SF Giants Minor Lines 4/24/19: Ramos Removed After Getting Hit In Knee

Alright, let’s just start with the bad news…

Let’s look at the bright side here: He was hit by a pitch and stayed in the game. Even with a tweak, it’s unlikely that he was seriously injured. Hopefully this is just something like a bruise, and Ramos will get at least a day and maybe more off to recover. But still, only a couple of weeks after Joey Bart was hit with a pitch and broke his hand, this is not a great thing for the Giants farm system and their fans.

Highlights: Austin Slater was 3-for-4 with a double and home run; Conner Menez struck out nine

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Sacramento defeated Tacoma (Mariners), 4-1

Austin Slater had a big day in Sacramento’s win.

Slater was 3-for-4 on the day, hitting his first home run of the season and his fifth double of the season. He now has a 16:13 K:BB ratio in 14 games. He also stole his second base of the season, over three attempts. And he did it all while playing at second base for the first time since 2015. Not a bad day.

The performance helped the River Cats win behind an excellent game pitched by Ty Blach. Blach gave up just one run on two hits and a walk, even though he collected just two strikeouts. It was a nice bounceback for Blach, who gave up ten hits in 3.2 innings in his last start. While his 14 strikeouts aren’t impressive in 18.2 innings, it looks good against two walks.

Elsewhere in the box score, Mac Williamson struck out three times, but his one hit was a home run, his third in four games. Williamson has hits in eight straight games, but he also has 15 strikeouts in 12 games. Steven Vogt is only batting .233, but added his third double of the season in his attempt to get back to the majors.

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Richmond lost to Reading (Phillies), 7-2

Conner Menez had a strong game, striking out a season-high, but once again the bullpen suffered as the offense was weak.

Menez did give up a season-high two runs, but he continued a strong start to his season, with a 1.31 ERA, a 0.82 WHIP and a .157 batting average allowed. He has 28 strikeouts against six walks in 20.2 innings so far this season.

Unfortunately, Kieran Lovegrove suffered his second difficult outing, not getting an out as he walked three and gave up a hit, all four eventually coming in to score. He’s allowed six runs between his last two outings, and now has an 8:5 K:BB ratio in 8.1 IP. Melvin Adon also struggled, coming in with two of Lovegrove’s runners on, giving up a double and a single to allow those two runs and one of his own to score. Adon has a 1.96 WHIP and a .355 average allowed, with 11 hits in the 8.2 innings he’s pitched.

Meanwhile, the hits once again were limited by the offense, even after a shuffle in the lineup. Jonah Arenado, the team’s leading healthy hitters, was moved to leadoff, an unusual move for a runner like Arenado, who for his career has four stolen bases on 11 attempts. Arenado did pick up a hit. Ryan Howard also picked up a hit and a walk, but is batting just .196.

There is no ignoring that the Double-A batting order is not at all good. In today’s lineup, three non-pitchers were batting under .100, including #5 hitter Dylan Davis (.095) and #8 hitter shortstop Brandon Van Horn, who is 0-for-7 over his first three games. Cleanup hitter Heath Quinn was just above that line, batting .109 after this game.

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San Jose was defeated by Modesto (Mariners), 8-7

You already read about Ramos being removed in the seventh inning, but he had a decent line before his removal. He hit a sacrifice fly in his first plate appearance, was hit by a pitch, and then hit a double apparently on that injured knee.

Ramos was not the only injury. David Villar, who came into the seventh as a pinch-hitter a few batters after Ramos’ removal, was also hit by a pitch and got removed after the end of the inning.

The removal just came towards the end of a game that started off poorly on the field. Aaron Phillips started the game, but couldn’t get an out in the second inning, giving up six hits and four runs. It was the second straight game in which he gave up four earned runs, but he did this in far fewer innings. Joe Marciano relieved him, and the bleeding continued, as he gave up a season high three runs in two innings of work.

San Jose did manage ten hits, but only Gio Brusa’s day really stood out. Brusa was 2-for-5, with his first double of the season and second home run of the year. For Brusa, that ends a streak of four hitless games since hitting his first home run. John Riley and Ryan Kirby each also put together 2-hit days, with Kirby hitting his second double.

It was just a weird game. The closer for Modesto in a close game…was their shortstop. Johnny Adams has pitched two games in each 2018 and 2019, but still, quite an interesting choice.

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Augusta lost to Hickory (Rangers), 5-4

Augusta got its offense going, but the offense fell just short of the win as the home runs were flying out against them.

Jake Wong’s fourth start did feature a season-high in strikeouts with five, but was more notable for the season-high in hits his gave up with nine, breaking a previous high of three. Despite all those hits, he only allowed two earned runs, three total, and gave up his first two home runs of the season. While Wong’s 3.78 ERA continues to lower from an early bad game, his peripherals took a hit. Specifically his batting average allowed jumped from .200 to .262.

With the GreenJackets up 4-3 in the eighth, Solomon Bates came in and got hit hard. Bates gave up a home run in each the eighth and then a walkoff home run in the ninth. His ERA jumped up to 4.50 with the two home runs. He also gave up his first walk of the season, and has a 17:1 K:BB ratio.

The top of the GreenJackets batting order all picked up multiple hits. Frankie Tostado continued to lead the team in batting average with a .339 batting average and picking up his fifth double of the season. It’s Tostado’s second multi-hit game in the last three, and fifth over his last ten games. Meanwhile, Shane Matheny continued his hot streak, picking up multiple hits for the third straight game and fourth out of five, and adding a walk as well. He’s reached a .300 batting average, and added his fourth home run and fifth double..

Leadoff hitter Ismael Munguia also picked up a pair of hits, reaching a .317 batting average. He also has multiple hits in four of his last five games. Diego Rincones hasn’t had the recent multiple hits, but matched his season-high that came on Opening Day, and picked up his third double.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento (Enderson Franco) vs. Tacoma (Tommy Milone), 7:00 pm PDT

Richmond has a scheduled day off

San Jose (DJ Myers) vs. Modesto (TBA), 12:30 PM PDT

Augusta (Seth Corry) at Delmarva (Blaine Knight), 7:05 PM EDT

Seth Corry highlights the three games of the day for the Giants’ system, as he puts his 0.00 ERA on the line. He’ll be going up against Blaine Knight, the #10 prospect in the Orioles system (according to MLB Pipeline), who has a 1.15 ERA.

In non-team specific news, the Giants have a new signing in the minors.

Quick work on that avatar, Brandon! Brandon’s twitter game is good, as he was advertising himself as a free agent after being released by the Rays in March…other than taking a video recording of a computer screen.

And…if you want to read about pre-injury news, Dalton Johnson had an interview up about Heliot Ramos.

As I said on Twitter...I kind of blame him for the jinx.