SF Giants Minor Lines 8/10/19: Seth Corry still won’t give up any runs

There were some interesting games, but let’s start with transaction news.

Jonah Arenado was drafted by the Giants in the 16th round of the 2013 draft out of high school, and never really broke out. He has repeated nearly every level he’s played at, with his best year coming in 2017 at San Jose, posting a .747 OPS. He could not beat a .625 OPS in two seasons at Richmond, leading to his release. Good travels, Jonah!

Highlights: Seth Corry struck out 12 and kept his scoreless streak alive; Heliot Ramos hit his first Double-A home run.

---

Sacramento were defeated by Nashville (Rangers), 13-3

The Cats got three home runs, but gave up six in a lopsided loss.

Mauricio Dubon picked up his first home run with Sacramento, and 17th overall in the season, as part of the scoring parade. Dubon has been slow to get hitting with the River Cats, and had only two doubles for extra-base hits. With the home runs, he’s batting .222/.317/.361 over 10 games in the Giants organization.

Two other players picked up their 24th home runs as Giants. Mike Gerber hit his first home run since July 26th. Gerber’s extra base power has slipped, with just three doubles hit in those 11 games between home runs, but he continues to hit and be the offensive heart in Sacramento. Zach Green’s home run was his first since returning to Sacramento after his run with San Francisco. He’d gone hitless in his first three games back, going 0-for-8 with two walks.

The pitching, however, had a very bad day. It started with Justin Haley, making his first appearance of the season by Justin Haley, who signed with the Giants on August 1st. The former Red Sox pitcher had been pitching in Korea but had been waived in late July. His first start on this side of the Pacific did not go well. He must not have been ready for the new baseballs in Triple-A. He gave up three home runs in 2.2 innings.

Ryan Dull got into his second game as a River Cat, and continues to give up runs. After having a 5.45 ERA in Las Vegas in the Athletics organization, he’s got a 9.00 ERA with Sacramento, mostly thanks to having given up two runs. Sam Selman got into his first game back at San Francisco, and promptly gave up two runs, jumping his Triple-A ERA from 1.35 to 1.76. And Ronnie Freeman came in for his first pitching appearance of the season. The catcher gave up a pair of runs, including the game’s final home run.

---

Richmond was swept in a Doubleheader

Game 1: Bowie 1, Richmond 0 (7 Innings)

Game 2: Bowie 5, Richmond 3 (7 Innings)

Oof…I’d almost skip talking about this doubleheader, except that it feature the Double-A wakeup call to the Giants’ top two prospects, but also a rough welcome for another.

Heliot Ramos had a very good day. Batting leadoff in both games, he was 2-for-4 in Game 1, and 2-for-3 in Game 2 with his first Double-A home run and a walk. After his 0-for-3 in his first game at the level, Ramos picked up where he left off and is now hitting .400/.500/.700 over three games.

Joey Bart took an extra day to get things going. He was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Game 1, but went 3-for-4 in the nightcap. Bart was DHing in Game 1, so maybe he was thrown off by not having to put on pads, but he was behind the plate for Game 2. After three games, Bart now has an even .250/.250/.250 line, with no walks or extra-base hits.

Sean Hjelle took the mound for Game 2, and it had been going very well, as he only gave up one hit in his first four innings. Then, the fifth inning. After a strikeout, Hjelle walked a batter, and then gave up three singles, a double, two walks and a sacrifice fly before getting out of the inning. Two of the singles were infield hits, including a “soft” ground ball to third and another that went to second. It leaves Hjelle with a 9.00 ERA that hurts for what had been looking like a very good start.

Caleb Baragar started the first game, and he had a great game stolen from him. He went all seven innings, giving up just three hits and a walk, but two errors behind him led to the game’s only run, unearned. Baragar has a 3.70 ERA in Richmond despite having a .193 batting average allowed and a 1.07 WHIP. What has hurt him is 10 home runs in 97.1 innings, letting those runs come in.

---

San Jose lost to Modesto (Mariners), 10-3

A day after setting a record for runs, San Jose’s offense fell pretty silent, except for threes. San Jose combined for just three of hits, with two doubles. That, along with three walks and three Modesto errors, led to three runs, but even three of those three runs wouldn’t have been enough.

Kyle McPherson picked up his 17th double of the season. The 23-year old infielder is batting .250/.324/.330 on the season. Sandro Fabian picked up just a single, but extended a 6-game hitting streak. He’s batting .303/.356/.412 in 31 games this season at San Jose.

Jose Marte was due for a good game, with his flip-flopping every other game…but it was just another rough one. With the four runs in five innings, his ERA popped back above 5. He has 68 strikeouts in 61 innings with 28 walks.

---

Augusta split a doubleheader with Rome (Braves)

Game 1: Augusta 10, Rome 7 (7 innings)

Game 2: Rome 1, Augusta 0 (8 innings)

Let’s start with Game 2, because Seth Corry is having a week, a month, and a second half.

Seth Corry went 5 innings, allowing just two hits, one walk, and no runs. Oh, and 12 strikeouts. Corry has just been amazing. Over his last five starts, Corry has allowed seven hits, five walks, and struck out 44, in 28.2 innings. Oh, and zero runs. His scoreless streak is now 31.1 innings. To put it mildly, he’s having an okay month.

But the GreenJackets couldn’t even win with a start like that. Ryan Walker pitched two scoreless innings of relief, but with a runner on second to start the extra frame, a sacrifice bunt turned into an error and a loss.

Going backwards, Game 1 featured the Giants debut of Kai-Wei Teng, just acquired at the trade deadline in the Sam Dyson trade. Like several recent debuts not named Jaylin Davis, Ten struggled in his first game out for the Giants’ organization. Teng had a 1.60 ERA in the Midwest League before the trade.

Ricardo Genoves had his first big game since his promotion to Augusta. He got multiple hits for the first time, and hit his first home run at the level. He’d had seven home runs in 32 games at Salem-Keizer. Frankie Tostado had a tale of two games, going 3-for-3 with his fifth triple in Game 1, but hitless in Game 2. Diego Rincones was one of only two GreenJackets to get a hit in Game 2, and was 3-for-7 with a double overall for the two games. He’s batting .295/.345/.416 on the season.

One bonus tidbit: If you’re up early (or on the east coast), you can turn on MLB Network Radio to hear from Corry!

---

Salem-Keizer defeated Hillsboro (Diamondbacks), 12-9

Okay this was a game that featured a lot of runs, a few home runs, and more, but let’s start with Hillsboro’s starter. Hillsboro’s Conor Grammes was interrupted by rain in the middle of the second batter. With Hillsboro having to change pitchers so early, the Volcanoes jumped on them for a lot of runs once it got dry. Home Run Derby winner Sean Roby finally hit his second regular season home run as the next batter, a 3-run home run to but the Volcanoes up. And it just went on from there.

Tyler Fitzgerald hit two doubles as part of his 2-for-4 day with a walk. The Louisville shortstop is batting .284/.381/.431 in Salem-Keizer, with 11 doubles and two triples. Hunter Bishop picked up a single and a walk, continuing to collect walks. Bishop now has 10 walks over his last five games. He has a .412 OBP over his .222 batting average.

Conner Nurse was the opener in this game, going just one inning thanks to the weather. Nurse last pitched a week ago, giving up six earned runs in 3.2 innings in his last appearance. Hey, remember when Logan Webb was pulled from a start because of anticipated rain that would’ve made his start short? Who was on Weather App duty today, huh?

---

The AZL teams had a scheduled off day

---

The DSL Giants defeated the Tigers2, 10-3

Luis Matos keeps going! His 2-run home run is his 7th home run of the season was just his first since July 19th, but Matos now has an 8-game hitting streak going…and his average is still down 3 points since the start of the streak. Matos also added a walk, and now he has a 27:17 K:BB ratio over 50 games this season.

16-year old catcher Rayner Santana now has four multi-hit games in his last five, after getting kicked off with his 3-home run game a week ago. Today’s game had two doubles, giving him 12 on the season. Santana now has a .302/.443/.518 batting line in 40 games.

The DSL’s other hot youngster, Victor Bericoto, got just one hit, but still is playing well. He has hits in 10 of his last 11 games, and is batting .337/.463/.468, with a very nice 47 walks to 48 strikeouts in 54 games.

The start was taken by 19-year old Jose Mullings, who matched his season highs with five innings and eight strikeouts. Mullings had given up ten earned runs over his last two starts, a run that saw his ERA jump from 3.41 to 5.40, so this start was a nice and needed bounceback.

---

Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento (Carlos Torres) vs. Nashville (Tim Dillard), 1:05 pm PT

Richmond (Alfred Gutierrez) vs. Bowie (Zac Lowther), 1:05 pm ET

San Jose (Tristan Beck) vs. Modesto Nuts (TBA), 5:00 pm PT

Augusta (Keith Weisenberg) at Rome (Dilmer Mejia), 2:00 pm ET

Salem-Keizer (Kervin Castro) at Tri-City (TBA), 7:15 ET

One final tidbit…this one about the Giants’ minor league past. John Carbray, who founded the Fresno Grizzlies, passed away.

Fresno had been without professional baseball after the California League Fresno Suns left in 1988. When the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Rays joined MLB in 1998, that also caused a shakeup in the minors, and Carbray helped facilitate a complicated move amongst Triple-A teams. The team that had been in Phoenix, the Firebirds (a Giants affiliate), moved to Tucson to become the Sidewinders and a Diamondbacks affiliate. But there was a Triple-A team that had been in Tucson, the Toros. The Toros were arranged to move to Fresno, and became a Giants affiliate.

Of course, the years (and the Giants) have moved on, but Fresno has a long history with the Giants. Carbray had a big hand in that. RIP, dude, and thanks for giving us Fresno and Chukchansi Park, even if the Giants are in Sacramento.