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SF Giants Minor Lines, 5/15/17

Two Streaks Achieved, One Good, One Not-So-Good

By Kevin J. Cunningham
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Streaks happen. Good and bad. Sometimes, a good streak can be enough to turn a rough day into a win (just ask the Golden State Warriors). Sometimes, it can ruin a season. Today, two teams reached notable streaks, one good and one not-so-good.

But first, Roger takes a moment to tell us the state of the pitching in the system…

Ugh.

Sacramento was defeated by Oklahoma City (Dodgers), 6-4

Sacramento Hitters

Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG*
Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG*
Jae-Gyun Hwang 3B 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0.303
Austin Slater LF 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.306
Chris Marrero 1B 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.218
b- Kyle Blanks PH 1 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 0.239

Sacramento Pitchers

Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA*
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA*
Chris Stratton (L, 0-1) 3.1 6 6 4 4 4 2 5.96
Kraig Sitton 1.2 0 0 0 0 2 0 3.54
Ryan Webb 1.2 2 0 0 1 3 0 3.77
Dusten Knight 1.1 1 0 0 1 2 0 2.08

Not a great game for Chris Stratton or the River Cats offense as the Triple-A Giants-Dodgers rivalry got underway. As you can see, Oklahoma City’s starter Wilmer Font (who came into the game with a 4.89 ERA) held a perfect game through 6 innings. At that point, he had averaged 2 strikeouts an inning. Although he gave up a run on two hits and a walk in that 7th inning, he struck out the side and ended up with 15 strikeouts. Three River Cats ended up with hat tricks: Orlando Calixte, Carlos Moncrief and Juniel Querecuto.

Kyle Blanks gave the River Cats their lone big offensive highlight. He came up to pinch-hit in the 9th, and hit a three run home run, his third big fly of the season. Out of the three other hits the Cats got, Jae-Gyun Hwang got the only other extra-base hit, his 11th double of the season.

It didn’t help that Stratton lost control for one of his roughest starts of the year. Stratton gave up a season-high four walks, and went a season-low 3.1 innings in the start, as his ERA skyrocketed back up to 5.96. The game leaves Strattong with a 17:8 K:BB ratio, in 22.2 IP.

Richmond defeated Akron (Indians), 3-1

Richmond Hitters

Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG*
Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG*
Slade Heathcott CF 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.314
Chris Shaw LF 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.295
Ali Castillo 3B 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.278
Jeff Arnold C 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.128
a- Eliezer Zambrano PH-C 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.156

Richmond Pitchers

Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA*
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA*
Andrew Suarez (W, 3-3) 6.2 5 1 1 0 7 0 3.12
Jose Flores (H, 2) 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.69
Reyes Moronta (H, 1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.46
Tyler Cyr (S, 3) 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2.03

It sure seems that the Chris Shaw in left field is a thing.

For today, Shaw wasn’t a factor, going 0-for-4. But that was okay, as Andrew Suarez shook off some early shakiness for a great game. Suarez gave up a single and a double in that first inning, as well as throwing away a pickoff throw to give up a run, but only gave up three hits the rest of the way, striking out 7 with no walks in 6.2 IP. It was a nice bounceback for Suarez, after he gave up a season-high 10 hits in his last start.

There was some interest in the bullpen. Reyes Moronta had been the closer in Richmond until he got a sip of coffee in the bigs, one day on the roster without an appearance. He came back and gave up a run while taking his first loss. Today, he worked the eighth inning and did it without allowing a baserunner. Meanwhile, Fremont’s own Tyler Cyr picked up his third save, second since Moronta’s promotion. It’s doubtful that this will continue, with Moronta’s potential, but it might help Moronta get back into his groove.

The Squirrels’ #3-6 hitters went hitless on the day, but it went okay because the #7 through #2 hitters each got at least one, including a 7th inning pinch-hit insurance RBI by Eliezer Zambrano, who desperately needed it. Meanwhile, Slade Heathcott continued his strong hitting, the only Richmond hitter with multiple hits. You know, there’s a hole in the Sacramento outfield with Mac Williamson promoted to San Francisco. I know the fans love Shaw, but Heathcott (who played at Triple-A last season) might be even more ready for a push.

And while minor league wins don’t mean all that much, this win gave the Squirrels their first three-game winning streak.

San Jose was defeated by Inland Empire (Angels), 5-4

San Jose Hitters

Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Daniel Carbonell DH 5 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.269
Ryan Howard SS 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.310
Bryan Reynolds CF 5 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.258
Dillon Dobson 2B 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.284
Heath Quinn RF 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0.250
Gio Brusa LF 4 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 1 0.200

San Jose Pitchers

Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Jake McCasland (L, 0-4) 5.0 6 3 3 4 5 1 5.65
Carlos Diaz 3.0 3 2 2 2 3 0 3.24
Caleb Simpson 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 0 5.74

The big news (and good news) was the season debut of Heath Quinn, who was sidelined for the start of the year by a reported hamate injury. Quinn hit .344 in his debut season last year, ending the year with four games in San Jose, so the third round pick was much-anticipated this year. He had a double while going 1-for-4, so it wasn’t a bad start.

The Giants collected four doubles, including one by Bryan Reynolds, who now has two games of multiple hits as he does seem to be starting another streak of good hitting. In fact, maybe the reuniting of the 2016 draft OF Bros was a good thing, because Gio Brusa also had two hits with a double, and he got himself off of the interstate, and is now batting an even .200.

Unfortunately, the hitting was not enough for the Giants to avoid the sweep. Jake McCasland did not have a terrible game starting, but he didn’t have a great one either. He had a season-high in walks with four in five innings. Add in Carlos Diaz giving up two more runs, now having given up five in his last three outings, and it was enough for Inland Empire to complete the four-game sweep.

And before we wrap things up, another rehab start coming soon to San Jose, and a change in the rotation.

Augusta defeated Lexington (Royals), 2-1

Augusta Hitters

Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Player Pos AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
Sandro Fabian RF 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.250
Frandy De La Rosa 1B 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.244
Jacob Heyward LF 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0.219
Cristian Paulino 3B 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.176

Augusta Pitchers

Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Domenic Mazza (W, 2-4) 7.0 8 1 1 1 5 0 4.95
Nolan Riggs (H, 1) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.72
Patrick Ruotolo (S, 3) 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.98

It was a pitcher’s day at Lake Olmstead Stadium, with Dr. Perfect, Domenic Mazza, getting a much-needed strong start. Mazza had given up 13 runs in just over 12 innings in his two starts since his Perfect Game. But on Monday, he scattered around eight hits, allowing just one for extra bases (a double) for a strong start. Although Mazza was successful today, his batting average allowed was bumped up again to .277. Mazza will need to find a way to keep from giving up hits to keep moving up the ladder.

Meanwhile, on offense, Cristian Paulino made things happen. The only GreenJacket to collect two hits, Paulino made things happen on both sides of the bat. Paulino knocked in the first Augusta run with a single, plating Jacob Heyward. Paulino moved to second on a balk, and then stole third. That put him in place to score the winning run, which he did as Brandon Van Horn was able to hit into an error by Lexington pitcher Ofreidy Gomez.

A little bit about the GreenJackets and their final season at Lake Olmstead.

Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento: Dan Slania vs. Fabio Castillo
Richmond: Sam Coonrod vs. Nick Pasquale
San Jose: Conner Menez vs. Joel Payamps
Augusta: D.J. Myers vs. Travis Eckert

A couple of interesting matchups to look forward to. Few pitchers are in as much need of a turnaround as Dan Slania in Triple-A, where he sports a 8.79 ERA. Meanwhile, Sam Coonrod is looking to bounce back from his season-worst start last week, where he gave up 7 runs. And San Jose heads on the road to Visalia to just try and turn around their losing streak.

Finally, some news about surgeries happening in the Giants’ system.

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