SF Giants Minor Lines, 8/26

HIGHLIGHTS: Ty Blach struck out 9 over 7 shutout innings;

* * *

Sacramento won at Fresno Grizzlies (Astros), 3-0

Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG*	OBP	SLG
Austin Slater	CF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.295	.382	.343
Miguel Olivo	C	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.247	.293	.425
Grant Green	1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.308	.325	.443
Ryan Lollis	RF	4	0	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	.260	.332	.334
Ruben Tejada	SS	4	0	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	.287	.319	.398

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA*
Ty Blach (W, 14-7)	7.0	3	0	0	2	9	0	3.43
Josh Osich (H, 2)	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	1.50
Steven Okert (S, 3)	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	4.06

Ty Blach is having something like the second half roll that Clayton Blackburn spun last year. Blach's surrendered 2 or fewer runs in 8 of his last 11 starts. He won't make it to PCL ERA champ (ironically this Fresno team features three of the top five ERAs in the PCL), but he's sitting at sixth in the league in ERA and he picked up his career best 14th win last night (which does lead the league). After a couple of bumpy four-run starts, Blach got back to throwing zeros last night, and rung up a healthy proportion of Ks while doing so. The 9 Ks was one off his season high. Nice turn around season for the lefty. There's still a chance he starts somewhere sometime in the majors.

Steven Okert is nearing the finish of a confounding and inconsistent second campaign in the PCL, trying to get his ERA under 4.00. Okert's generally been death on LHH this year, but RHH have beat on him pretty well (1.62 WHIP). Mostly that's come in the form of BABIP as he's kept the walk rate low against them, (he did allow both his HRs on the year to RHH). Hard to figure out exactly what his future is going to be, though he certainly seems like a LOOGY in the making at this point.

* * *

Richmond lost at Akron Rubber Ducks (Indians), 9-3

Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG*	OBP	SLG
Darren Ford	LF	3	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.246	.330	.296
Brandon Bednar	2B	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	.297	.317	.395

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA*
Kyle Crick (L, 3-11)	2.1	2	5	4	4	3	0	5.33
Christian Jones	2.0	6	3	3	1	3	0	4.18
Carlos Alvarado	1.2	1	0	0	0	2	0	2.20
Rodolfo Martinez	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	7.65
Preston Claiborne	1.0	1	1	0	1	2	0	2.68

And now we get to the beginning of several very non-Blachian performances. Following a crisp 3 up/3 down 1st inning, Kyle Crick hit the first batter in the second, and going into the stretch seemed to get him out of his rhythm as he walked the next two batters to load up the bases for free. Before he was done he'd walk four batters in the 2nd inning alone and surrender four runs. He'd also lead off the third by hitting a batter and was gone one batter later. Back in spring training Bruce Bochy announced that this was going to be an important year for Crick. Given how the year has mostly gone, those words are seeming a little ominous at this point.

What little offense the Squirrels managed mostly came from old friend and World Series championship ring recipient Darren Ford, who reached base three times, scored a run and stole his 12th base with Richmond.

* * *

San Jose lost at Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks), 8-7

Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG*	OBP	SLG
Ronnie Jebavy	CF	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.249	.310	.390
Rando Moreno	SS	5	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.245	.294	.287
Dylan Davis	LF	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	.304	.367	.599
Jonah Arenado	1B	5	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	0	.261	.291	.441
Miguel Gomez	DH	5	2	3	1	0	1	1	0	1	.254	.283	.500

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA*
Conner Menez	5.2	6	6	6	2	8	1	6.53
Dusten Knight	2.1	1	0	0	0	2	0	5.11
Reyes Moronta (BS, 3)(L, 0-2)	0.2	2	2	2	0	2	2	2.62

#SJGiants in Visalia for their final road series of the regular season pic.twitter.com/WESX3y4IM9

— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) August 27, 2016

One aspect of the San Jose pitching staff that's been pretty unassailable this year has been the late inning relief, but it failed them last night in dramatic fashion, as Reyes Moronta allowed back to back HRs with two outs in the bottom of the 9th to lose the opener in Visalia. HRs have been the one chink in Moronta's armor this year, as he's now allowed 7 in 55 IP. What was most shocking about the PH HR that tied the game was that it came against a RH, just the third Moronta's allowed to a RHH this year. Colin Bray followed with the walk off game winner.

What makes the loss even more heart-breaking is that San Jose had twice fought back from three-run deficits in this game, included some dramatic thunder of their own. Trailing 6-3 in the 8th the Giants came back to tie the game with help from back-to-back HRs of their own, from Jonah Arenado and Miguel Gomez. That was Arenado's 17th of the year and Gomez' 16th (over two levels). Arenado is also second in the league in doubles with 36 (just one behind league leader Henry Castillo of Visalia) as his power production has really exploded this year. Jonah's a big, tall kid with those classic long levers, and when he gets his arms extended he can really jolt the ball.

In some ways, it seems like this entire year for San Jose has been about the long ball, as both the offense and the pitching staff are handing out souvenirs at a historic pace, as the following two tweets attest:

Back-to-back HR's w/2 outs in the ninth send #SJGiants to 8-7 loss tonight. SJ sets franchise record for home runs allowed in a season (124)

— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) August 27, 2016

#SJGiants leading the Cal League w/35 home runs this month (Davis 9, Bennett 8, Gomez 5). Most HR by SJ team in a month since Aug. '11 (40).

— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) August 26, 2016

As Modesto and Stockton inch closer to being eliminated, San Jose correspondingly inches closer to clinching a wild card spot. But even with a post-season berth hovering, the team hasn't exactly performed up to the levels we normally expect to see from San Jose. In fact, with a record now at just 66-65 they're coming dangerously close to breaking one of the Cal League's most impressive streaks.

#SJGiants at 66-64 overall with 10 games to play. Need at least a 5-5 record to extend league record of consecutive winning seasons to 13.

— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) August 26, 2016

That's quite a history. Over the course of those 13 years, the Giants have won four championships and played in two other championship series. We'll see what they can manage in these final weeks.

* * *

Augusta lost at Rome Braves, 7-1 in 6 inn (rain)

Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG*	OBP	SLG
Johneshwy Fargas	RF	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.277	.348	.368
Jalen Miller	2B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.230	.277	.335
Bryan Reynolds	CF	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.429	.448	.679
Dillon Dobson	3B	2	0	1	1	0	0	1	0	1	.278	.322	.479

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA*
Michael Connolly (L, 11-6)	4.1	12	7	5	4	0	1	2.92

So, game one of their seven head-to-head matchups with Rome went just about as bad as possible last night as the Greenjackets fell 2.5 games behind. Yet another failure from the starting pitching led to yet another early hole, as Michael Connolly gave up two runs in both the first and second innings on his way to 7 runs overall. Connolly's been such a big part of the Augusta season that it's sad to see him faltering so badly down the stretch.

Meanwhile, the bats were absolutely man-handled by Atlanta's 2015 1st rounder Kolby Allard, who struck out 9 Augusta batters in just five innings of work before the rain came. Somewhat cruelly, the best swing the team got off Allard was the final one of the game: Seth Harrison's triple to lead off the 6th inning. But as Harrison stood on third waiting for Fargas to bring him in the rains came a-falling down and that was the night.

If you're looking for good signs, Bryan Reynolds was one of only two members of the lineup who did not strike out against Allard, going one for two. Reynolds also stole his 1st base since his promotion to Augusta. But most of the rest of the night looked like a lot of this:

Mixed in with some of this:

Jared James HR to make it 3-1 @TheRomeBraves pic.twitter.com/KSQqwmtL1h

— Braves Prospects (@ProspectsBraves) August 26, 2016

Without being overly dramatic, Raffi Vizcaino is going to take the hill tonight for his Sally debut with a huge burden on his shoulders. It's not quite to the point where you could say he's responsible for saving their season, but with just 8 games left after tonight, falling 3.5 games back would be pretty damaging. They badly badly need a decent starting effort. C'mon Raffi!

* * *

Salem-Keizer lost to the Eugene Emeralds (Cubs), 6-4

Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
Manuel Geraldo	3B	5	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.285	.320	.349
Gio Brusa	LF	5	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.258	.296	.468
Heath Quinn	RF	4	1	1	1	0	0	0	1	2	.332	.409	.539
Ashford Fulmer	CF	4	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	1	.299	.406	.395

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA*
Matt Krook	4.0	2	3	1	5	7	0	5.13
Nolan Riggs	3.0	2	0	0	2	4	0	3.86
Jeff Burke (BS, 2)(L, 1-2)	1.0	3	2	2	2	1	0	3.29
CJ Gettman	1.0	2	1	1	1	1	0	3.00

Another come from ahead loss, as the Volcanoes couldn't hang onto a 4-3 8th inning lead againts the NWL's best team (there's a reason the Emeralds are 47-19).

Matt Krook produced something of a Mac Marshall-esque line, matching a career high 7 strikeouts with (sadly not a career high) 6 walks.  Hmm, I seem to remember reading something about Krook's goals for this summer...

Here's @jenmacramos catching up with left prospect Matt Krook https://t.co/rSiHMaPagY pic.twitter.com/O6JwGPUFV8

— Grant Brisbee (@mccoveychron) August 5, 2016

Ah yes, focus on command! That was it. FOCUS HARDER MATT!

The Volcanoes' offense used a balanced attack with 10 hits and four walks in the game to produce four runs. Ashford Fulmer dropped from the 2nd to the 5th spot in the lineup came up with 3 RBIs, including bringing in the tieing run of the game in a 5th inning rally that game SK the lead. That rally also included doubles from Heath Quinn and Ryan Kirby, the team's lone XBH in the game. It was Quinn's 17th double of the year, one off the league lead.

* * *

AZL Giants lost to AZL Reds, 7-2 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
Brandon Van Horn	SS	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	.243	.339	.316
Sandro Fabian	RF	2	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	.331	.358	.510
Kelvin Beltre	2B	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.300	.333	.550

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA*
Alex Bostic (L, 2-4)	2.2	6	6	4	1	2	0	5.59
Sandro Cabrera	3.1	4	1	1	0	6	0	2.81

AZL Giants lost to AZL Reds, 4-2 in Gm 2 (7 inn)

Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
Malique Ziegler	LF	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.290	.384	.419
Mikey Edie	CF	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.216	.286	.269
Beicker Mendoza	1B	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.272	.300	.316
Nathanael Javier	3B	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.327	.327	.364

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA*
Sidney Duprey (L, 2-2)	4.0	5	3	3	1	3	0	1.61
Jake Greenwalt	2.0	2	1	1	0	1	0	5.79

You would think that a double-header sweep to the West-Division winning Reds at this late stage, with just two games left in the season, would be a death knell. But if I'm reading the standings page correctly, it would appear that only one of the games counted against the Giants' second half record. The 2nd game, which was a makeup of a rainout on July 1, must have been applied to the Giants first half-record. Consequently, with both the Angels and A's also losing last night, the Giants stand just where they were before: in 2nd place half game behind the Angels.

The Giants finish with two games against the Dodgers while the Angels play their last game of the season tonight. Which means if the Giants win their final two games they'd be in no worst than a tie for first place, but I have no idea how the AZL handles ties.

* * *

DSL Giants beat the DSL Rojos, 8-6

Player	Pos	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
Ismael Munguia	LF-CF	5	1	1	1	0	0	3	0	1	.274	.359	.363
Nishell Gutierrez	2B	4	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	0	.226	.303	.269
Diego Rincones	RF	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	.244	.346	.343
Angeddy Almanzar	1B	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.294	.373	.438
Brayan De Pena	1B	2	1	1	0	0	1	3	0	0	.188	.243	.292
Francisco Medina	3B	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.289	.386	.355

Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA*
Norwith Gudino	3.0	6	4	4	1	3	0	2.84
Jesus Reyes	2.1	1	2	1	2	3	0	1.51
Oliver Pinto (BS, 3)(W, 4-1)	2.2	1	0	0	0	2	0	1.80
Alejandro De La Rosa (S, 4)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1.19

The 40-30 DSL Giants finishes their year in third place (their season finale this morning has been called off for rain). Not the high joys of last year, but there promising performances nonetheless. Jesus Reyes did allow ER in his final two appearances this year, just the 3rd and 4th time he'd done so this year. But the 20 year old RHP impressed with 46 Ks in his 35.2 IP this year.

18 year old Angeddy Almanzar faded a bit down the stretch, but he was the clear offensive star of this team. The young RHH led the club in average, SLG, OPS, HRs (5), doubles (17), hits (69), TB (103), and RBIs (36). Quite a debut for Angeddy.

The 17 year old Venezuelan Diego Rincones also faded heavily in August, but the youngster who  played most of June at 16, showed signs of patience and power that were impressive for the system's youngest player. Diego had nearly a 1:1 BB:K ratio with 29 BBs and 32 Ks.

One player who didn't fade down the stretch was 18 year old Francisco Medina, who hit .324/.390/.419 in August (follwoing a .300 July) with two of his three HRs on the year. As we've noted before, Medina's improved control of the strike zone this year (33 BBs, 39 Ks) year has been a dramatic leap forward.

* * *

Big nights tonight for Augsta and the AZL team, while the SJ team tries to get some momentum into the post-season and avoid a losing year.

Today's Matchups:
Sacramento: TBD vs. Evan Grills
Richmond: TBD vs. DJ Brown
San Jose: Mark Reyes vs. Joel Payamps
Augusta: Raffi Vizcaino vs. TBD
SK: TBD vs. Bryan Hudson
AZL: TBD