SF Giants Minor Lines, 5/16/16

Well, Roger told me that I could do some Minor Lines if I promised to bring in the wins. (looks down at iPad) Well, dammit.

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Sacramento was defeated by Oklahoma City (Dodgers), 5-2

Dan Slania lowered his ERA by 0.14 points. When your ERA started at 8.79, that’s still not a good sign.

Slania gave up five earned runs for the third straight start, although there were some encouraging signs for the big man. For one, his strikeouts and walks. He tied a season high with 8 strikeouts, which is what he threw in his only game at Double-A this year. He also kept the walks to just one, also tying a season-low. He also held Oklahoma City to just five hits. The bad news is that two of them were home runs, leading to those five runs allowed. Slania has given up eight home runs this season in 40.1 innings. Last year, he gave up 9 total in 119.2 IP.

Pitching aside, Sacramento’s offense remained punchless. Austin Slater was the only River Cat to reach base twice with a pair of single, and the team’s only extra-base hit was a double by Carlos Moncrief. Slater continues to impress offensively, raising his batting line to .312/.376/.424 with 8 doubles and two home runs.

One note: Orlando Calixte was removed from the game in the bottom of the 5th inning, after a Willie Calhoun home run to center field. I’m assuming Calixte got hurt trying to pursue that ball. Here’s hoping he’s okay.

Some rehab is coming soon to Sacramento:

I’m not sure what she is saying about Aaron Hill, other than meaning to type SJ. As you will see, he was with San Jose in Visalia tonight.

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Richmond was defeated by Akron (Indians), 6-1

Much like yesterday’s games across the system, control nipped Sam Coonrod in the box score. Coonrod gave up a season-high four walks, so despite only giving up three hits, he ended up with the loss in the box score. Two walks came around to score, and after two walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch in the top of the sixth, he was lifted. The good news for Coonrod was that Rodolfo Martinez came in and looked good, getting out of the inning. The bright side for Coonrod was another 7 strikeouts, giving him 41 on the season in 34.2 innings of work.

The offense didn’t help things out. The heart of the order saw Miguel Gomez and (still-LF) Chris Shaw pick up single hits, but the only run came around thanks to a Dylan Davis home run, his first of the season. Davis had 26 home runs last season between Augusta and San Jose, so it’s good to see him turn the power back on.

Finally, let’s talk about something that needs to be promoted to the big league team.

IWANTTHAT I WANTTHAT IWANTTHAT </krukowVoice>

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San Jose was defeated by Visalia (Diamondbacks), 5-1

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A punchless offense couldn’t overcome a poor start by the starting pitcher.

Well, in this case, the starter Conner Menez didn’t actually have too terrible a start, runs-wise. His two runs allowed was lowest among the system’s four starters. However, he gave up just too many baserunners, with six hits, a walk and two hit batters clogging up the basepaths. But Menez, who matched his season-high with six innings pitched, left the game with his team still in it. However, Heath Slatton, recently moved to the bullpen, let Visalia put the game away with three runs in the final two innings, including a two-run home run. Slatton, who had a 0.73 ERA in his debut season and a 2.37 ERA as primarily a reliever last season in Augusta, is having a hellish season with an 11.76 ERA so far this year.

However, all the struggles with the pitching didn’t matter, as the offense continued to struggle. There were a couple of bright spots, most notably the returning Heath Quinn picking up two more hits, including a double, and Aramis Garcia picking up a double after being 3-for-23 over his last six games. In fact, of the team’s five hits, only one was a single. And yet, they couldn’t string the hits together. Even the one Giants run was scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Winn. And rehabbing Aaron Hill didn’t look so good, with a hat trick while going 0-for-4.

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Augusta was defeated by Lexington (Royals), 6-4

Augusta’s offense had a nice day, with every starter in the lineup picking up at least one hit, but the big days were from Skyler Ewing and Ryan Kirby, with three hits and two doubles each. For Ewing, it follows up and two-hit game with a home run on Saturday, and boosted him back above the mendoza line, now batting .220 with a respectable .424 SLG. Kirby also crossed the Mendoza, part of a five-game hitting streak that has brought his average from .160 to .217.

The other big hit was Frandy De La Rosa, with his fourth home run of the season. Over his last ten games, the guy that was traded for Clayton Blackburn has hit .308 (12-for-39) with four home runs, two walks, but also 18 strikeouts. De La Rosa had 7 home runs and 92 strikeouts in 424 at-bats in the South Atlantic League last year, at Hickory. Now he has 4 home runs and 46 strikeouts in just 111 at-bats. While it’s not perfect, De La Rosa might be pushing for a promotion to High-A (Where he was playing in the Carolina League before the trade).

D.J. Myers had one of his roughest starts of the year, giving up a season-high nine hits in just 4 innings while allowing four runs. Myers has 36 strikeouts in 36 innings, but just 9 walks. However, he’s got a 3.72 ERA. Sandro Cabrera’s performance was also tough, as he’s seen his ERA jump from 0.93 to 4.50 in the span of five appearances. He has 22 strikeouts in 16 innings, but also 10 walks on top of it.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento: Tyler Beede vs. Justin Masterson

Richmond: Matt Lujan vs. Luis Loga

San Jose: Michael Connolly vs. Jose Almonte

Augusta: TBD vs. Brian Keller

Beede will certainly highlight the hump day starters for the group. Let’s hope the offense across the system begins showing life.

And let’s wrap things up with an old friend report:

Good luck, Mr. Black