clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

SF Giants Minor Lines, 4/29

Today, Augusta's surprising Grant Watson is back on the mound, and San Jose has two hitters with perfect offensive days. But seriously, we're getting sick of Salt Lake.

By Kevin J. Cunningham

Sacramento lost to the Salt Lake Bees (Angels), 6-5, in 10 innings

Name AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO BA Other
1B Ryan Lollis 5 1 1 4 0 0 1 0 0 .286
CF Gorkys Hernandez 4 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .235
C George Kottaras 4 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 .105
SS Hak-Ju Lee 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 .304 1 E (3)
Name IP H R ER BB SO HR HB WP ERA Pitches Strikes
Chris Heston 4.0 4 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 2.25 85 44
Alex Torres 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0.00 19 14
Jake Dunning 1.1 4 5 5 2 1 0 0 0 10.03 33 15
Martin Agosta, L (0-1) 0.1 2 1 1 2 1 0 0 0 9.00 19 7

This Salt Lake thing is starting to get old.

And it looked like the River Cats might actually have had a chance, as Chris Heston made his return to starting.  Heston had not made an appearance since his first appearance in Sacramento on April 23rd, and wasn't named as today's starter until today.  He pitched four innings, matching his previous relief outing, and shut out the Bees.  Newcomer Alex Torres made his Sacramento debut, pitching two shutout innings.

Unfortunately, Jake Dunning's slide continued.  Dunning had given up two earned runs in his first six appearances, but has now given up 11 runs in his last three outings, and he did not look particularly sharp in this one.  Dunning threw less than half of his pitches for strikes, even though he walked only two of the ten batters he faced, he gave up the five run Sacramento lead.  Meanwhile Agosta took the loss in his third AAA appearance.  Although Agosta has faced 10 batters in Sacramento, he's collected only three outs while five have taken walks.

For the second straight game, the offense showed some life.  Four River Cats hitters had multiple hits, though Ryan Lollis had the big hit for his only one.  Lollis hit his first home run of the season, a three-run shot in the fifth inning which put the River Cats up 5-0.  Gorkys Hernandez hasn't been the best hitter leading off, with a .235 average, but he's been an effective table-setter.  He has scored seven runs in the last seven games, on just ten times getting on base.  Hak-Ju Lee has had a good road trip so far, after three games in Tacoma and two in Salt Lake.  He has hit 6-for-18 with two walks against six strikeouts.  George Kottaras picked up his first hits of the season in his 6th game, and he'll get more time to improve that with Andrew Susac back on the disabled list.  Too bad he'll likely miss this:

Richmond lost to the Hartford Yard Goats (Rockies), 4-3, in 11 innings

Name AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO BA Other
1B Ricky Oropesa 4 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 .203 1 HBP
LF Tyler Horan 4 1 2 0 1 0 0 1 0 .367
SS Christian Arroyo 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 .286
C Steven Lerud 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250
Name IP H R ER BB SO HR HB WP ERA Pitches Strikes
Joan Gregorio 6.0 3 2 2 0 6 0 0 1 2.05 90 60
Tyler Rogers 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 14 10
Ray Black 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 5.19 12 7
Dan Slania, L (2-1) 2.0 2 2 2 1 3 0 0 0 2.08 34 22

Richmond showed up late to this game, and gave the fans an exciting ending.

Joan Gregorio gave a strong performance, allowing just two runs on three hits allowed.  Hartford's 2-0 lead held until the 9th inning.  In the 9th, Tyler Horan led off the inning with a double, and after one out, Ricky Oropesa connected for his sixth home run of the year to tie the game at 2 and give the fine people at Richmond some free baseball.

In the 11th, Dan Slania came in to hold the game, and gave up a leadoff single.  After a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk, and the runners getting to second and third, Slania gave up a two-run single to let Hartford jump ahead 4-2.  Richmond attempted another comeback in the bottom of the 11th, as Christian Arroyo and Horan hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning.  After Hunter Cole and Oropesa struck out, Myles Schroder hit a double.  Arroyo came around to score, but Horan was gunned down at the plate to end the game.

Oropesa's sixth home run was his first in eight games.  Oropesa has struggled this season, hitting around the Mendoza Line, but his power remains real, as he has a .443 slugging percentage above that .203 average.  Christian Arroyo has had a week of toeing the line.  Eight days ago, he had a .283 batting average, and he comes out of today, he has a .286 average after going 7-for-24.  Arroyo's start in AA has been solid, but not spectacular, with a slash line of .286/.337/.377.  Meanwhile, Tyler Horan has had a strong start in Richmond, and is on a hot streak.  He's gone 7-for-11 over his past three games with a double and a home run.

Joan Gregorio has been having a strong season this year, and though he's not shutting out teams anymore, he had another good start despite being nearly on the hook for his second loss.  Gregorio had a 3.09 ERA in Richmond last season, and has a 2.05 ERA so far this season.

Ray Black continues to rehabilitate his ERA, with his fourth straight game without allowing an earned run, and his ERA has dropped from 9.64 to 5.19.  Plus, in each of those four scoreless starts, he has struck out two batters in one inning of work, now at 19 strikeouts in 8.2 innings.

Dan Slania took the loss, but not everything was bad for him.

Meanwhile, a new face showed up.

Steven Lerud just signed as a free agent.  The former 3rd round pick is now on his sixth organization, last playing 60 games with the Washington Nationals AAA team in Syracuse, batting .238.  The 31-year old picked up a 1-for-4 with his new squad.

San Jose lost to the Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks), 7-5


 Name AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO BA Other
1B Chris Shaw 3 1 3 4 2 0 1 1 0 .352
SS C.J. Hinojosa 3 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 .382
Name IP H R ER BB SO HR HB WP ERA Pitches Strikes
Sam Coonrod 5.1 5 5 4 3 1 0 0 0 2.51 72 44
Pat Young 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2.13 8 6

San Jose's offense collected seven hits, and six of them came from two players.

Chris Shaw's power led the team, as each of his hits went for extra bases, including his third home run of the season.  That home run gave the Giants a 2-0 lead in the first inning.  Getting driven in by him was C.J. Hinojosa, whose hot start to the season continued with a perfect day on the bases, including his sixth double.  Between them, they accounted for all five of San Jose's runs (with Johneshwy Fargas picking up the team's only other hit and scoring its other run).

Meanwhile, Sam Coonrod had his first rough start to the season.  Coonrod hadn't allowed an earned run in his first two starts, but struggled through his third.  He got through two innings clean, but gave up a leadoff double to introduce trouble in the third.  After allowing only one run, he got into trouble pushing into the sixth inning, giving up two one-out walks and a single to load the bases, and then giving up a bases-clearing triple.  However, Jose Morel took the loss, allowing an inherited runner from Coonrod to score on his own throwing error, and then giving up a two-run homer after his second error of the game.

Hinojosa's offense, however, is starting to get some attention.

Augusta defeated the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Marlins), 9-0

Name AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO BA Other
RF Dylan Davis 5 1 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 .324
CF Seth Harrison 5 1 3 3 1 0 0 0 1 .269
2B Jalen Miller 5 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 .230
DH Miguel Gomez 5 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .400
Name IP H R ER BB SO HR HB WP ERA Pitches Strikes
Grant Watson, W (2-0) 6.0 3 0 0 1 9 0 0 0 0.92 85 56
Connor Kaden, S (1) 3.0 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 4.32 44 29

Yesterday, Andrew Suarez was the talk of the Giants system.  Today, a much less-heralded left-hander.  Grant Watson, a 16th rounder from last year's draft, pitched a career-high six innings, and was at his best in every other respect.  The nine strikeouts were also (easily) a career high.  The only reason he was removed from the game was reaching a pitch limit. His previous game high was 73.

With Watson taking care of the other team, the GreenJackets didn't need much offense, but they got a lot anyway.  Dylan Davis has quietly been having a strong season, but on Friday, he collected his first three hit game of the season.  Thanks to his two doubles, fully half of Davis' 24 hits this season have been for extra bases (6 doubles, 2 triples, 4 home runs).  Meanwhile, Jalen Miller has slumped significantly since his hot start, going hitless in six of his previous eight games before today's two-hit effort.  On the plus side, Miller hasn't struck out in his last three games (14 at-bats), but he also hasn't grabbed any walks recently either.  Seth Harrison also picked up his first three-hit game of the season, breaking a 1-for-10 slump over his last three games.

Two guys in the Augusta lineup were making their debuts there for the season.  Miguel Gomez was just moved up from extended spring training.  After being a star with Salem-Keizer, the 23-year old Gomez started with Augusta as the designated hitter, collecting a 2-of-5 day.  Coming from the other direction, catcher Matt Winn was recently moved down from Richmond.  The 23-year old had split 36 games between Augusta and the Arizona League last year, so his assignment to Richmond to start the year was a surprise.  He hit a .250/.288/.411 in 15 games.  In his first game at Augusta, he took an 0-for-5 with two strikeouts.  Meanwhile, Connor Kaden became the third Augusta pitcher to pick up a save on the season, with just four saves total for the GreenJackets.

Finally, an old friend alert...

More From McCovey Chronicles