SF Giants Minor Lines 5/14/18; Slump Busters

It’s always good to have the umps on your side.

HIGHLIGHTS: Luigi Rodriguez has a 4-hit game; Matt Win hits a double and a home run; Ryan Kirby participates in all five of his team’s runs.

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Sacramento was defeated by the Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners), 8-5

A peppering against the Sacramento pitching staff overcame a pretty nice offensive game from the hitters.

Two prospects and one rehabbing Major Leaguer had two-hit games. The one most Giants would like to see is Steven Duggar, whose two-hit day breaks a four-game hitless streak. Duggar also added his fifth stolen base of the season, although he still has 14 strikeouts over his last 41 at-bats.

Hunter Pence, meanwhile, continued his streak of two-hit games, extending it to three, all against the Rainiers. The rehabbing Pence has played ten games with Fresno during his rehab, and is batting .316/.381/.342 in that time. Apparently, he’s been trying something new.

Ryder Jones had his second two-hit game in a row as well, raising his batting average to .270. Jones has been slowly moving his batting average up this month, after it bottomed out at .228 on May 5th. With no real competition at third base this season, he’s starting to settle in.

Jose Flores took the brunt of the blow, giving up 10 hits in 4.2 innings, translating to six runs, even without any walks allowed. From the bullpen, Connor Overton made his Sacramento debut, with two scoreless innings. The 24-year old Overton had a 1.13 ERA in four games in San Jose.

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Richmond defeated the Altoona Curve (Pirates), 7-3

Luigi Rodriguez had a huge game for Richmond, and continues to be quite a performer for the Flying Squirrels.

Rodriguez was 4-for-5 with his second triple of the year, lifting his batting average back over .400 after he briefly dipped below the DiMaggio line. Rodriguez broke a two-game hitless stretch with the big day, and now has a .407/.490/.581 batting line, and a 1.072 OPS that is good for fourth in the Eastern League. The 25-year old outfielder is certainly putting up a case to get a taste of Triple-A, a level that he has never played at in his 7 minor league seasons.

Aramis Garcia had a nice day himself, getting on base three times (two with hits, once getting hit with a pitch). Garcia got his fourth double on the day as well. Garcia also broke a hitless streak, having gone four days (0-for-15) to drop his average briefly under the Mendoza line, but he’s back on the sunny side of it. Ali Castillo also picked up three hits, for the second time this season (happening before on April 16th).

On the mound, Cory Taylor threw a solid game. Despite only getting two strikeouts for the third time in a row, Taylor was effective. Taylor only gave up one hit in his last start, six innings of shutout ball, but he did walk four that day. Taylor only gave up his runs at the end of his start, so he was close to matching that last start.

Out of the bullpen, the Squirrels saw Dillon McNamara for the second time. McNamara had a 9.00 ERA in six appearances at Sacramento, where he’d given up 10 hits and six walks in eight innings. In two innings at Richmond, he has yet to give up one of either. McNamara had a 5.48 ERA with Richmond last year after getting traded from the Yankees for cash (eight appearances, six starts).

Wondering where Miguel Gomez is?

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San Jose was defeated by the Lancaster Jethawks (Rockies) in 10 innings, 8-7

Matt Winn continues to look like he’s figured things out in San Jose offensively, but the defense is a bit of a mess there still. And an injury casts a shadow over this whole game.

Mac Marshall has been slowly coming back from Tommy John surgery this season, being limited to no more than three innings yet this year. As you can see, he left today’s start with an apparent injury.

In positive news, Winn was 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, extending his hitting streak to 16 games and finding the .300 line for the first time since the first few days of the season. His day highlighted a good day for the Giants offensively, but his defense also was emblematic of the day the Giants had, as a passed ball by him allowed a run to score.

Two errors led to four unearned runs, including the one that cost the Giants the game. In the fifth inning, Gio Brusa committed a fielding error that led to three unearned runs. In the tenth inning, it was pitcher Rodolfo Martinez who hurt his own cause with a throwing error that led to a second run for the Jethawks. The Giants would score one in the bottom half, that would have otherwise tied the game.

Jacob Heyward also added a home run for the Giants, his second in two games and fourth of the season. Heyward has cooled off since his hot start, but he got on base three times in today’s game, and has drawn two walks in three of the last four games. Jalen Miller also added his seventh double of the season, and added a walk. Heyward has a .285 average with a .348 on-base percentage.

On the side, here’s a nice article about DJ Myers and the tandem pitching he’s been doing.

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Augusta defeated the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Marlins), 5-2

Despite the top four hitters in the lineup getting only one hit, the GreenJackets survived the Greensboro Grasshoppers on Monday.

The standout performance was Ryan Kirby, who participated in all five of the ‘Jackets runs. Going 3-for-4 with two doubles, Kirby collected 2 RBIs, and scored three runs himself. Kirby had been having a rough season, batting .216 coming into this game, but this game puts him at .233.

Nick Hill (3-for-4 in the 9 spot) and Manuel Geraldo also had multi-hit days. Geraldo has become a hot hitter for Augusta. He’s gotten hits in 17 of his last 18 games, and three multi-hit games in his last five. His batting average was .205 when that stretch started, and his batting average is up to .303 now.

The only hit for the top 4 was Ramos, with his 2nd triple of the year. Ramos also got two strikeouts. Logan Baldwin, after getting a ton of praise yesterday, of course got hit with three K’s in an 0-for-5 day. Jacob Gonzalez only struck out once, and did pick up a walk.

Joey Marciano picked up the win on the mound with a solid day. He bounced back from the rough start in the doubleheader last week to go six innings (tied for his season high), though he did walk two batters for the second time this year. Closer Frank Rubio continues to look good, giving up two hits but also striking out two to pick up his seventh save.

Also, just because I’m a uni-nerd…they definitely did not show off these jerseys in the rebranding announcement. At first glance, I was hoping the numbers were plaid, but they appear to be camo.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento: Tyler Beede vs. Max Povse

Richmond: Shaun Anderson vs. Mitch Keller

San Jose: TBD vs. TBD

Augusta: Aaron Phillips vs. Brady Puckett

A couple of prospect pitchers worth watching in Beede and Anderson going in the upper levels. The RiverCats will get Povse, who has given up 14 earned runs in his last two starts. Keller was the Pirates’ 2nd round pick in 2014, so he’s got a little draft pedigree but pretty pedestrian performances. Meanwhile, in Augusta, Brady Puckett is coming off his shortest start of the year, just going 3 innings while giving up 8 hits, but he’s having a good season otherwise.