SF Giants Minor Lines 7/27/19: Luciano Keeps Hot

The suspension is over…and now, Logan Webb is officially back. But it’s at the expense of a certified Dodger-beater:

So, officially welcome back to Logan Webb (who has been pitching in rehab games otherwise). Ty Blach has had a struggle of a season, with the new Triple-A pounding him for a 5.93 ERA in Sacramento, and a 14.21 ERA in two appearances in the bigs. There’s a good chance that Blach will slip through waivers, so we may not have seen the last of him.

Meanwhile, the Volcanoes wanted us to remember why we root in the minors, by giving us this blast from the past.

Damn, now I feel old.

Highlights: David Villar had a 5-for-5 on-base game in San Jose; Marco Luciano was 2-for-3 with his ninth home run of the season.

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Sacramento was defeated by Tacoma (Mariners), 5-2

It was a weak offensive day for Sacramento…how often does that happen in Triple-A this season?

Abiatal Avelino had the only 2-hit game of the day for the River Cats. It was his second in a row. He’s still batting .288, where he’s been most of the past week. Avelino’s got a .778 OPS on the season, after making his Major League debut last season. Mike Gerber added a hit, keeping his season going. Gerber is batting .320 on the season, with a 994 OPS. Meanwhile, a day after Steven Duggar set a team record with five walks, his only way on base was thanks to one walk.

Enderson Franco had another pedestrian start, with two runs in five innings. But the bullpen was filled with pitchers that have spent time in SF this season, and may be called upon again. Travis Bergen, still on his rehab, gave up a run in two innings of work. He has 14 strikeouts and nine walks in his 13 innings at Sacramento. Nick Vincent is on his rehab as well, and has yet to allow a run in seven minor league appearances in his rehab. Williams Jerez, back from the Majors just last week, and also freshly shaved, gave up two runs on three singles after he had two scoreless outings since his return.

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Richmond defeated Altoona (Pirates), 6-5 (11 Innings)

Richmond did it with almost no extra-base hits, squeaking out the win. But one of their two doubles, Johneshwy Fargas’ 7th of the season, came in the 11th inning to score the winning run, so they got it when it counted. Fargas was 2-for-5 and picked up his 40th stolen base of the season. He’s batting .241/.325/.336 on the season.

Bryce Johnson, hitting in the heart of the Squirrels order, picked up another 2-hit game, inching his way back up to .300 in the Eastern League. Johnson is batting .299/.378/.495 for Richmond now, and the only dark spot on his line is that he picked up his fourth stolen base in this game, but it was on his ninth attempt at the level.

Alfred Gutierrez was on the mound for Richmond, and he had a pretty regular start for how he’s been going. He allowed three earned runs for the fourth straight start, enough to keep Richmond in the game. In the bullpen, Raffi Vizcaino is having a good season. This time, he gave up a run and blew his first save of the season at either level, but still has a 2.76 ERA with Richmond in 23 games.

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San Jose defeated Modesto (Mariners), 9-5

Joey Bart had the day off, but the Giants still had the offense for a good win.

The stars of the game were David Villar and Manuel Geraldo. Villar was a perfect 5-for-5 getting on base, with his 22nd double and 2nd triple. Villar is batting .283/.360/.440, and has raised his batting average from .258 to .283 over his last 11 games. Manuel Geraldo had his second home run in the last three games. He’s batting .231/.280/.313 on the season, but his OPS has .569 to 593 over the last three days.

Heliot Ramos picked up two more hits, raising his batting average to .313. Ramos has two multi-hit games, following up his first stretch of two no-hit games since June 23-24.

Jake Wong had his second straight rough outing, giving up five hits and a walk, but leading to four runs on his record. Wong has been struggling a bit in San Jose, with his ERA back over five. He has 56 strikeouts and 21 walks in 62.1 innings, with 69 hits allowed. Luis Amaya picked up the win in relief, his first in San Jose in his fourth game at the level. Meanwhile, Jesus Tona stayed unscored upon in the California League, in his third game with the Giants.

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Augusta lost to Lexington (Royals), 6-1

One big inning really sealed it for the GreenJackets in this game.

Starter Adam Oller gave up six runs on nine hits for the second start in a row, except this time all six were earned. He gave up three singles and a walk in the fourth inning before giving up a grand slam, allowing five runs that put the GreenJackets down in a big hole that they wouldn’t be able to get out of.

Augusta only managed four hits, so there was very little notable to talk about offensively. Ismael Munguia picked up a single to keep his batting average up .289. Frankie Tostado also got a single later in the batting order.

Despite this loss, the GreenJackets still sit atop the second half standings in the SAL South. However, their lead is just one game over Asheville and Rome.

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Salem-Keizer lost to Eugene (Cubs), 4-3

It was a tough day for the Volcanoes. Between five pitchers and nine innings, the pitchers only collected three strikeouts. That’s generally not a good sign.

The only extra base hits were off the bat of Jeff Houghtby, whose two doubles gave him nine on the season. Houghtby has woken up this week, and is now 11-for-23 with six doubles over his last six games. His OPS has jumped from .699 to .803 over the week. Catcher Ricardo Genoves broke a 4-game hitless streak with two hits of his own, and is now batting just .252.

One good day belonged to Carter Aldrete, who made his Northwest League debut, going 1-for-3 with a sacrifice fly. Aldrete was batting .258/.378/.348 for the AZL Black squad before his promotion.

Jacob Lopez had the start, not reaching five complete innings for the first time in four starts. Despite giving up eight hits, he gave up only two earned runs (three total). He only struck out two, and walked no one. He has 39 strikeouts and seven walks in 41.2 innings of work this season, and his ERA ticked back up over 3.00 with this game.

Ben Madison had another good game, though for the first time this season he did not get a strikeout. With the Volcanoes, he has 16 strikeouts against ten walks in 14.2 innings.

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AZL Black were demolished by the AZL Angels, 18-5

Well, this game was not one for the pitchers.

Three pitchers took the majority of the hurt. Freddery Paulino had a difficult start, giving up seven hits over four innings. He’s got 21 strikeouts and 15 walks in 33.2 innings of work this season. Ben Strahm didn’t even get an out as he gave up six runs on four hits and two walks. His ERA in the AZL jumped from 0.93 to 6.52 in the game. Jason Severino got outs, but also gave up six runs, pushing his ERA to an even 13.00, and has 10 walks and 11 strikeouts in nine innings, as well as 18 hits.

Dilan Rosario led the offense with a 3-hit game, breaking a 2-for-21 stretch over his last six games. Grant McCray had two hits, as he continues to improve, reaching a season high of .243 with his batting average. He also picked up his eighth stolen base in his 15th attempt. And team star Jairo Pomares was 1-for-4 with his fourth stolen base of the season.

On the rehab front, Patrick Ruotolo gave up his first baserunners in his third game of rehab, but still has five strikeouts and one walk in three innings. Ruotolo was last seen with a 2.42 ERA in Richmond in 2018 after 23 appearances. Meanwhile, Jin-De Jhang is in the sixth game of his rehab, picking up his first home run of the season at any level (including 24 games at Richmond). Jhang was batting .127/.162/.141 in Richmond.

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AZL Orange lost to the AZL Cubs 2, 7-5

It was a difficult day for much of the Orange lineup, but some of the stars had a good day.

Marco Luciano continues to be amazing. He was 2-for-3, his sixth 2-hit game in the last nine, and pounded out his ninth home run of the season. He also drew a walk and stole his seventh base of the season. Luciano is batting .348/.453/.687 on the season with 29 pro games under his belt. Not too shabby, at all.

Javeyan Williams also picked up a pair of hits at the top of the Orange batting order. Williams picked up his sixth double of the season, and his 14th double (16 attempts). Luis Toribio got his second triple of the season, on top of seven doubles and three home runs. He’s batting .306/.437/.491.

Jesus Gomez had a tough day, striking out five but giving up three runs on just five baserunners. Gomez has 37 strikeouts against 15 walks in 33 innings this season. Marco Gonzalez picked up a rough day in relief, giving up a season-high four runs. Gonzalez’s ERA jumped from 0.98 to 2.79 in the one game.

On the back end, Aaron Bond made his first appearance since the end of May, starting his rehab. Bond had been batting .179/.288/.400 in his second attempt at Augusta. (He hit .205/.301/.218 in 2018 in 28 games there). Also, Connor Cannon got a hit, but picked up his first sombrero of his career, striking out four times.

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The DSL Giants lost to the DSL Mariners, 9-4

It wasn’t the greatest day for the DSL team. It was the second straight day with no hits for Luis Matos, his first real back-to-back days with no hits on the season. Victor Bericoto had a 1-for-5 day with his seventh stolen base on the season. Without the top offensive stars doing their usual, the DSL team went down quiet.

Robert Gomez got on base three times, with a pair of walks. He has seven walks in his last six games, but he also is just 3-for-20 with ten strikeouts in that span. He has a .410 OBP, but just a .216 batting average and .341 slugging percentage. Second baseman Diego Verbel had his second straight 2-hit game, and added a walk. He’s batting .259 with a .408 OBP.

The team had seven pitchers on the night, and none of them showed particular upside. Luis Castillo had two starts without an earned run before this game, but gave up a season-high-tying five runs, while striking out an also season-high-tying six. One notable pitcher was 19-year old Albenis Chango. He gave up an unearned run while walking three but also striking out the side in his one inning. Chango has given up 16 runs, 15 earned, on five hits in 6.1 innings. He’s done so because of 27 walks (only one intentional) and seven hit batters. He also has only six strikeouts. Ouch.