SF Giants Minor Lines 4/20/17: Miguel Gomez powers Richmond to big win

You’re probably sitting around right this minute wondering what adjustments Christian Arroyo is making to try to improve his game this year, and what he thinks about attempting to play the OF, and his chances of getting to San Francisco, and oh basically just thirsting for any random thoughts that might drip from his .440 hitting lips. Fortunately, the Sacramento Bee has just the thing to slake you: a video interview!

HIGHLIGHTS: Miguel Gomez three hits and career high 5 RBI; Jalen Miller had two hits.

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Sacramento lost to Salt Lake City Bees (Angels), 5-2

Christian Arroyo took his first 0-fer of the season and also broke his streak of eight straight games without a strikeout (not exactly Mookie-esque, but notable!). The result was a quiet night in the batter’s box for the RiverCats.

Arroyo’s exploits have obscured the poor starts of most of his lineup mates. Kelby Tomlinson and Austin Slater, each of whom had RBI doubles in this game (two of Sacramento’s three hits) have been mired in slumps of late. Tomlinson came into the game 0 for his last 14 and Slater had been 2 for 15 over his last four games.

With the usual caveats, I thought I’d include wRC+ today just to get a sense for the overall offensive lassitude for the RiverCats outside of Arroyo’s (and recently Jones’) spots in the order. Major league vets Drew Stubbs and Kyle Blanks are certainly not helping anything, nor is Jae-Gyun Hwang exactly tearing up the league.

Sacramento is last in the PCL in HRs (8) and 14th in the league (out of 16) in Total Bases. They’re also last in walks. Tough way to win! And not coincidentally, Sacramento hasn’t been doing much of that lately, as they dropped their 6th straight game and 8th of their last 9.

Joan Gregorio struggled with his command in this game, walking four, including a killer: walking the 9th place hitter in front of the red-hot Eric Young, Jr. who has just killed Sacramento this year. Young then hit a 2-run HR to give the Bees a lead they’d never relinquish. Gregorio has 11 Ks to 8 BBs on the year as he looks to maintain some consistency in his delivery.

Another pitcher who’s searching right now is Josh Osich who allowed four hits and two ER in his inning of work. Osich has now allowed 10 runs over his last four outings (3.1 IP). He’s surrendered 10 hits and 2 walks in that stretch.

The Pitcher of the night for Sacramento was Chase Johnson who delivered two scoreless innings including striking out the side in the 7th.

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Richmond beat Bowie Baysox (Orioles), 12-2 in 8 inn (rain)
splitting their four game series, 2-2

Richmond’s offense had been showing signs of life during this Bowie series, collecting 31 hits over their first three games, but it really busted out in a big way in the finale, picking up a 12-2 win. The production continues to be heavily front-loaded in the lineup as it falls off dramatically once you get past cleanup hitter Chris Shaw. The first four members of the lineup reached based safely 11 times in this game, scored 8 of the team’s runs and knocked in 10 of them. That included a huge night from 2b Miguel Gomez who capped his evening with a three-run HR (2) in the 8th to make it a true laugher. Gomez’ five RBI were a career high. All four of Heathcott, Bednar, Gomez, and Shaw are in the top Eastern League top 25 in Avg, and Shaw is 12th in OPS.

Seems like an offensive unit that could stand to add some length, like, say, the Cal League leader in HRs? Hm?

Armed with all that largess, Andrew Suarez did his best Ty Blach impression, dancing through traffic throughout his night. Only once in the game did Suarez get through an inning without a baserunner, as he allowed 11 in his 7 innings of work. However, he induced three inning-ending DPs and mostly limited Bowie to singles. He timed his one HR allowed well, as it came with no-one aboard.

Chris Shaw, we should note, was back at 1b in this game, after having been in LF the game before. He’s made four appearances in LF on the season.

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San Jose lost to Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks), 5-1
losing their four game series, 1-3

Returning to the Muni for a morning game just hours after dropping a double-header, the Giants managed to lose three games to their bête noire in less than 24 hours. Ouch! The loss dropped them back to .500 and saddled them with their first losing streak of the season. They came within an out of having back to back shutout losses. Only Mike Morse’s two-out, 9th inning RBI single got them on the board.

And for the second time in two days Visalia jumped on them early, pinning three runs on starter Jake McCasland in the top of the 1st and adding on in the 2nd and 4th. And for the second time in two days, down early the Giants previously fearsome offense turned feckless as they managed just four hits on the day.

In a continuing theme for the day, offense came from the 2b position. Two of the team’s four hits belonged to Jalen Miller, who also walked and scored the teams only run. That was Miller’s 5th walk of the year against 10 Ks, which looks a whole lot better than last year’s 107/26 ratio. His team leading 4th double was, admittedly, more well-placed than well-struck, but it was the offensive highlight of the day for the Giants in this one.

In his second rehab game Mac Williamson showed that he’s still working on his timing after a month off from hitting live pitching as he K’d three times on the day. Mike Morse had an RBI single in the 9th, but was otherwise also looking for his groove.

It’s unclear whether or not Williamson and Morse will continue with San Jose as they head out on the road (albeit to nearby Stockton) or if they’ll move on up to Sacramento. Rehabbing Pitcher Bryan Morris, who worked a clean 1.2 IP has, however, made his travel plans clear:

Hot hitting Aramis Garcia went 0 for 2 and was removed in the latter stages of the game, probably as a precautionary measure. Joe Ritzo said at the time that it was likely due to Garcia having taken a hard foul, though I have yet to ascertain whether that came while Garcia was catching or hitting. This was the second starter to leave the lineup in two days as 2b Dillon Dobson left Wednesday night’s first game after a HBP and has yet to return to the lineup (thus Miller’s move back to 2b the last couple of games).

Hopefully, this helps Garcia feel a little better:

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Augusta won at Greensboro Grasshoppers (Marlins), 5-3

And there it is! A winning streak! You see, you hit a little, you pitch a little, you can win some games.

Jacob Heyward returned to the lineup from a short stint on the DL and immediately connected with his 2nd HR of the year to put the Greenjackets on top. He was joined by Skyler Ewing, who connected for his 1st of the year. And Manual Geraldo, who’s been off to a miserable start at the plate chipped in with two hits and two RBIs.

Heyward’s season continues as one of the most amazing Three True Outcome campaigns in recent memory. Twenty-one of his 32 PA on the year have resulted in BBs (6), Ks (13), or HRs (2). Amazing! Unfortunately, I’d say the HR numbers are going to need to pick up a bit if he’s going to continue on that trajectory.

Kelvin Beltre’s season continues on a nice upswing. Over his last 6 games (5 starts) he’s hitting .400/.458/.500. And most encouragingly over that stretch he’s got a 3 BB/3 K ratio. Keep it up Kelvin!

Patrick Ruotolo ended up working an extremely high stress save, as he had some uncharacteristic wildness. He issued his first BB of the year and his second HB and then got into even worse trouble with 1b Frandy de la Rosa bobbled what could have been the final out of the game to load the bases (that play was initially ruled an error but was later changed to become Ruotolo’s first hit allowed of the year). But Ruotolo induced a groundout to 3b to end it an preserve his 0.00 ERA on the year. Ruotolo has an 8K/1BB ratio in 6.2 IP this year.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Ricky Romero vs. Alex Meyer
Richmond: Sam Coonrod vs. Drew Anderson
San Jose: Conner Menez vs. TBD
Augusta: Melvin Adon vs. Michael King

Some of the best velocity in the system going tonight in Coonrod and Adon, and both are coming off one of the best starts of their careers. Adon had a career best 7 Ks in last game against just 1 walk, while Coonrod’s 9 Ks was one off a career high. He has 15 Ks and just 1 BB on the year. He’s currently tied for 9th in the Eastern League in Ks, but all of the pitchers in front of him have had their 3rd start, and he could easily vault himself to the league lead tonight with another strong start.

ED NOTE: According to Yahoo Fantasy Alex Meyer is also being listed as the Probable for tonight’s LA Angels game. I feel confident that he won’t be starting at both levels (and the fantasy folks usually know their business) so let’s assume the RiverCats opponent is TBD for now.