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SF Giants Minor Lines 5/11

Nothing but day games yesterday, though the sunshine is sometimes harsh.

By Roger

Mike Kickham walked away from baseball last summer because he wasn't enjoying the game anymore. Given a winter to think about it, he returned to his original organization this year and has been working in mostly middle relief for Richmond. It's undoubtedly been a tough spring for Mike as he has bounced back and forth from the taxi squad and had a few outings where he was hit hard. Knowing all of that, makes what I'm about to show you in some ways one of the saddest things I've ever seen on a baseball field. The game will humble you, they always say. But it shouldn't do this. It's hard to contemplate guys having to deal emotionally with the failures that come from trying to play at so high a level.

HIGHLIGHTS: Adalberto Mejia threw 7.2 shutout inning and got two hits.

Sacramento lost to Reno Aces (Diamondbacks), 4-3

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OPS

2b

Grant Green

4

1

2

2

0

0

1

0

0

.301

.819

3b

Mitch Delfino

4

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

.279

.703

LF

Mac Williamson

3

1

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

.319

.929

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Chris Stratton L 4-3

6.0

5

4

4

1

4

1

0

0

6.47

77

53

Mike Broadway

1.0

0

0

0

1

2

0

0

0

4.82

17

9

Ah, the Chris Stratton Experience. Stratton's troubles this year have nearly all been tied to big innings that he just can't get out of. The main culprit has been the 1st inning. Coming into this game, Stratton had a 15.00 ERA in the first inning of his starts. He got through the 1st cleanly in this one, but still couldn't avoid the big inning. In the third he allowed back to back singles to open it up, and then a sacrifice by the Pitcher moved runners to 2nd and 3rd. He got a big strikeout to put him on the verge of getting out of trouble, but then came a 2 run single, and that was followed by Pete O'Brien's PCL leading 10th HR of the year.

That four run explosion did all the necessary damage, as Sacramento's offense remains stuck in neutral these days. Though they had 11 baserunners and 8 hits, once again they struggled to hit with RISP, going 0 for 5. The best day came, once again, from Grant Green who is having an excellent season for the RiverCats. Following a great AB from Mac Williamson that resulted in a walk, Green showed some opposite field power against the Diamondbacks #3 prospect Braden Shipley.

Unfortunately, that was the way the score remained for the final five innings of the game. Sacramento got two runners on in each of the 5th, 6th, and 7th, but couldn't convert. The result was their 5th loss in a row and a league worst 13-21 record.

* * *

Richmond lost to Harrisburg Senators (Nationals), 2-1 in 12 inn
getting swept in their three-game series, 0-3

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OPS

CF

Myles Schroder

6

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

.245

.663

SS

Rando Moreno

6

1

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

.250

.604

RF

Hunter Cole

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

1

.236

.604

3b

Ryder Jones

5

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

.246

.616

P

Adalberto Mejia

3

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

.286

.571

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Adalberto Mejia

7.2

6

0

0

3

3

0

0

0

2.70

69

52

Jake Smith BS 2

0.2

1

1

1

3

0

0

0

0

6.97

24

8

Mike Kickham L 0-1

2.0

1

1

0

1

2

0

0

1

5.00

29

14

Let's hear it for Adalberto! Mejia became the first Flying Squirrels' starting pitcher on the year to work into the 8th inning, throwing a dazzling 7.2 shutout innings. He did work around traffic, allowing 9 baserunners including 3 walks, but he kept the Senators' hitters off balance and kept hanging zeros on the board. And in keeping with tradition of Richmond pitchers, he also picked up two hits.

In the series, the Richmond starting pitchers went 4 for 5 with a double. This was significant, because the Richmond starting hitters did not show such positive signs. Doubling up on Sacramento's futility, Richmond went 0 for 10 with RISP in this game, and managed their one lone run thanks to back to back throwing errors from Harrisburg's SS.

Still that looked to be enough, and the team led 1-0 going into the 9th. But Jake Smith, trying to nail it down, just couldn't find the strike zone. With one out in the 9th he walked back to back hitters, and then lost the save on this dinker.

Later, came the nightmarish Kickham inning, an inning which was set up by a throwing error from Kickham on a pickoff attempt, and completed with the WP.  That's now six losses in a row for the 10-22 Flying Squirrels. Schade (that's German, which seems appropriate somehow).

* * *

San Jose won at Bakersfield Blaze (Mariners), 7-4

Name

AB

R

H

RBI

2B

3B

HR

BB

SO

BA

OPS

RF

Steven Duggar

3

0

1

1

1

0

0

1

0

.277

.893

SS

CJ Hinojosa

5

1

2

0

0

0

0

0

1

.369

.948

1b

Chris Shaw

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

.321

.964

CF

Ronnie Jebavy

4

2

2

1

1

0

0

0

1

.211

.589

3b

Jonah Arenado

4

2

2

3

0

0

1

0

0

.242

.643

Name

IP

H

R

ER

BB

K

HR

HB

WP

ERA

Pitches

Strikes

Martin Agosta

4.0

1

0

0

1

3

0

1

0

0.00

54

34

Jose Reyes W 1-1

2.0

1

0

0

2

2

0

0

0

6.00

31

19

Dusten Knight

1.0

3

1

1

0

1

0

0

0

6.92

14

10

Pat Young

0.0

1

3

3

3

0

0

1

1

3.68

19

3

Jose Morel

1.0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

0

2.79

11

5

Reyes Moronta S 1

1.0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

3.60

18

13

That's 6 straight road victories and 8 of 9 overall for the suddenly hot Giants. It's good they're playing so well on the road because they're going to be there for most of the month! Martin Agosta made a successful return to the SJ rotation, following a little fill in work with Sacramento's bullpen.  Agosta allowed just one hit over four innings as he works to get stretched back out for starting.

This was a 3-1 game entering the 8th, but San Jose and Bakersfield traded big innings to turn it into a much more offensive final score.  Jonah Arenado's 2-run HR was the big blow of the Giants 4 run 8th. Was this the first time that both Arenado's have homered on the same night?

The bottom of the 8th was a nightmare of Pat Young's devising, as he made Jake Smith's Pitches/Strikes ratio look Maddux-esque. Young managed to throw just three strikes to across five batters faced, and one of those was hit for a clean single. He also hit a batter and threw a WP, just to hit all the columns.

Jose Morel, who's been a real find for the Giants bullpen, cleaned up the mess pretty well, stranding two of his three inherited runners, and Reyes Moronta closed the door. Morel, who had spent the last four seasons in rookie leagues (DSL and AZL) has done fairly well since being assigned to SJ, allowing just 3 runs in 7 appearances. The hits and walks are on the high side for sure, but he's closer to swimming than to sinking anyway.

C.J. Hinojoa, who had his 26 game "reached base" streak snapped the previous night, got right back to work building a new one with two hits. And Ronnie Jebavy, who's scuffled badly out of the gates this year, got two hits for the second straight game. Hopefully the start of something.

* * *

Augusta had a scheduled off day

But that doesn't mean there wasn't any news:

Congrats to Winn and Santos for making a Greenjacket Sweep the Player of the Week awards.

* * *

Back to normal night baseball tonight, and it's a pretty exciting night under the lights. Both Joan Gregorio and Andrew Suarez will be making their debuts at their new levels tonight. And it's a prospecty night for starters all through the system. As an added bonus, we have an old friend showing up in enemy garb in Sacramento.

Pitching Matchups:
Sacramento: Joan Gregorio vs. Edwin Escobar
Richmond: Andrew Suarez vs. Cody Dickson
San Jose: Sam Coonrod vs. TBD
Augusta: Logan Webb vs. Roniel Raudes (Raudes, yet another 18 year old in the Drive's starting rotation is Boston's #24 prospect)

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