SF Giants Minor Lines 6/26/19: Alexander Canario homers again

LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!

HIGHLIGHTS: Heliot Ramos drove in 3 runs on 2 hits, walk; Alexander Canario hit his 5th HR in 7 games; Victor Bericoto had four hits.

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Sacramento won at El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres), 5-4

Conner Menez hiccuped to open his start in El Paso, allowing four runs on two, two-run HRs, in the first inning. He recovered to throw 4 scoreless innings after that, putting Sacramento in position to snatch a close comeback win. It was the most runs Menez had allowed since April 30 in Bowie, MD with the Flying Squirrels. And the game marked the fewest Ks he’s had in a game in over a month. Still, back to back starts in Las Vegas and El Paso with just 5 runs allowed counts as solid work in the PCL and Menez is still on track to be a surprise big leaguer sometime in the not too distant future.

Zach Green’s second hit of the day — and 13th double of the year — started the RiverCats winning rally. Francisco Pena would follow with a double of his own bringing Green in with what was ultimately the winning run. That hit extended Pena’s hit streak to 7 games.

Rough night for Chris Shaw who wore sombrero home (though, in truth, El Paso’s a fashionable place to do that!)

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Richmond beat Altoona Curve (Pirates), 6-2
losing their series, 1-2

Richmond avoided a sweep at home, busting loose for six unanswered runs in the 5th and 6th innings to take the series finale.

Minor league Rule 5 pick Peter Maris made an immediate contribution in his first game with Richmond, coming up with the bases loaded and singling in the first run of the night.

And then Johneshwy Fargas came up with the big hit, clearing the bases with his 4th triple of the year, one of two hits for Fargas in the game.

The Squirrels also got two hits from Jalen Miller — his first multi-hit game since back on June 11. Miller’s first hit was a soft line drive, but he made solid contact with the second one. The young 2b needs to get things turned around — he was starting to flirt with the Mendoza line after this rough month!

After a solid 5 innings from Brandon Beachy, Richmond’s bullpen shut things down tight with 4 excellent innings of relief. Collectively Frank Rubio, Sam Moll, Caleb Simpson and recent re-addition Dillon MacNamara allowed just 4 baserunners over the final 4 frames.

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San Jose beat Modesto Nuts (Mariners), 6-5 in 10 inn
winning their series, 2-1

Heliot Ramos followed up his big three-hit night on Tuesday, by reaching base three more times Wednesday afternoon on two singles and a walk. Ramos also contributed greatly to the back and forth battle, twice helping bring San Jose back from behind. In one of the game’s more dramatic at bats, Ramos battled back from a 1-2 count, ultimately lining the 8th pitch of the at bat into left field for a game-tying two-run single. Here, let’s watch it again from another angle!

The 19 year old completed his stat sheet with his third SB of the year.

In extras, Brandon Van Horn provided the walk off with his third hit of the day. The slick fielding SS has enjoyed his return to the Cal League so far:

Heath Quinn moved up from his rehab stint in Arizona to join the Giants, walking twice in five plate appearances. One presumes he’ll be on his way back to Richmond ere long.

Jake Wong has definitely felt a little sting from the move up from the Sally to the Cal league. He’s surrendered 3 or 4 runs in 5 of his 7 starts with San Jose, after allowing 1 or 0 runs in 5 of his 8 Sally starts. Overall, he’s allowed 18 ER in 32.1 IP with San Jose, and he’s seen just slight backwards steps in both his K (22% to 19%) and BB (7% to 10%) rates. Nothing disastrous, but a definite development hump.

In the end, San Jose got a much needed series win and has now won three out of four after losing the first three games of the 2nd half. They open this half with 20 consecutive games against their Northern Division competition, so this could be a make or break three-week section of their season.

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Augusta beat Asheville Tourists (Rockies), 6-1
sweeping their series, 3-0

Blake Rivera wasn’t necessarily pitch efficient, but he was once again very hard to hit. Rivera allowed just a solo HR over 4.1 innings before being removed once he tipped over the 80 pitch mark. In that time he struck out nearly a third of his 19 batters faced, giving him 80 for the season. That ties him with teammate Seth Corry for 10th in the Sally this year, 10 behind the league leader.

Rivera and Co.’s good work made it easy for the offense to roll the team to a sweep over Asheville. Ismael Munguia and Frankie Tostado both contributed three hits to the cause. Diego Rincones doubled in two runs. And Jacob Gonzalez celebrated his 21st birthday with a double and a Sac Fly.

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Salem-Keizer beat Hillsboro Hops (Diamondbacks), 5-3

Closer Israel Cruz — who the Giants acquired from Texas in the Matt Moore deal — has been on fire since the Volcanoes’ season started. He’s allowed just two hits and two walks in the NWL, while strike out 10 over 6.2 IP. He has surrendered two runs, but both were unearned. In his last two outings he hasn’t allowed a single baserunner and has struck out 5 of the 6 batters he’s faced.

The Volcanoes offense got back on the board with 9 runs. They got two-hit nights from three players (Franklin Labour, Sean Roby, and Tyler Flores) while newcomer Harrison Freed — this year’s 13th round pick out of Butler — homered in his first game with the team.

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AZL Giants Orange beat AZL Athletics Green, 3-2

AZL Giants Black lost to AZL Indians Blue, 7-3

Alexander Canario led off his second game in a row (and third overall) with a HR — his 5th of the season in just seven games played. That has him tied for the league lead, but rumors are surfacing that he may not be around much longer to hang on to the leaderboard.

Make that “near future” REAL NEAR, PLEASE!

Cuban refugee Jairo Pomares, who the Giants signed for $975,000 last July 2nd got his first mark in the HR column with a solo shot for his only hit.

Otherwise, it was a pretty quiet day for the Arizona bats. Javeyan Williams, the Giants 22nd round pick out of Southern University, showed off his speed. Williams stole his 3rd and 4th bags of the year, putting him in position to score the winning run for Team Orange on a Wild Pitch.

Nineteen year old RHP Wilkelma Castillo offered up an enticing start, however, striking out 7 over 4 IP while allowing just 1 run. In two games (7.1 IP) Castillo has struck out 11 and walked just 2.

Team Black’s game saw the organizational debut of Keyvius Sampson, a former top prospect of the Padres who the Giants signed as a minor league free agent this winter.

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DSL Giants lost to DSL Colorado, 10-8

Seventeen year old Venezuelan Victor Bericoto extended his hit streak to nine games with a four hit day. The 1b/LF has knocked out six hits with two walks in his last two games alone. His .515 OBP now leads the DSL, while his 1.075 OPS comes in third in the sprawling league.

Meanwhile, Ruben Gomez had two hits including his 2nd HR of the year, walked twice, and threw a runner out at the plate for good measure. Luis Matos had just one hit, but it was his 7th double of the season, pushing the 17 year old’s SLG up to .649.

Speedy Jose Peralta had two hits in the game — both triples. Peralta has five extra base hits among his 25 hits on the year and all five have been triples.

Sadly, this Giants team is really looking for somebody to step up on the pitching side to take advantage of all this offense. The staff ERA of 5.58 is fourth worst in the 45-team league... or I suppose, the 41st best.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento (Sam Coonrod) @ El Paso (Robert Stock)
Richmond (Brandon Lawson) vs. Hartford (Matt Dennis)
San Jose (Jose Marte) vs. Stockton (TBD)
Augusta (Seth Corry) vs. Lexington (TBD)
Salem-Keizer (Jesus Ozoria) vs. Hillsboro (Adrian Del Moral)
AZL Giants Orange (Conner Nurse) @ AZL Angels (TBD)
AZL Brewers Gold (TBD) @ AZL Giants Black (Jasier Herrera)
DSL Giants (Luis Castillo) vs. DSL Royals2 (TBD)

Sacramento is going with an Opener strategy for the second time in this series. Sam Coonrod will take the first inning with Andrew Suarez scheduled to follow. In San Jose, Jose Marte looks to recover a rough start, while Seth Corry can break his strikeout tie with teammate Blake Rivera.

Have a great Thursday, everybody. Here, I don’t want to stint on the good stuff — have another Heliot hit on the way out: