SF Giants Minor lines 5/21/19: Big innings rule the night

Offensive explosions ruled the night! Let’s get going, diving into Minor Lines like

HIGHLIGHTS: Abiatal Avelino tripled twice; Jonah Arenado drove in three runs with a homer; Peter Maris had two more hits.

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Sacramento beat Salt Lake Bees (Angels), 10-7

The RiverCats broke out in a big way with a 6-run 4th inning that powered them to the 10-7 win. Sacramento bashed out 11 hits — including six for extra bases — and seven walks to take the opener.

Abiatal Avelino contributed to both of those categories when he did something that hadn’t been done by Sacramento hitter since 2013 when he roped out two triples in a game:

The last RiverCat hitter to turn the trick was A’s prospect Jemile Weeks on June 8, 2013. Interestingly, Avelino was the second Giants’ prospect to accomplish the feat this week, with Augusta’s Ismael Munguia collecting two triples in an extra innings contest on Sunday night.

C Aramis Garcia joined in on the fun as well, picking up two hits including his 5th HR of the season for Sacramento, and 6th overall — a shot to the opposite field.

Almost every last bit of the offense was necessary as starter Yoanys Quiala was dolling out runs by the bushel himself in what has become your standard issue PCL game. Only two pitchers in the game held the opposition scoreless and they were the two guys standing out there at the end: Salt Lake’s Zac Ryan and Sacramento’s Jandale Gustave who picked up his first save for the RiverCats.

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Richmond beat Reading Fightin’ Phils, 8-4

Richmond got their series against Reading started on an uplifting note when they scored 5 runs in the bottom of the first inning, and like their big brothers out west, they rode that big inning to a series opening victory. The outburst came against the Phillies #5 prospect JoJo Romero, who’s really struggling so far in 2019. This start was Romero’s first since being sent back down to AA after posting a 9.64 ERA in the International League (AAA). It was the third consecutive start in which Romero allowed 6 earned runs.

Jonah Arenado had a fine game driving in three runs and walking twice. Arenado got the scoring started with a — not so hard hit ball...

...and capped it in the end with a much harder hit ball...

Arenado is another player in the system is who showing markedly improved plate discipline this year, posting a career best 8.5% walk rate, combined with a solid 18% K rate, his best since playing in Augusta way back in 2015. Whether that is the result of being a little older and more experienced, or a response to the organization’s new priorities, he’s certainly having greater success in his second go round in AA, posting an .815 OPS thus far, good for a 137 wRC+ (caveats to applying wRC+ to minor league levels noted).

The biggest hit of the game, though, came from Catcher Hamlet Marte, who blasted a three-run double in the first to bust the game open.

Chris Shaw also contributed to the night with a double and an RBI single.

One player who was decidedly NOT enjoying the evening was Jalen Miller, who wore a Golden Sombrero home. After posting an .849 OPS in April, Miller is hitting just .219/.301/.344 so far in May with 18 Ks in 64 ABs. He’s still posting a strong 11% walk rate for the season.

The Squirrels used five relievers to shut Reading down through the second half of the game, including a one-batter appearance from Melvin Adon, who had to come to the rescue after Ryan Halstead allowed three straight baserunners to reach with two outs in the 9th. Adon ended things with a harmless flyout and happiness ensued.

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San Jose won at Modesto Nuts (Mariners), 5-3

No big inning here, but a happy result nonetheless, as Peter Maris’ two-run single broke a 3-3 tie in the 7th and pushed the newly invigorated Giants to a sixth consecutive win!

San Jose got another strong outing from starter Matt Frisbee, and strong relief work from Olbis Parra, Caleb Simpson, and Frank Rubio. Rubio’s ERA dipped down to a ludicrous 0.36 as the 24 year old has surrendered just 1 earned run (4 runs total) in 25.1 IP. Rubio, a 29th round pick in 2017 following his Senior Year in college, was for three years a member of the same bullpen as Shaun Anderson at the University of Florida (also teammates with AJ Puk, Alex Faedo, Peter Alonso, Buddy Reed, Jonathan India... yeah it was a pretty stacked team). Last night was a pretty good night for the old teammates!

Maris, the minor league Rule 5 pick out of the Rays’ system is off to a torrid start in his new organization. The 25 year old Maris is now 8 for 14 with two triples and a double in his first five games. He’s a DH only for now, as he recovers from Tommy John surgery.

With Sean Hjelle, Jake Wong, and possibly Jose Marte all set to join the San Jose rotation in the near future, it will be interesting to see who loses their place. At this point, it’s probably not going to be Frisbee who has been the Giants best pitcher the last couple of weeks.

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Augusta lost to Rome Braves, 7-5

No big inning in Augusta either — though they did score three runs in the bottom of the 9th to make it interesting. It was a rough start to a 9 game homestand that the club hopes can put them over the edge for a first half title.

That effort, of course, becomes much more difficult now with two big members of their rotation suddenly MIA. But as we know, there’s no excuses and no crying in baseball..

Blake Rivera tried to pick up the mantle last night, but he and his bullpen mates were undermined by a horribly sloppy night from the defense, which committed six errors. That included two from Jacob Gonzalez who is up to 16 already on the year. Ouch!

Well, let’s roll the one highlight from the night:

The 22-22 Greenjackets stay 1.5 out of 1st place. With 8 more games at home, now is the time to make their move. Tighten up that defense boys, and just a liiiiiiittle more offense would help.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento (Dereck Rodriguez) vs. Salt Lake (Parker Bridwell)
Richmond (TBD) vs Reading (David Parkinson)
San Jose (Jake Wong) @ Modesto (Ljay Newsome)
Augusta (TBD) vs. Rome (Odalvi Javier)

We’ll have to wait and see what Augusta does about its rotation, but in the meantime, erstwhile Greenjacket Jake Wong is making his Cal League debut tonight in Modesto. Here’s hoping it’s a good one.

If you want to help prepare yourself, have a listen to Clay Rapada’s thoughts on Hjelle and Wong.