SF Giants Minor Lines 8/20/17: Heliot Ramos HBP

I think we’re all pretty much sick to death of seeing this sight this year:

How ‘bout if you can’t command a fastball well enough to throw a pitch without clocking somebody in the head you just stay out of games for awhile, huh? It’s not that high a bar, people. Jesus!

HIGHLIGHTS: Chris Shaw hit his #22nd HR; Aramis Garcia doubled and walked three times; Ronnie Jebavy homered for second straight day; Julio Benitez threw a CG; Ismael Munguia had three hits, two SB.

---

Sacramento lost to Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies), 2-1

The theme for the night was struggling offenses and the trend started in Sacramento. The RiverCats had three hits. Here’s the good one:

Other than that: nada. Shaw struck out in each of his next two at bats and then grounded out to 2b to end the game. If you’re wondering about Johnny Doskow’s comment in the highlight referring to Shaw’s second chance: he popped up to the 1b side on the pitch prior but newly acquired Ryan Howard lost it in the sun and it fell harmlessly foul. And thus, the thin line between highlight reel and 0 for 4.

Conor Gillaspie and Trevor Brown each contributed a single and Ryan Lollis drew a PH walk, but Sacramento never advanced a hitter into scoring position at any point in the game other than Shaw trotting his way through.

DJ Snelten and Tyler Rogers nailed down the final third of the game pretty flawlessly. Snelten struck out 3 of his 10 batters while allowing 2 hits. Both relievers are trying to pitch their way into a September audition or November 40 man promotion.

---

Richmond beat Akron Rubber Ducks (Indians), 3-2
sweeping their three game series, 3-0

Aramis Garcia was nearly perfect at the plate on Sunday, doubling and walking three times in five PA. Garcia helped Richmond early and he helped them late — quite literally! His 1st inning double off the RF wall brought in the Squirrels first run. In the 9th inning, his third walk of the afternoon started off the rally that led to lots of running and jumping:

Hunter Cole’s ground single on an 0-2 pitch brought PR Rando Moreno in from 2b for the series-sweeping walk off.

Over Sam Coonrod’s last five relief appearances, he’s allowed just 1 run on six hits, striking out 7 while walking just 2. After a rough initial effort, he appears to be transitioning to the role well.

CJ Hinojosa went 0 for 5 on the day, and quite literally struck out just when play by play man Sam Ravech was noting that Hinojosa was the hardest player to strike out in the Eastern League. Nice going, Sam! Hinojosa is fading a bit down the stretch. In the month of August he’s hitting just .239/.278/.254.

---

San Jose lost to Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks), 4-2
losing their three game series, 1-2

Well, we said the Giants needed to take advantage of their long stretch of home games if they really wanted to grab their division down the stretch. Instead, they finished this week with a losing homestand, going 3-4. And now, 10 of their final 13 games will be played on the road. They’re still just a game out of 1st place (as is the entire division) but they’ve certainly made things hard on themselves. And, as I said last week, it’s worth remembering that they have the league’s worst record for the year and have well deserved it. Still, a little excitement down the stretch isn’t too much to ask for.

The offense outdid Sacramento’s anyway, getting FOUR hits and TWO runs! But it wasn’t enough as Rawhide left Cody Reed struck out 10 Giants over 7 dominant innings. The 5/6/7 hitters (Dobson, Brusa, and Winn) all went 0 for 4 with 3 Ks, which is a tough way to get things going. And even the white hot Jonah Arenado couldn’t scratch out a hit.

Ronnie Jebavy had played the hero in Saturday night’s extra inning win, knocking in the tying run in the 8th and the winning run in the 10th. He kept things going last night, homering for the second consecutive day (3 for the year).

Steven Duggar reached base twice, with a single and a walk. But perhaps more important than anything he did in the batter’s box was where he took the field.

The hard throwing Michael Cederoth had another good outing, striking out 3 over 2.1 IP. Cederoth, the Twins’ 2014 3rd round pick out of San Diego St., has been a nice pickup for the Giants, striking out 25 in 19.2 IP with a 1.83 ERA. Control has always been an issue for Cederoth, but he’s walked just one over the last 4.2 innings.

San Jose has an off day today and heads down to Visalia for the next three days. Recreation Park has been a house of horrors for the Giants the last few years, but they’re lining up their best for the series as they’ll go with Garrett Williams, Shaun Anderson, and the newly promoted Dom Mazza against the Rawhide.

---

Augusta won at the Charleston RiverDogs (Yankees), 3-1

The Greenjackets turned five double plays on the day in support of Yordy Cabrera and three relievers. That helped to erase the five walks Augusta pitchers issued on the day, though they allowed just four hits. Patrick Ruotolo got the final DP of the day to end it, picking up his league leading 16th save of the season.

Not all of the DPs were standard variety. Kelvin Beltre turned a soft line drive into two outs in the 1st. And three innings later, Johneshwy Fargas turned a much harder line drive into two outs from CF.

Skyler Ewing has had a nice offensive season for Augusta. I’m not sure if this will finally earn him a promotion out of the Sally — he’s essentially repeated his performance from 2016. But he’s given the middle of the lineup a jolt of power in the second half. Yesterday, he tied Jacob Heyward for the team lead in HRs (10) with 7 of those coming since the 1st of July.

Augusta was playing in front of a little Hollywood royalty as Charleston co-owner Bill Murray, Brian Doyle Murray and Eastbound and Down’s Kenny Powers were all in attendance, in advance no doubt of today’s eclipse, which will be full in Charleston, SC as well as Salem, OR.

---

Salem-Keizer lost to Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks), 2-0

Julio Benitez threw the Volcanoes’ first Complete Game in almost exactly two years, and just their third in franchise history, but the offense couldn’t reward him with a LOLWin. While Benitez was limiting the Hops to just two runs, Salem-Keizer’s lineup managed just two hits — singles by Bryce Johnson and Logan Baldwin. A walk by Ryan Kirby and a HBP to Johnson completed the team’s offense for the day. This was a lineup that just scored 26 run in two games!

Salem-Keizer was particularly stymied by Hillsboro reliever Kevin McCanna, who entered the game in the 4th inning and provided six innings of one-hit, shutout ball. Hillsboro’s usage of McCanna has been quite interesting as he has now pitched in four games (two against SK), all in relief, and never for fewer than 5 innings. It’s obviously working though, as the 13th rounder has yet to allow an earned run as a professional over 22.1 IP.

Meanwhile, Benitez was humming right along as well. Over a four year career, Benitez had never pitched longer than 5.2 innings, and he’d only gone further than 4 innings five times. In fact, he hadn’t made it further than three innings in a month. This was, if I’m not making myself clear, a thoroughly shocking development! He completed the game in just 92 pitches, allowing six hits, a walk and a HB.

The last Volcanoes’ pitcher to accomplish the feat was LHP Andrew Leenhouts, who threw Salem-Keizer’s previous CG on August 16, 2015 in what was very nearly the final outing of his pro career. However, that was just an 8 inning CG, as he threw a losing effort on the road. Leenhouts made three more starts with SK that year before being released the following spring.

To find the only other 9 inning CG in Volcanoes’ history, you have to go all the way back to July 26, 2009 and the immortal Orlando Yntema! Yntema threw a CG Shutout against Yakima (Yntema beat Yakima! say THAT five times fast), still the only time that feat has been managed in franchise history. That was Yntema’s final game in Salem-Keizer, as he was promoted to Augusta following the shutout. He completed the 2009 season with six games in the Sally before he too, received his release and disappeared from pro ball.

Watch out Julio! This could be a curse!

I presume Kevin was at the game, so he should drop by the comments with further thoughts.

This morning the Volcanoes will host the Eclipse Game, which is going to be covered by national luminaries like Sam Miller and local ones like Kevin Cunningham. Can’t wait to hear the reports, Kevin!

---

AZL Giants beat the AZL A’s, 8-3

As we saw at the top, the most important part of this game was Ramos getting beaned. He did reportedly get back up on his own, but was naturally replace and, we can presume, will be undergoing concussion protocols for a few days. God speed, Heliot! We’ll keep an eye out for news on this one.

On the field, the Giants bashed out 14 hits, including a four-hit night for Nathanel Javier and a three-hit night for Ismael Munguia, who’s having an excellent season in the complex league. The 18 year old OF from Nicaragua is hitting .346/.415/.477 on the year with nearly a 1:1 walk to K ratio (14 BBs, 15 Ks). He just keeps on hitting. Munguia also stole two bases in the game giving him 7 on the season.

Jacob Gonzalez had his 13th double of the year among two hits. After a slow spell in late July, Jacob is back to clobbering, hitting .352 in August. His OPS is currently .911.

FIght again another day for Aaron Bond, who took home a sombrero on this night. Like Ramos, Bond has been a little loose in controlling the zone this year, striking out in about a third of his at bats. But he’s excited some observers with his abilities and shows some sleeper prospect skills.

---

DSL Giants had their final Sunday off

On Saturday, the Giants waste a chance to pick up another game on 1st place when they blew a 9th inning lead. Now still 4.5 games back entering their final week of the season they face a near impossible task to prolong their year.

---

Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Jose Flores vs. Sam Howard
Richmond: TBD vs. Spencer Turnbull
San Jose: OFF DAY
Augusta: Stephen Woods, Jr. vs. TBD
Salem-Keizer: TBD
AZL: Deiyerbert Bolivar
DSL: Luis Moreno

Happy Eclipse Day everyone! And let’s hope we see Ramos back on the field again before the year is gone.