SF Giants Minor Lines 4/11/19: Joey Bart puts on a show

Turns out that wasn’t the only thrill Joey gave the fans on opening night!

It was a fun night to be in San Jose! Elsewhere.....not so much.

HIGHLIGHTS: Joey Bart had three hits including HR, threw out two baserunners; Heliot Ramos doubled and singled

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Sacramento lost at Las Vegas Aviators (A’s), 11-3
getting swept in their series 0-3

Hopefully what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas for Shaun Anderson who had one of the toughest outings of his career last night. What kind of night was it for the big right-hander? This kind:

It was the kind of night where he gave up an incredible four triples in the span of five batters, and five extra base hits in just three innings of work — his shortest AAA outing since being promoted last year.

Somehow four triples in an inning was not a PCL record (according to old friend Conner Penfold’s post-game notes), but it was still enough to end Anderson’s evening. “Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?” So glad you asked! Anderson did strike out 6 in 3 innings.

All series long the ballpark seemed to play small for Vegas and big for the RiverCats, and that trend continued in completing the sweep. Sacramento did come up with two solo HRs in the late innings after the game was long decided, and one of them was historic, as Zach Green launched the first round tripper in the history of Las Vegas’ spanking new park. Anthony Garcia added the second solo shot in the 9th.

And hey, we got some Ray Black — that can’t be bad, can it?

Oh. Here’s hoping this all stays in Vegas. The Aviators thoroughly buzzkilled the RiverCats coming off a terrific opening series. On to Salt Lake where they don’t even speak of Vegasy things.

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Richmond had a day off

They hit the road for the first time this year coming off a successful 4-2 opening homestand.

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San Jose beat Visalia Rawhide (Diamondbacks), 6-2

Now here is the game to thrill ya! Thirty-five hundred people came out to the newly christened Excite Park to see the hope of the future, and the old place lived up to its new billing!

Joey Bart had three hits, three RBI, and threw out two would-be base stealers in his introduction to the home fans, all punctuated by his 2nd HR of the year.

Ooh, let’s watch that again!

Style points on the bat flip, Joey!

Heliot Ramos, fresh off his first career mulit-homer game, wasn’t willing to let Bart have all the cheers though. Ramos added two hits of his own, including an RBI double immediately preceding Bart’s blast. And for the second game in a row, he had no strikeouts, after K’ing 8 times over his first 16 ABs of the year.

Caleb Baragar got the spot start, going 4 strong innings with 7 Ks, and Israel Cruz —who pitched each of the last three years in the AZL— added another shutout inning in his second appearance. Cruz came over from Texas in the Matt Moore deal. Only John Russell failed to keep the Rawhide off the board, and that’s now 5 runs allowed in 4.2 IP for Russell this year. Russell posted a 2.49 ERA in 61 IP last year in Augusta.

Gio Brusa’s assignment in Richmond was short-lived as he came back down to San Jose to take Malique Ziegler’s spot on the roster. Brusa can spell Ryan Kirby at 1b (as he did last night) and DH, and can likely fill in in LF when one of the OF needs a night off. Brusa had just 4 ABs with Richmond in three games.

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Augusta lost at West Virginia Power (Mariners), 4-0

A disspiriting night all around in Charleston, as the team went down in desultory fashion and, possibly much more important, lost their starter early in the game.

Gregory Santos, the team’s #7 prospect, was humming along through 3.2 innings when he suddenly summoned the Augusta trainer to the mound. After a short discussion, Santos left the field with what the Augusta play by play man Rylan Kobre described as “an apparent arm injury.” Not a good sign. That’s the second Giants’ starting pitcher prospect to leave early this week, with Jose Marte also being pulled in mid-start with some kind of medical concern.

Santos had allowed just one run on a solo HR in the game — to his penultimate batter of the night — while striking out 3. We’ll definitely keep an eye on this one, as Santos represents perhaps the highest upside arm in the system.

UPDATE:

The Power roster has several of the jewels of the Mariners’ system, including 2018 Mets’ 1st rounder Jerred Kelenic who came over in the Robinson Cano deal, and IFA stud Julio Rodriguez, making the big jump from the DSL to the Sally (and making it in style so far). But it was minor league vet Ryne Inman who stole the show last night, dominating the Greenjackets for 6 innings of 2 hit, shutout baseball. Augusta came into the night as the toughest squad in the Sally to strike out, but Inman punched out 8 in his start and 12 Greenjackets went down with a K overall. Even Diego Rincones, who had his first K of the year in Wednesday’s game, was punched out multiple times in this one. Inman had the entire squad off-balance all night long.

Fight again tomorrow, Greenjackets, and let’s hope for good news on the 19 year old Santos.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento (Ty Blach) @ Salt Lake (Dillon Peters)
Richmond (Conner Menez) @ Reading (Ramon Rasso)
San Jose (Garrett Cave) vs. Visalia (TBD)
Augusta (Jake Wong) @ West Virginia (Elias Espino)

Crafty lefties in the upper levels, strong-armed righties in A ball. Richmond and San Jose try to keep the good times rolling while Sacramento and Augusta look to get back on the beam. Friday night is a great time to enjoy a little fun at the ballyard. And remember, if you’re planning on catching Joey Bart at Excite, you had best not tarry too long...