SF Giants Minor Lines 5/9/19: Yaz homers again

Oh what the hay, I can’t even with all of this! Too many transactions frying my brain!

But congrats especially to Raffi Vizcaino who really forced his promotion with some torrid work out of the San Jose bullpen. Raffi struck out 30 batters in 16 IP with just 3 hits allowed.

HIGHLIGHTS: Mike Yastrzemski homered for 6th time in 8 games; Luis Amaya struck out 5 over 3.1 scoreless innings.

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Sacramento lost to Fresno Grizzlies (Nationals), 7-4 in 10 inn

Nats #1 prospect Carter Kieboom — in his first game back in the minors — hit a tiebreaking homer in the top of the 10th to lead Fresno to their third consecutive victory over Sacramento in this four game series.

RiverCats starter Shaun Anderson had a strong start for five innings, but he ran out of gas in the 6th, walking his final two batters of the game and leaving with the bases loaded. All three of those runners were immediately cashiered when Steven Okert coughed up a Grand Slam on the first pitch he threw.

The end result was a stat line that looked somewhat messier than Anderson’s actual performance. Had he not come out for the 6th, Anderson would have ended his night with 5 shutout innings and 5 Ks to 1 BB. Such are the vagaries.

That Grand Slam would represent the only runs surrendered to the Grizzlies in regulation time though, and the Cats would claw their way back into a tie. Mike Gerber’s double brought in two runs in the bottom of the 6th, and in the next inning Mike Yastrzemski continued his HR tear with a PH shot to tie the game.

As that smart tweeter notes, that’s now 6 HR in 8 games for Little Yaz. Pretty impressive!

Unfortunately, the Cats couldn’t push across another run the rest of the night. Henry Ramos doubled with one out in the 9th to give the home fans hope of a walk off, but neither Austin Slater nor Gio Brusa (making his AAA debut) could bring Ramos home.

Williams Jerez, who MLB Pipeline lists as the Giants #29 prospect now, threw two perfect innings fresh off his time with the big club. But Fernando Abad would follow by allowing three runs in the 10th, including Kieboom’s big two-run homer.

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Richmond was OFF for a travel day

But if you want something to look forward to when the Squirrels return to the Diamond, check out this somewhat frightening promotion! (Do we comment enough about the fact that Culby has been by a pretty decent stretch the best non-Bumgarner pick of the Giants six 1st rounders in 2007?)

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San Jose won at Modesto Nuts (Mariners), 2-0
winning their series, 2-1

Matt Frisbee and Friends dominated the Nuts, throwing a one-hit shutout to clinch the first series win for the Giants since April 8-10, and only their second series win on the season. Frisbee, coming off two straight rough starts since his promotion to A+ was particularly efficient.

And then after Matt, San Jose brought in some heat from the pen with Gustave and Simpson each tossing a scoreless inning. Simpson did a big of a tightrope dance, walking two in his inning of work.

Orlando Garcia went deep for his first A+ HR to put San Jose on the board in the 5th. And Ryan Kirby’s Sac Fly brought home the last run of the game in the 8th.

After the game, San Jose loaded up for the long bus ride to Lake Elsinore where they’ll see if they can keep their little momentum going. Amazingly, San Jose has a winning record on the road this year (9-8). A brutal home record (4-13) is most to blame for their poor start to the year.

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Augusta lost at West Virginia Power (Mariners), 11-1 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

Augusta lost to West Virginia Power (Mariners), 6-1 in Gm 2 (7 inn)

Rough night in West Virginia for the Greenjackets who were outscored 17-2 over the course of 14 innings. The offense barely showed up in either game, though Shane Matheny did whack his 5th HR of the year in the opener. And Ismael Munguia picked up three more hits across the double header and stole his 4th base of the year.

But other than that there isn’t much good to glean here.

Blake Rivera was the only starter that Augusta listed and he didn’t end up pitching in either game. Instead, Keaton Winn got his first start of the year — but it didn’t go nearly so well as his many 4 and 5 inning relief efforts. 20 year old Jesus Ozoria got his first start in the lid-lifter and he had a particularly rough night, failing to escape the 1st inning. I’ll just say again that Ozoria is attempting the jump from the DSL to full-season ball which is a huge step up, and bumps and bruises are to be expected. Ozoria will turn 21 in a little less than a month.

The only really good performance for the night came from LHP Luis Amaya, who threw a sparkling 3.1 innings with 5 Ks as the night grew dim. Granted, the Power might have been all scored out by that time in the evening, but it was still an encouraging outing for the youngster. Amaya had an outstanding season in the DSL as a true 16 year old way back in 2015. But he missed most of 2016 and all of 2017 with Tommy John surgery. Amaya will pitch this entire year at the age of 20, not turning 21 until the final week of August, and remains an arm to keep an eye on.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento (Ty Blach) vs. Fresno (Mario Sanchez)
Richmond (Alfred Gutierrez) @ Bowie (Bruce Zimmermann)
San Jose (Casey Meisner) @ Lake Elsinore (TBD)
Augusta (TBD) @ West Virginia (Ryne Inman)

Casey Meisner gets plugged right into action as the newest Giant (a distinction I suspect he’ll hold for about 24 hours at this rate). Meisner has gotten around a bit in his pro career.

Augusta is showing a TBD but we’ll see if Rivera gets the start today or if he’s being skipped a turn for whatever reason.

Almost the weekend! Enjoy everybody!