SF Giants Minor Lines 5/24/18: Ray Black brings the heat

Put this man in some orange and black!

HIGHLIGHTS: Ray Black strikes out 4 of 5; Dillon Dobson homered and doubled; Sandro Fabian homered and doubled twice;

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Sacramento beat Las Vegas 51s (Mets), 1-0 in 10 inn
losing their series, 1-3

Sacramento picked up the walk off win, thanks to a combination of efforts from Jordan Schafer, Caleb Gindl, and Ronnie Freeman. Not exactly the glamour trio of the roster, but they took the headlines on this night! Schafer PR for Kyle Jensen who was placed on 2b to start the 10th. Gindl sacrificed hm over to 3b, and then Ronnie Freeman did just enough to deliver the winner, topping a grounder to SS that allowed Schafer to speed home in front of the throw.

With that, Sacramento broke a four game losing streak. Technically it was the RiverCats second extra inning game of the year, but it was actually the first to go past 9.

Freeman, who the Giants picked up from Arizona this spring to help with their extreme lack of depth at Catcher, hasn’t been having a whole lot of success with the bat this year. But he’s giving the team effort. Check out this long run and tough catch from last night’s game:

Mark Melancon made his second rehab appearance, throwing 14 pitches over 0.2 innings. Melancon threw just half his pitches for strikes, allowing 1 hit and 1 K. But he was just setting up the main act of the night — which was come classic Black Out! Ray Black stretched out to 1.1 inning performance on just one night’s rest and he showed no sign of fatigue. Black struck out 4 of the 5 batters he faced and hit 100 on the gun twice. Hopefully, Melancon takes some good reports of Black’s stuff up to the major league staff.

Black has now retired 15 of his last 17 batters, 11 of them via the K. Let’s go to the Extended Cut!

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Richmond lost at Binghamton Rubble Ponies (Mets), 6-4
winning their series, 2-1

Exactly two weeks ago Dillon Dobson was hitting .152/.310/.217. That’s a .527 OPS, which is really hard to do! It’s hard to be that bad. Two weeks later he’s posting a sweet .777 OPS which is much better. He’s hit four homers among his nine hits in that stretch. And he’s particularly cranked it up lately, going 5 for 7 with two doubles and a homer the last two days. He’s still hitting just .203, but he the dude has legit left-handed power.

Jordan Johnson’s strong start has taken a little detour for the worse lately, as he’s given up 4 ER in each of his past two starts (totalling just 8.2 IP). He’s now given up 4 ER in four of his nine starts this year, while giving up 1 or 0 in four starts as well. Perhaps he’s the girl with the curl.

Patrick Ruotolo’s AA debut was a beaut! Perfect 1-2-3, with 2 Ks. Invisi-ball keep invisballing!

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San Jose lost at Modesto Nuts (Mariners), 5-4
losing their series, 1-2

San Jose pitching couldn’t hang on to a late 4-2 lead, and let a potential series win slip away. Carlos Sano failed to retire any of the three batters he faced in the 7th inning — walking the first two — and Peter Lannoo couldn’t escape the jam with the lead. Lannoo then allowed the losing run to score in the 8th, and with that the Giants had to get on the bus for the long ride down to Lake Elsinore knowing they let a big series escape their grasp.

Starter Logan Webb gave the team another outstanding start, surrendering 1 hit and 0 runs. He was pretty pitch efficient, using just 44 pitches to get through 4 innings, though he threw just over half of them (27) for strikes. It was just the second time this year that Webb had gone beyond the 3rd inning.

But the star of the game was the youngest player on the field for either side. Sandro Fabian had a tour de force performance, delivering three extra base hits, including his 4th HR (and second of the road trip) and two doubles. He also showed off his strong arm, picking up an OF assist. It was by far Fabian’s best game of the year. The 20 year old OF is starting to show signs of life at the plate. He has hit in 8 of his last 9 games and since May 10 has raised his batting average up 20 points and his SLG 60 points. He has seven extra base hits over that two weeks stretch, while also walking three times. That’s not exactly a Brandon Belt-esque batting eye, but Fabian is showing some improvement in his aggressive approach — he’s almost equalled his walk total from 2017 already.

Let’s double up on the Fabian highlights in honor of his big day. First, you can’t get in his kitchen:

And later, after drilling another inside pitch out of the park but foul, he stays back on a subpar 0-2 breaking ball and punches it to CF for his second double of the game. Have a night, Sandro!

Manager Lipso Nava discussed Fabian, as well as starting pitcher Melvin Adon, with Joe Ritzo before the game. You can hear that conversation here:

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In Augusta, it rained.

Quit it, Georgia! (ok, South Carolina). Well, have some (forced) off day reading.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento: Daniel Camarena vs. Brett Oberholtzer
Richmond: Garrett Williams vs. Dominic DeMasi
San Jose: Sandro Cabrera vs. TBD
Augusta: Jason Bahr vs. TBD

The Sally league best 28-15 Greenjackets begin a crucial four game set against the Rome Braves, sitting just 1 game back in the standings with three weeks to play.

Not sure who Daniel Camarena is or why he’s starting for Sacramento today? We got you covered!