Get ready to look at something they don’t have enough of in the South Atlantic League.
Ready for the homestand pic.twitter.com/MERWGgvRBS
— River Cats (@RiverCats) April 24, 2018
Sacramento was defeated by the Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners), 4-1
Ryder Jones accounted for half of his team’s total bases, and that’s not a good thing. Jones had a pair of doubles among his three hits, giving him four doubles on the year. For Jones, it’s the highest point so far as he has come alive at the plate in the past week. He has a 5-game hitting streak during which he has hit 10-for-23 with three doubles.
Jones has increased his batting average from .167 to .271 thanks to the hitting streak, and his on-base percentage is now at .338. The third baseman still hasn’t turned on the power at the start of the season, with the four doubles making up his only extra-base hits. His isolated slugging is only .068 coming into Tuesday.
On the negative side, the Sacramento River Cat outfield sans Mac Williamson went a combined 0-for-10 with only a Steven Duggar walk, as Duggar, Chris Shaw and Austin Slater all struggled. Duggar’s walk was the only walk for Sacramento.
Tyler Herb took the loss for Sacramento with what can really only be described as an average game, giving up three runs in five innings. The tough part is that Herb continues to give up too many hits, with 23 giving up in 19.1 IP (and a .303 batting average against). The positive is that Herb’s one walk was a season low, having given up no less than three in any of his previous starts.
Favorite of the Prospect Roundup Tyler Rogers went two innings, the third time he’s hit that mark. With the run, Rogers has given up five earned (six total) with four walks and eight strikeouts in 11.0 IP. So far, Rogers’ peripherals are pretty close this year to last (.233 BAA this year to .236 last year; 1.27 WHIP this year to 1.22 last year), but the ERA is much uglier at 4.09.
It caused a bit of a stir in yesterday’s Brandon Belt article, so let’s take a look at why Rogers is so unique.
Calixte tacks on a single to left and Perez flashes some E F F O R T to slide into first for an infield single, but alas, the comeback inning is over.
— River Cats (@RiverCats) April 23, 2018
Rogers takes the mound as we head to B7, 3-1 score in favor of Tacoma pic.twitter.com/fBrFWuXpLA
It’s not often we can talk about announced relievers, but thanks to the rehab that Will Smith is going through, here’s when you can see him in the coming week.
Will Smith still on track for May 1 return. Willl throw bk to bk Wed/Thurs with @RiverCats. Will throw in a non-clean inning Sunday. If all goes well, he’ll be ready. #SFGiants
— Amy Gutierrez (@AmyGGiants) April 23, 2018
Richmond was defeated by the Bowie Baysox (Orioles), 4-2
If there was a bright spot in a relatively quiet day for the Squirrels, it’s that Miguel Gomez appears to have found his stroke again. Go-Go collected his third straight 2-hit game, and his fluctuating batting average has jumped from .259 to .325 over those three games. Gomez is starting to look like himself after a 1-for-11 start in Triple-A, although there is still little room for him in Triple-A.
Secondarily to Gomez, two Richmond hitters had notable games. Dylan Davis hit his fourth home run of the year, and second in the last four games. Davis had ten while batting .217 in Richmond last season. Meanwhile Luigi Rodriguez got on base three times, with a single and two walks, and added his third stolen base of the season.
The loss fell on the shoulders of starter Jordan Johnson. Johnson had thrown a pair of scoreless outings coming into this one. He struggled with his control and ended up giving up as many hits in this start as he did in the previous two combined.
#Giants RHP Jordan Johnson tonight for AA Richmond: long arm-circle causes command/secondary issues. FB 90-93 (90-1); CB 77-80; CH 86-87. Loopy breaking ball w/ limited show of hard split-type CH. @giantsprospects @giant_potential
— Adam McInturff (@2080adam) April 24, 2018
At the bottom of the box, Dan Slania gave up the first two walks he’s given up all season, along with another hit. He’s given up nine hits and two walks in 9.2 innings with eight strikeouts now.
San Jose defeated the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres), 2-0
Mac Marshall returns from brief DL stint to throw three scoreless innings in his start tonight. Maintains perfect ERA this season. Marshall in 3 starts with #SJGiants: 9 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 6 BB, 10 SO.
— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) April 24, 2018
Mac Marshall came off the DL, after having missed exactly 10 days, and…well, he’s still looking pretty good. It was only three innings, and he gave up three hits (he’d given up only one hit in a combined six innings before). But he also gave up no walks (he’d given up a combined six before this game). Also, every one of his outings has been exactly three innings, but this game featured his lowest pitch count (37 pitches, 24 strikes) to do the feat.
For the 4th round pick in 2015, it’s been a career interrupted after he missed nearly all of 2017 due to injury. It’s been a slow recovery off of the nerve transposition surgery that he had, but he might start showing some of his potential again.
At the plate, San Jose managed just three hits against the Storm’s eight…and somehow won. They scored one run in the second as Gio Brusa walked, Sandro Fabian got on thanks to an error, a walk loaded the bases and Frandy De La Rosa hit an RBI groundout. In the eighth, it was a Matt Winn single, a sac bunt followed by a Bryce Johnson walk, a balk to push Winn to third and a sacrifice fly by Jalen Miller.
All in all, it was not the prettiest win in the system, but it was the fourth straight win for the Giants and it put them in first place, all by themselves.
#SJGiants (12-7) in sole possession of first place in North Division for first time this season. Also five games above .500 for the first time since July 2016.
— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) April 24, 2018
Plus, San Jose’s pitching staff has been pretty danged good as well.
#SJGiants with a 2-0 victory over Lake Elsinore tonight, extend win streak to four. Marshall (3 IP), Cabrera (4 2/3 IP), Rheault (1 1/3 IP) combine on SJ's league-leading fourth shutout of the season.
— Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) April 24, 2018
Augusta and the Greenville Drive (Red Sox) Postponed Due To Weather
Five of the seven games scheduled for the South Atlantic League today were rained out, and this rain better get it’s thing done before I get out there in a couple of weeks.
Today was the first scheduled game of the series, and the GreenJackets and Drive will attempt to make the game up with a double-header on Wednesday.
This is the second consecutive rainout for the GreenJackets, who were rained out in the series finale against Rome on Sunday. That game will be made up sometime between May 25th through 28th, but the specific day for the doubleheader has not been announced.
Heliot Ramos gets another day off to hopefully rest from the ball that maliciously hit him on Saturday. That can be nothing but good for his recovery.
Meanwhile, if you got asked the question of “Who will have the best OPS on Augusta after about two weeks of games?” and picked Shane Matheny…I need to check your answer for authenticity, because come on you didn’t answer that. Matheny is batting .370/.500/.481/981 in 9 games played, splitting time between third and second bases. The 23rd round pick is 6-for-13 over his last four games, and has filled up his batting line with six walks against seven strikeouts. This is certainly small sample size, the player who is absolutely not related to a former Giants catcher is starting off well.
I wouldn’t worry about the lukewarm starts by guys like Ramos and Gonzalez (and Ziegler to a degree). As I warned you, and as Roger reminded you that I warned you, there’s going to be growing pains, and the first half of the first full season is a big time when those pains happen. Patience!
Today’s Scheduled Starters
Sacramento: Scheduled Off Day
Richmond: Matt Gage vs. Keegan Akin (Bowie Bay Sox)
San Jose: Raffi Vizcaino vs. Reggie Lawson (Lake Elsinore Storm)
Augusta: Garrett Cave vs. Kutter Crawford (Greenville Drive)
San Jose will look to continue its run with Raffi Vizcaino on the mound, with his 3.27 ERA across three appearances so far. Matt Gage and his 3.24 ERA has resulted in no wins in three appearances, so he’ll be shooting for his first. And Cave will be looking to turn around his rough start to the season, as he has a 5.00 ERA through three starts, lowlighted by 14 walks in nine innings of work.
Keegan Akin was Baltimore’s second round pick in 2016, but he hasn’t lived up to the hype quite yet.