SF Giants Minor Lines 5/18/19: All The Singles Are Enough

That’s better than in California, where the west coast teams were hanging out with at least 9,243 raindrops each.

Highlights: It was rainy in California. Jonah Arenado had a 3-hit game.

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Sacramento and Fresno Postponed Due To Rain

Well, it was raining in Fresno, what did you expect? The Griz and the Cats will play their second doubleheader in three days if it is dry enough on Sunday.

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Richmond defeated Akron (Indians), 5-2

Richmond did it all with singles on Saturday. Nine hits, all singles.

Three of those singles came off the bat of Jonah Arenado, who was the leader of the Squirrels offense. The 3-hit game got his average back over .300, as Arenado continues his strongest season of his career. His ISO has dipped to .031, however, the lowest of his career since his rookie year in 2013. But while Arenado led the team in hits, he didn’t gather any of the team’s RBI.

The team’s only two RBI came from the middle of the order. Jalen Miller now has hits in four straight games as part of the team’s big 3-run fifth inning. Miller’s batting average has stuck at .254 for four straight days as he tries to bounce back from an early-May slump. Meanwhile, Jacob Heyward got a hit in his fourth straight game after a long hitless streak. Heyward is 5-for-14 since going 0-for-16 over a 5-game stretch.

The other three runs came in by ways other than hits, but the Squirrels weren’t eager to give them back.

On the mound, Brandon Lawson got hit early, giving up two runs in the first, but settled down the rest of the way. Four of the hits and one of his walks happened in that first. For the 24-year old, Lawson has been fairly steady, with an ERA in the mid-4’s steady through five starts with Richmond this season.

The bullpen worked some steady innings, with former third round pick Sam Moll making his second appearance with Richmond. Moll now has a 1.46 ERA in seven games between Sacramento and Richmond. Kiernan Lovegrove made his first appearance in over two weeks as well, coming back from injury with two scoreless innings.

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San Jose and Lake Elsinore Postponed Due To Rain

It was wet in San Jose just like it was in Fresno. San Jose will make it up as part of a hopefully dry Sunday Doubleheader. Jasier Herrera will likely take one of the starts, as he was coming up to make a spot start.

Augusta defeated Charleston (Yankees), 6-4 (11 Innings)

Augusta was very un-Giants-like in this one, and that is a compliment. Although they got a lot of help.

The GreenJackets set the pace with a 4-run first inning, putting nine batters at the plate, collecting three hits and three walks along the way. The big hit was Andres Angulo’s 2-RBI double, capping off the scoring, and all of the Augusta scoring in regulation. Charleston clawed their way back into the game, tying it by the sixth inning.

In the 11th, the GreenJackets loaded the bases with a Frankie Tostado single and a Diego Rincones HBP, and the much maligned Jacob Gonzalez got the RBI single to put the GreenJackets ahead. An insurance run came in off of a wild pitch, but it wasn’t needed.

The win, their second in a row against the River Dogs, puts Augusta just 1.5 games back of first-place Charleston, although the win also put them just one game over .500 (21-20).

The Augusta offense was a group of 2-fers, as the eight hits were evenly distributed between four hitters who drew two hits apiece. The only extra-base hits were from Angulo, who hit two doubles. They were Angulo’s first two doubles of the season in his 22nd game. The 21-year old Angulo is batting .176 this season, after hitting .346 last season in the Arizona League.

Jacob Gonzalez had his second 2-hit game in the last five games. Gonzalez is batting just .216, and is batting just .183 in 17 games this May. For Frankie Tostado, it was his first multi-hit game since May 4th. Tostado is 7-for-51 (.137) in the 13 games since then, and his batting average has dropped from .316 to .260 over that span.

Sean Hjelle was on the mound for the Jackets, and he struggled through 4.2 innings, at least for him. Although he only gave up two earned runs (a third unearned one), he did so on a season high eight hits. Five of those eight hits were ground balls, the other three were line drives, all singles, so he’s not giving up big fly balls for extra bases. Hjelle now has given up the exact same number of runs as he did last season. Last season, he did it in 21.1 innings, and this year it took 40.2.

Jesus Tona picked up the save, his first since the first of May, with a scoreless inning. Since giving up his first three runs of the season on May 6th, he’s pitched five scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk while striking out eight.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento: (Enderson Franco, TBA) at Fresno (Scott Copeland, TBA), 1:05 pm PDT (Game 1)

Richmond (Caled Baragar) vs. Akron (Jake Paulson), 1:05 pm EDT

San Jose (Jasier Herrera, TBA) vs. Lake Elsinore (TBA, TBA), 1:00 pm PDT (Game 1)

Augusta (Keaton Winn) at Charleston (Roansy Contreras), 5:05 pm EDT

San Jose will be bringing up Jasier Herrera to make a spot start. The 21-year old pitcher had a 3.88 ERA starting in the AZL last season. He had 49 strikeouts and 15 walks in 55.2 innings. Augusta will be facing the #10 Yankees prospect in their Sunday evening game, while Keaton Winn will be making his third start.

To wrap up, yet another free agent has signed with the Giants.