SF Giants Minor Lines, 5/21/17

There isn’t a lot of great news in the Giants’ system right now, but boy, those outfielders in San Jose finally exploded.

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Sacramento was defeated by Nashville (Athletics), 4-0

You can’t blame Chris Stratton for this loss too much. Sacramento’s offense just could not handle one of the A’s top pitching prospects, Jharel Cotton, collecting just three hits.

Cotton collected nine strikeouts in 7 innings, allowing just four baserunners, and utterly dominated the River Cats. Only three players got hits off of him, all former major leaguers…including the rehabbing Aaron Hill.

That left Stratton in a tough situation. Stratton certainly didn’t have a great game, but 6+ innings and three runs would have kept most teams in a game. Stratton did lower his ERA from 5.96 to 5.59 with the outing. In the bullpen though, Roberto Gomez continued his string of good outings to lower his ERA. He hasn’t allowed a run in the last four outings, lowering his ERA from 9.00 to 6.75.

At least, if there is something to write about, at least the River Cats seem to have a nice nickname for catcher Tim Federowicz.

And, finally, a makeup tweet about Saturday’s game with Kyle Crick:

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Richmond was defeated by Harrisburg (Nationals), 8-1

It was a bit of a pickle indeed for the Squirrels. Jordan Johnson’s line is a tale of two pitchers. Johnson has been having one of the best seasons of any pitcher in Richmond, but he struggled against Harrisburg in some ways. He gave up double-digit hits for the first time this season, only getting a 1-2-3 inning once, in the sixth inning. He gave up a pair of runs after his own throwing error in the second inning, and had given up three runs going into the seventh.

The seventh saw him give up three-consecutive one-out singles to load the bases, and that’s when he got relieved by Rodolfo Martinez. Martinez gave up a sacrifice fly, and then two doubles, allowing all three inherited runners to score, as well as one credited to Rodolfo as well.

That offensive outburst by Harrisburg was more than enough to put away Richmond, who scattered nine hits across eight different players. Slade Heathcott was the only Richmond player to collect two hits, including one of the team’s three doubles. His batting average peaked back above .300, as it has been oscillating above and below the line for most of the month. The rest of the major hitters, Chris Shaw, Miguel Gomez, and Dylan Davis each collected singles as well.

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San Jose defeated Modesto (Mariners), 12-8

Okay, now this is more like it.

The outfield class of 2016 combined to go 10-for-14, with a double, a triple, two home runs, two walks and 9 RBI. It started with Bryan Reynolds, who set a new career high with his five hits in one game, and adding his seventh double and fourth triple of the season. The four triples are tied for second in the California League.

Reynolds, post-game, credited the results to an adjustment he’s made. "I've been doing that a lot recently. I tried to make an adjustment and hit it where they aren't standing,” he said.

Meanwhile, Heath Quinn has been hot since his season finally started last week, but he had his best game yet. With his second home run in just 22 at-bats, and two walks, his line is now .364/.462/.773 over six games since his return. Gio Brusa connected for his sixth home run of the season, and second in three games. He is now in a three-way tie for the team lead with Dillon Dobson and Aramis Garcia. Jose Vizcaino Jr. also got his second home run of the season.

All the hitting helped the Giants come back from an early 6-1 lead, unfortunately due to the Nuts getting to Jake McCasland early. McCasland gave up a season-high ten hits, eight of them coming in the first two innings as the Nuts raged to six runs. McCasland has now given up 51 hits in 33.2 IP, a .345 batting average against. Joe Ritzo, however, did not his fastball was topping out at 98.

The bullpen, at least, saw reliever Yordy Cabrera have a good game.

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Augusta was defeated by Charleston (Yankees), 4-2

Augusta showed a bit of power on both sides of the game, but it takes more than that to win.

Jacob Heyward hit out his fifth home run of the year in the second inning, giving Augusta a temporary 1-0 inning. Heyward has hit two home runs in his last eight games, and it put him in the team lead for home runs, ahead of Kelvin Beltre and Frandy De La Rosa (4 a piece). Heyward’s been getting hits lately, but has gotten just one hit in 9 the last 14 games so his batting average is just at .221.

On the mound, Stephen Woods was collecting strikeouts, notching a career-high 10. Unfortunately, the six hits and two walks he allowed turned into four runs, particularly in one big inning. In the third, three singles, a walk, and a throwing error by Woods led to three runs. It could have turned into a bigger inning, if it wasn’t for a good throw by catcher Skyler Ewing; he was unable to get an out as Sandro Fabian threw straight home to try and catch a scoring runner, but he caught the RiverDogs runner trying to stretch a single to a double.

All things aside, though, Augusta’s lack of hitting is becoming noticable. Just in terms of average, the team’s leading batter in Beltre, who went 0-for-4 to lower his average to .254. Only 9 of the team’s players are batting over the Mendoza line. Only five have an OPS over .700. This offense is very, very hard to watch right now.

Finally, for your reading pleasure, some news about the features that will be in the GreenJackets new stadium next year.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento: TBD vs. Daniel Gossett

Richmond: Andrew Suarez vs. TBD

San Jose: Conner Menez vs. Pablo Lopez

Augusta: Domenic Mazza vs. Oddy Nunez

It should be an interesting day for the starters. Suarez is probably the top non-Beede pitcher in the Giants’ system, and Menez and Mazza have each had interesting years. But that TBD in Sacramento is very interesting…it’s Dan Slania’s turn in the rotation. Is there possibly a change in the wind?