SF Giants Minor Lines, 6/2/17

First of all, congrats to another graduate of the Giants farm system!

Also, no matter how poor the farm system has seemed this year (I’m looking at you, Andy Baggarly), sometimes even the unheralded guys come through. Like, for instance, Ty Blach, who had his first major league shutout today. In a rough year, the most unlikely of pitchers has been the most effective starter who hasn’t injured himself on a motorbike would be Blach?

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Sacramento defeated Albuquerque (Rockies), 7-5

It wasn’t the best start for Sacramento, but the finish was extraordinary with sacrifices that Albuquerque would not follow through on.

Going into the 8th inning down 5-4, the River Cats showed some tenacity much lacking up and down the system this season. In the 8th a Ryder Jones double, followed by a Chris Shaw single tied the game. In the 9th, Juan Ciriaco led off the inning with a double, and John Polonius attempted to sacrifice, but the Isotopes failed to hold up their end, and the ‘Cats had runners on the corners. Juniel Querecuto then hit a bunt listed as a sacrifice, but was likely more of a squeeze. It worked, as Ciriaco scored to give the ‘Cats the lead and no outs were made. Wynton Bernard then finally hit a sacrifice that led to an actual sacrifice. Finally, Jae-Gyun Hwang hit a sacrifice fly to ice the game.

The game saw Hwang hitting his fifth home run, continuing a hot trend for him. Since May 22nd, has hit 9 extra-base hits (3 each of home runs, triples and doubles) while going 13-for-46 (.283). However, this was just the 2nd time in the last 10 games he didn’t have a strikeout. Meanwhile, Ryder Jones had his 10th double and 2nd triple on the year, while extending his latest hitting streak to 8 games.

However, on the other side was Tyler Beede with his second straight rough start. Beede’s ERA has jumped from 3.31 to 4.28 over his past couple of games, as he’s been getting hit more than before. His batting average against is .268, and he has some concerns in his peripherals. His FIP is nearly at a career-high at 4.19, his K:BB ratio is at a nearly career-low 6.4%, and his K/9 is at a career-low 5.89. A lot of these numbers correlate with his 2015 half-season at Double-A, which was an outlier in terms of his performance.

However, to end this with a brighter thought, Kyle Crick earned a save after blowing one yesterday, giving up just a hit.

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Richmond defeated Trenton (Yankees), 2-1

A close game was decided thanks not to hitting or pitching, but by defense, or a lack thereof.

The Thunder and Squirrels matched each other with 9 hits, but the Thunder had an edge. They collected three walks and five extra-base hits; the Squirrels had none of either. But the Thunder had other things, two errors and a passed ball.. The Thunder had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, but Hunter Cole and Dylan Davis had one-out singles to put runners on first and second. As Rando Moreno stood at the plate, a passed ball advanced the runners, and then a wild pitch scored Cole. A sacrifice fly then let Davis score, and the final score was set in the second inning.

That let the pitching staff put together a great day. Jordan Johnson went 7 strong innings, giving up 7 hits and a walk, with 3 strikeouts. It was the longest start for Johnson since mid-April, and Johnson proved the control issues that undermined him last week were not continuing. Johnson still isn’t striking people out at the way that a top prospect would, but he’s keeping runs off the board. Reyes Moronta and Tyler Cyr had matching innings out of the bullpen, and Cyr’s ERA dipped back under 2.

The hitting was filled, as noted, with singles. Miguel Gomez picked up once again after his hitting streak was broken on Thursday. C.J. Hinojosa picked up a two-hit game, breaking an 0-for-11 hitless streak. Myles Schroder also went for two hits, keeping his average on the sunny side of .300 after a dozen games back this season.

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San Jose was defeated by Lake Elsinore (Padres), 8-7

Welcome back to playing Ronnie Jebavy and Grant Watson! It wasn’t a winning game, but it was a competitive game at least.

Jebavy, who hit .247/.305/.385 last season for San Jose, went 1-for-5 in his first game back. He took over in center field. For today, Bryan Reynolds shifted to left field while extending his hitting streak to 12 games, and Heath Quinn was on the bench. Gio Brusa was the DH, while Hunter Pence played a full game on his rehab.

Meanwhile, Aramis Garcia picked up a pair of doubles, giving him 14 on the season. Garcia’s batting average has raised from .252 to .275 over the last 10 games. He’s also added 5 doubles and a home run in that span. Meanwhile, Gio Brusa also had a 2-hit game, breaking a 2-for-16 run for him.

On the mound, Watson returned while taking Mark Reyes’ spot in the rotation. Watson had a 4.62 ERA in 17 starts with Augusta in 2016; his first start this season didn’t go well. Watson gave up 8 baserunners, allowing more runs than hits. Meanwhile, Reyes took the loss in his first relief appearance. Reyes has decisions in his last nine appearances now; only one was a win.

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Augusta was defeated by Lexington (Royals), 2-1

Lexington turned a 1-0 deficit going into the 8th inning into a 2-1 win, but you can’t blame this one on the bullpen.

Domenic Mazza pitched a complete game, only getting credit for 8 innings even though he faced 4 batters in the 9th. Mazza had given up only 3 hits and no walks while striking out 7 in the first 7 innings. But a leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt got him into trouble in the 8th, and he gave up a single to tie the game. However, Mazza picked off that baserunner to end the 9th inning. The 9th, however, was led off by a triple. Mazza intentionally walked the next two batters to load the baswes for the force. However, the next batter singled to win the game.

Despite the loss, it was another strong start generally for Mazza. It was his longest outing and most strikeouts since his perfect game on April 25th. It’s also his third start without allowing an unintentional walk.

The GreenJackets offense saw every starter get on base. Only Jacob Heyward did not collect a hit, but he did get a walk. However, the top hitter of the day was catcher Skyler Ewing. Ewing got on base three times, and collected his fifth double. Ewing also got 2 walks, giving him 9 against 16 strikeouts in 80 at-bats.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento: Chris Stratton vs. Ryan Carpenter

Richmond: Andrew Suarez vs. Ronald Herrera

San Jose: Jake McCasland vs. Eric Lauer

Augusta: D.J. Myers vs. Andre Davis

DSL Giants: I have no idea, but they’re playing!

That guy at @sflunaticfringe seems to know what he’s talking about. But Schulman knows more. Either way, it looks like Stratton isn’t in a holding pattern for the weekend. After all, games may be played on the weekend, but do you think the Commissioner’s Office works on weekends? Hell no.