserve" Ramiro Pena to you!
After Pena's solo HR, things got a little hairy in the bottom of the 9th, when Sacramento went through three pitchers and Tacoma managed two singles and a walk. Duke Welker came in and got the (contested) strikeout to end it, and Sacramento has suddenly won 6 of their past 8 games.
Now, however, after an off day, they're off to face their own private bête noire as they fly back to Salt Lake City. The Bees have beaten them 8 times in 8 tries so far on the season. Let's see if the good times can continue to roll.
* * *
Richmond won at Bowie BaySox (Orioles), 6-4
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
Other |
2b |
Rando Moreno |
5 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.310 |
GIDP |
SS |
Christian Arroyo |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.304 |
IBB |
1b |
Ricky Oropesa |
5 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
.211 |
|
RF |
Hunter Cole |
5 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.224 |
|
DH |
Tyler Horan |
4 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.304 |
|
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Pitches |
Strikes |
Adalberto Mejia |
0.2 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4.41 |
41 |
24 |
Jose Casilla |
3.1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1.42 |
49 |
27 |
Pedro Rodriguez |
3.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5.40 |
37 |
25 |
Tyler Rogers W 1-0 |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
7 |
5 |
Ray Black, S 3 |
1.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
5.87 |
25 |
13 |
Jason Stoffel BS, L 0-1 |
1.2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3.24 |
|
|
Adalberto Mejia's terrific start to the season came to a crashing halt in Bowie, as he failed to make it out of the 1st inning. The meltdown was as sudden as it was shocking, as Mejia opened up the inning in fine form, retiring lead off hitter Julio Borbon quickly on a routine fly-out and then striking out Mike Yastrzemski on four pitches. But then came a walk and a weakly hit single to the opposite field. Then the crucial AB. Veteran DH Quincy Lattimore stretched Mejia out for a 9-pitch walk, by fouling off four-consecutive two-strike pitches. At that point, Mejia was closing in on 30 pitches for the inning. After a visit from Steve Kline, another extended AB ended in a line drive single, and finally a six-pitch walk (his 3rd of the inning). With Mejia over 40 pitches on the inning and having allowed six consecutive batters to reach base, coach Miguel Ojeda had to go get him.
The Squirrels were fortunate to get out of the 4th with just 4 runs scored as Bowie ran into the 3rd out on the bases on a run scoring infield hit. Down 4-1 after the 1st, Richmond got yeoman efforts from two of the franchise's stalwarts: Jose Casilla and Pedro Rodriguez who combined to soak up 6.1 innings, allowing just one hit between them. Keeping the game in reach, the two Richmond vets set up the comeback.
A night after bashing out a season high 16 hits, the Richmond batters nearly matched it with 13 more, including 5 doubles and 3 walks. They still struggled to turn all of that traffic into runs, going just 4 for 14 with RISP, but in the top of the 9th, they finally got the big hit they needed off of old friend Jason Stoffel, the Giants one-time 4th round pick who was traded in 2011 for Jeff Keppinger. Stoffel had come in to work the BaySox out of a mess in the 8th inning, stranding the tying run on 3b. But in the 9th he loaded the bases on back to back hits, a bunt, and an IBB to Christian Arroyo. Ricky Oropesa, who had already struck out 3 times on the night, then cleared the bases with a double over the 1b bag into the corner.
There was still some drama to come in the 9th, as Ray Black had some troubles with the strike zone. After getting two quick outs on a K and a fly ball, Black too had an extended AB that ended in a walk and then he hit the next batter (and, on a short list of things you probably don't want to happen to you, I would think HBP from Ray Black would rank fairly high). But he blew away CF Glynn Davis to end it, securing the Squirrels first series win of the year.
Tonight's series finale, which I'm hoping to attend, is currently being threatened by chancy weather, because it wouldn't be April if I didn't spend a night getting rained on in Bowie.
In the meantime, read this very funny story on how Ryder Jones became a left-handed hitter:
Duct tape secured swing path of Richmond Flying Squirrels' third baseman Ryder Jones. https://t.co/VNxYOotoig pic.twitter.com/QL0LjPxlnP
— John O'Connor (@RTDjohnoconnor) April 25, 2016
* * *
San Jose beat the Stockton Ports (A's), 11-2
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
Other |
CF |
Ronnie Jebavy |
5 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
.224 |
HBP |
SS |
CJ Hinojosa |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
.328 |
E (4) |
C |
Aramis Garcia |
5 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.302 |
GIDP |
RF |
Steven Duggar |
4 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
.316 |
|
3b |
Jose Vizcaino Jr. |
4 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
.259 |
|
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Pitches |
Strikes |
Mark Reyes, W 1-0 |
7.0 |
5 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
6.75 |
79 |
55 |
Dusten Knight |
2.0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8.00 |
27 |
19 |
San Jose also had quite the hit parade, totaling up 14 hits, 5 BB, and a HBP. Because that wasn't enough, Stockton fielders pitched in with 4 errors, including one giant mistake on a Sac bunt that sat plumb in the middle of a 7-run 4th inning. The Giants had six hits and a walk in the inning as well, including this big double from Ronnie Jebavy, whose bat is starting to wake up, with three consecutive multi-hit games (though he did also K three times in the game).
Jebavy also got HBP in the helmet in this game, but he stayed in the game.
CJ Hinojosa went hitless for just the second time this year, though he continued his streak of reaching base in every game. Steven Duggar also ended a couple games of hitlessness by reaching base 3 times including a double. We've noted Hinojosa's terrific BB/K rate, but Duggar's 10 BB/ 14 K ratio isn't so bad at all either, especially for a guy sporting a .632 SLG.
And Aramis Garcia had himself a big game, pushing his average over .300 with 3 hits.
Awesome! Garcia hit that foul ball so hard he knocked out the fake fire this is. They just got it turned on again pic.twitter.com/qeT3TY0ckS
— Julie (@phibear35) April 27, 2016
On the mound, Mark Reyes almost literally cut his ERA in half in this game, entering with an ugly four digit ERA just below 12.00 and leaving with a more palatable 6.75, though clearly work still needs to be done there. Reyes went a career high 7 innings in this game.
Dusten Knight, sleeper favorite of Quincy, finished things up with his cleanest game of the season:
A few pics of Dusten Knight. #sjgiants .@DustenK pic.twitter.com/lm4yyJL7bI
— Julie (@phibear35) April 26, 2016
* * *
Augusta lost to Kannapolis Intimidators (White Sox), 7-5
|
Name |
AB |
R |
H |
RBI |
2B |
3B |
HR |
BB |
SO |
BA |
SS |
Lucius Fox |
4 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
.163 |
2b |
Jalen Miller |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.234 |
RF |
Dylan Davis |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
.313 |
3b |
Kelvin Beltre |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
.203 |
Name |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
BB |
K |
HR |
HB |
WP |
ERA |
Pitches |
Strikes |
Michael Santos, L 1-2 |
6.0 |
8 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4.35 |
91 |
62 |
Tyler Cyr |
0.2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3.21 |
35 |
21 |
Lucius Fox hit his 2nd HR of the year out of just 7th hits. Both of the HRs have come RH which definitely looks like the side he'd have more power from (the RH swing is shorter and punchier, than the whippy LH swing). It's also been the side he's made more contact with so far this year, as he's K'd 3 times in 15 ABs from the right side, against 17 Ks in 28 ABs from the left (ouch).
Jalen Miller is just 4 for 38 over his last 9 games. He's also had 11 Ks (1 BB) over that time. On the whole, it's a mystery how the Greenjackets managed to score 5 runs in this game. They had just 4 hits and 2 BBs, and went just 1 for 6 with RISP. Fox's 3 run HR obviously helped a good deal.
Tyler Cyr, who has been the stalwart of the Augusta bullpen had his worst outing of the year, failing to get through a single inning while surrendering a three-run homer that sealed the loss. That made a loser out of Michael Santos, who pitched four decent innings. He couldn't keep the Intimadtors off the board, allowing single runs in four of his six innings, but he kept any of the rallies from extending. He had 6 Ks for the second time in his last three starts.
Augusta is actually back at it already this morning, with yet another Education Day game for the kids:
We're ready for morning baseball at the Lake, #AGJ and the @Intimidators #CatchTheBuzz pic.twitter.com/M4yh71mYqT
— Augusta GreenJackets (@GreenJackets) April 27, 2016
* * *
Sacramento gets an off day today, but the other three teams are on the field, continuing their series.
Pitching Matchups:
Richmond: Chase Johnson vs. David Hess
San Jose: Jason Forjet vs. Casey Meisner
Augusta: Phil Bickford vs. Johnathan Frebis