SF Giants Minor Lines 5/17/19: Dereck Rodriguez does it all

Sacramento Pitchers went 0 for 26 to start the year and had just one hit for the season coming into last night’s game, but Dereck Rodriguez came to town to show those boys what to do with a bat in their hands. DRod didn’t just go 3 for 3, he went 3 for 3 with 3 doubles! We love #PITCHERSWHORAKE!

Before we get going, a Giants’ trip to the Phoenix area meant health updates from the minor league complex and nearly everything last night was good news:

HIGHLIGHTS: Dereck Rodriguez allowed 2 runs in 6 IP and doubled three times; Mike Yastrzemski had four hits including two doubles and HR; Seth Corry K’d 7 over 4 IP; Diego Rincones singled and tripled.

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Sacramento won at Fresno Grizzlies (Nationals), 8-3 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

Sacramento lost at Fresno Grizzlies (Nationals), 9-8 in Gm 2 (9 inn)

When Sacramento exploded for 5 runs in the 4th inning of Game 2 last night, it looked like they might be headed for a sweep. But this being the 2019 PCL there was still a long night of run scoring ahead, and in the end the Grizzlies would take a dramatic nightcap to slip the double header. Williams Jerez, who had just celebrated his birthday on Thursday, didn’t have the best of post-party nights, losing two different extra inning leads for Sacramento. In the 8th, it was a two-out bloop triple that did Jerez in and tied the game back up. And then in the 9th, a walk off three run homer to Nats #1 prospect Carter Kieboom sent the homecrowd home happy. Kieboom went 5 for 9 in the two games against RiverCat pitching.

Mike Yastrzemski keyed the offensive explosion in the second game with a two out three-run homer — his 12th of the season. Yaz had four hits across the two games including two doubles and is now hitting .327/.418/.735 for Sacramento. Way to swing it, Yaz!

In the opener, Dereck Rodriguez did it all, pitching 6 solid innings while blistering the ball all over the field (as seen above). DRod allowed just 2 runs in his first start back in Sacramento — one of the finest starts the RiverCats have seen this month.

Oddly, Sacramento started off each of the first four innings of that first game with a leadoff double — two of them from Rodriguez — which is a fine way to get the offense going.

Austin Slater also had a fine day, reaching base safely five times including two walks, a double and his 7th HR — opposite way of course!

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Richmond lost to Akron Rubber Ducks (Indians), 10-2

Let’s put it this way — it’s a tough night when the social media folks are reduced to tweeting out Sac Fly highlights, down 8-1:

The good news is — Garrett Williams is back and had no arm-related injury. The less good news is — he’s still looking for success at either commanding his pitches or combating AA hitters. In fact, it was a rough night for three different Squirrels’ pitchers who have had a tough go with AA hitters this year, with Chase Johnson and Rodolfo Martinez both pushing their ERAs into the 9.00 range.

Williams walked just three batters, but threw just over half his pitches for strikes (44 of 76). Still he got back on the field which was the important step. Hopefully he can stay there for awhile and get on a roll of some sort.

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San Jose beat Inland Empire Storm (Padres), 1-0 in 10 inn

The Giants faced Padres super-prospect MacKenzie Gore for the second straight start — but familiarity didn’t help them solve the left-hander any. Gore threw 5 scoreless innings against the Giants, striking out 6 and allowing just three hits and a walk. Over the two games, Gore struck out 13, walked 2 and allowed just 1 run to San Jose over 10.2 IP.

That’s why he’s a DUDE. Interestingly, however, San Jose ended up winning both of those contests. And suddenly, after an 8 game home losing streak, the Giants have gotten themselves on a roll at Excite!

Casey Meisner and friends put up 10 consecutive zeros setting up San Jose’s second walk-off in two days. And, as seems to be perpetually the case with San Jose these days, it was a newcomer who finally ended things.

Frank Rubio pitched through the free runner in the top of the 10th, thanks in no small part to Lake Elsinore popping up a bunt attempt with their first batter of the inning. Ironically, San Jose would ALSO pop up a bunt attempt in the bottom of the inning (courtesy of Fabian Peña, who had a rough night catching 10 innings and allowing two PB). But Randy Norris lined a clean single to bring Logan Baldwin home with the winner. And there was much rejoicing!

Things feel like they’re turning in the right direction for San Jose. Second half gonna be better!

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Augusta won at Charleston RiverDogs (Yankees), 8-3 in 10 inn

The scuffling Augusta offense broke loose in a big way in extra innings last night, leading to a big win over the 1st place RiverDogs to open this crucial four-game set. The Greenjackets strung together 5 hits in the 10 inning — including four for extra bases — to put a huge 6-spot on the board in the final frame.

That stretch included back to back triples from the not so speedy Diego Rincones and the very speedy Aaron Bond that collectively delivered three runs to put the game out of reach.

Rincones is now 12 for his last 30 ABs and is hitting .323/.344/.419 in the month of May.

Far prior to all that excitement, left-hander Seth Corry delivered another excellent start, striking out 7 over 4 innings while allowing just 4 hits and, perhaps most importantly, just one walk. Corry has been a model of consistency with the strikeouts thus far — he’s K’s 7 in five of his eight starts so far and 6 in the other three. The Giants have been pretty conservative with the 20 year old’s innings load as he’s averaged just over 4 innings per start (32.3 in 8 starts) and gone no more than 5.1 in any start. It looks like his pitch limit is right about 85 pitches, as he’s regularly been removed in that 80-85 range. Last night he used 79 to get through his 4 innings. Corry had a lively 92-93 fastball going and paired it with a sharp breaker and the occasional change to keep what had been an extremely productive Charleston offense completely off-balance.

We’ll pardon 2b Kyle Gray for thinking that Corry didn’t really need the home plate ump’s help, as Gray got rung up on two very questionable calls in there, the wide strike three and the check swing. But regardless, nobody was having much success catching up to what Corry was dealing last night.

Corry has always been hard to hit, but he’s starting to make real strides in repeating his delivery and limiting the walks and non-competitive pitches. He has 53 Ks to 21 BBs on the year. Five of those walks came in his season debut. He’s had just three walks in the last two starts (8.2 IP), so we’ll hope that’s a trend he can continue for awhile. Corry, who Fangraphs had as the Giants’ #12 prospect, has as much upside as any pitcher in the system not named Gregory Santos, and it would greatly behoove the org to develop him (both of them, in fact) to near his potential!

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento (Enderson Franco) @ Fresno (Scott Copeland)
Richmond (Brandon Lawson) vs. Akron (Tanner Tully)
San Jose (Jasier Herrera) vs Lake Elsinore (TBD)
Augusta (Sean Hjelle) @ Charleston (Luis Medina)

The marquee matchup is in Charleston where the Giants #5 prospect meets the Yankees #11 in a 1st place vs. 2nd place contest. With Augusta now 2.5 games out of first this would be a great win to capture.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Don’t forget to drop by the Muni for one of these bad boys: