SF Giants Minor Lines 7/16/18: Canario Runs Wild

Well, if you got tired of watching this offseason’s walking tabloid rumor hitting home runs, we do have some baseball for you here…at least in the areas not hit by rain. Some hitting, some running…and not a BART train at site.

Highlights: Alexander Canario steals three bases in one game; two Volcanoes have 5-for-5 days.

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Sacramento defeated Fresno (Astros), 4-3

Six of nine Sacramento hitters had multiple hits to power a win for the River Cats.

There were a lot of hitters having good days, so let’s zoom right through the notable ones. Mac Williamson seems to be getting back to game speed. He’s 4-for-15 over his last four games, with one walk against three strikeouts in that span. He’s had 18 strikeouts in 55 (32.7%) since returning to Sacramento, but is slowly starting to hit again. Chris Shaw now has hits in 10 of his last 12 games, his third 2-hit game of the string. Ryder Jones didn’t just get a pair of hits, but also his 13th double and two of Sacramento’s RBI.

On the mound, Jordan Johnson continues his unsteady run in Sacramento, making his third start in Sacramento and keeping his ERA above 7. Jordan was moving along well until the fourth inning, when he gave up back-to-back doubles around a pair of walks as part of a 4-run inning that ended his day. Johnson has 11 strikeouts and 11 walks in 12.2 innings of work over his three starts in Sacramento.

Tyler Beede picked up the win in relief, with two quiet innings. It was his first relief outing in the last four where Beede did not deliver a walk.

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Richmond was defeated by Erie (Tigers), 2-0

The Squirrels wasted a great start from Conner Menez as the bats were pretty limp and lifeless.

Menez struck out nine in seven innings in his sixth start at the Double-A level. He gave up 13 earned runs in three straight starts at the level (13.1 IP) at one point, but he has bounced back from that span. Menez’s ERA in Richmond (4.32) is now lower than it was in 11 starts at San Jose (4.83). Overall, Menez has 115 strikeouts against 40 walks in 94.2 innings across three levels.

However, Richmond’s offense was limited by Detroit’s first round pick from last season, 18th overall pick Alex Faedo. The 22-year old was making his fourth start in Double-A, and limited Richmond to just three hits and a walk.

On offense, Aramis Garcia is showing some signs of life. Coming off of a 3-for-3 game with a pair of doubles, Garcia added another double to give him 13 on the season. He’s now batting .273/.340/.477 in 12 games in July.

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San Jose was defeated by Visalia (Diamondbacks), 3-2

San Jose handed Visalia the win in this game.

The Rawhide scored all their runs in a single inning, and the Giants offered their help. After a leadoff walk by Carlos Sano, third baseman Dillon Dobson committed an error that put two runners aboard with nobody out. After a pop fly, the Rawhide got an RBI single that hit off the glove of shortstop Brandon Van Horn, and allowed a runner to get to third on a throwing error by left fielder Jacob Heyward. That runner came in on a sacrifice fly. Sano walked the next two batters, including two wild pitches, one of which allowed the third run of the inning and the eventual winning run.

All that came despite seven hits from the Giants. Heyward had two hits and a double, his 19th of the season. He’s batting .252/.353/.394 on the season so far, with 19 doubles and seven home runs. Brandon Van Horn collected his ninth home run of the season on a 2-hit day, his fourth in July (but he’s only batting .190 in the month to go with those four home runs). Johneshwy Fargas had a 2-hit game, his first game with multiple hits since June 23rd. He also was caught steal twice, the first time he’s been caught multiple times in a game this season. He has 27 steals in 36 attempts now, a 75% success rate.

Sano matched a season high with six strikeouts, but also matched a season high with four walks. It was just his third start of the season. He has 38 strikeouts and 23 walks in 39.2 innings at San Jose this season. He has lowered his batting average allowed to a season-low .213. Sandro Cabrera worked two scoreless innings in relief, bouncing back from giving up three earned runs in his last appearance.

Let’s wrap up with a nice interview with Bryce Johnson of San Jose, who is batting .251/.337/.319 on the season but has been flashing some great talent.

And finally one nice honor, though not a surprising one, for one San Jose Giant.

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Augusta and Rome was postponed by Rain

The teams will make up the rainout, weather-permitting, today.

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Salem-Keizer was defeated by the Eugene Emeralds (Cubs) in 11 Innings, 6-5

Did Joey Bart homer? No, of course not when I get to do Minor Lines. The Giants’ first round pick had the day off. Still, the Volcanoes were very game, even though they lost.

Diego Rincones continues to be the other hot hitter for the Volcanoes, picking up his fourth home run on the season. It was Rincones first home run since June 29th, but the19-year old continues to be one of the top all-around hitters on the Volcanoes. The team’s other home run belonged to Dalton Combs, the first of the season for last year’s 35th round pick. For Combs it was his second 2-hit game in a row, and his first home run gave the Volcanoes a 2-run lead in the 10th they would give up.

On the mound, it was a patchwork of short-inning stints led by Blake Rivera. The 4th round pick made his second appearance, and looked far better. Two innings of work, and a pair of strikeouts now leaves him with three walks and three strikeouts in 3.1 innings, but also two hit batters from his first game.

8th round pick Solomon Bates picked up an earned run without giving up a hit, but walking four. He now has nine walks in 8.2 IP with 13 strikeouts. 31st round pick Keenan Bartlett took the loss pitching the 11th, giving up a pair of hits.

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AZL Black defeated the AZL Padres 1 in 12 Innings, 4-3

The AZL Black team stole their way to a victory in Monday’s game.

The team managed seven steals in the game, led by Alexander Canario’s three steals. Canario extended his hitting streak to six games with a single, and nearly doubled his stolen base total to seven steals in nine attempts. Canario’s batting line has moved from .200/.333/.244 to .268/.395/.310 since the start of the mini-streak. Jose Rivero was the other B-Giant with multiple stolen bases, impressive on a 0-for-5 batting line.

Frankie Tostado picked up a steal as well, although his biggest contribution was a 2-run home run in the 6th inning, his second of the season.

Conner Nurse took the start, with mixed results.He gave up six hits, a total he hadn’t given up since the start of the season, but he also bounced back from walking six to giving up no walks. Nurse has 21 strikeouts against 11 walks in 22 innings so far this season. The Giants pitched nine innings without a walk, but led off the 10th with the first walk of the game.

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AZL Orange defeated the AZL Indians 1, 8-7

It’s not often you see two players on the same team have 5-for-5 days, but the O-Giants had it happen today, at opposite ends of the batting order. Leadoff batter Anyesber Sivira was 5-for-5, raising his batting average from .173 to .246. Sivira seems to like hitting in bursts; of the six games in which he has gotten hits, only one game featured a single hit. At the bottom of the order was Andres Angulo going 5-for-5, with his first two doubles of the season. Angulo was 3-for-19 before this game.

Beicker Mendoza had his third consecutive game with at least three hits, and is 10-for-17 over that period with a double. George Bell extended his hitting streak to six games, raising his batting average to .373, while left fielder Tyler Flores picked up a pair of hits for the fourth time in the last seven games.

Francis Pena gave up five runs, but none of them were earned. He’s only struck out 16 in 24 innings, with 12 walks, but the 37 hits are the most concerning stat in his line.

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The DSL Giants Opened Their 2nd Half With A Suspended Game Against The Mariners

MiLB.com doesn’t publish partial-game stats for games in the DSL, unfortunately. They will finish the game on July 27th in a partial double-header.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento: TBD vs. Josh James

Richmond: Jake McCasland vs. Liarvis Breto

San Jose: DJ Myers vs. Dustin May

Augusta: Jose Marte vs. Freddy Tarnok

Salem-Keizer: TBD vs. Derek Casey

The TBDs still rule the Giants’ system. Meanwhile, Dodgers prospect Dustin May is coming off a 12-strikeout game. Braves prospect Freddy Tarnok, last year’s third round pick, has a 2.74 ERA and will start the first game of the DH against the GreenJackets.

Let’s wrap this up with some trivia…can you get this question right?