SF Giants Minor Lines 8/1/19: Connor Cannon homers twice

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Mr. Bishop it’s time for you to pick things up — you have some offense to help replace!

HIGHLIGHTS: David Villar homered for second time in three games; Ismael Munguia had fourth straight two-hit game; Connor Cannon hit two HRs; Garrett Frechette had three hits with two doubles.

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Sacramento won at San Antonio MIssions (Brewers), 3-2
winning their series, 2-1

Conner Menez, back in the minors again, allowed a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning — and for a long time it looked like that one swing would make the difference. But Menez and his crew of relief never let the Missions touch home again the rest of the game, and Sacramento would sneak away with a late inning come-from-behind victory.

Burch Smith, a live-armed but oft-injured pitcher who has been through four organizations in the last 20 months threw 5.1 perfect innings against the the RiverCats to start last night’s game. But with one out in the 6th, Abiatal Avelino broke the spell with the first of his two hits on the night.

And with the no-hitter threat out of the way and Smith removed from the game, the Cats went to work. Mike Gerber opened the 7th with a ground rule double and came around to score on a Francisco Peña single. The very next inning Gerber was again involved, when he singled home the tying run.

Jimmy Nelson, struggling through a long journey trying to get back to the major league pitcher he used to be, threw just 8 of his 18 pitches for strikes. And his lack of control was ultimately the difference in the game. With new Cat Mauricio Dubon on 3b, Nelson uncorked one that went on through and over everything, allowing Dubon to come home with the game winner.

With Fresno on a 6-game losing streak, Sacramento has now opened a significant 7 game lead in their division with just one month left to play.

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Richmond lost to Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox), 4-3
losing their series 0-3

Alfred Gutierrez gave the Squirrels a strong five innings, retiring 10 in a row at one point. But trying to go out for the 6th turned out to be a mistake, as he was roughed up for 3 runs that ended up being the difference.

As a result Richmond failed to win a game on their short three-game homestand, getting swept by the league’s second worst team.

Jonah Arenado led the team with three hits, including an RBI single.

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San Jose lost to Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres), 6-2
losing their series, 1-2

Storm pitching thoroughly stifled the Giants over the final two games of this series. Following Heliot Ramos’ walk off HR on Tuesday night, the league’s best pitching staff shut out the Giants for the next 17 innings of play. David Villar saved San Jose from back to back shutouts when he went deep for the 9th time this year with two outs in the 9th.

That was Villar’s second homer of the series and ninth of the year. Villar has been on an up swing ever since returning from the IL in May. He finished July with a .317/.403/.462 mark in 104 ABs.

After Matt Frisbee breezed through 7 innings, the Giants normally stalwart bullpen collapsed on them, walking 6 storm batters in the 8th and 9th innings. That included a disastrous outing from Frank Rubio, who’s year has taken a southward turn in the second half. After allowing just 1 earned run in 31 innings with San Jose in the first half, Rubio was promoted to Richmond at the All Star break. But has surrendered 16 runs in just 15.2 IP since then and been demoted back down to the Cal league. Most of that damage has come in two very bad outings — an 8 run disaster with Richmond and yesterday’s 5-run inning in the 9th.

The loss marked San Jose’s first series loss in six series, dating back to July 14. Lake Elsinore has now won seven of their past eight series.

If you missed it, MiLB.com had an excellent feature story yesterday on the mainstay of San Jose Giants baseball, play by play man Joe Ritzo. It’s well worth the read:

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Augusta lost to Lakewood Blue Claws (Phillies), 4-3

Diego Rincones has been getting most of the press, but at the top of Augusta lineup it’s been Ismael Munguia setting the tone for the GreenJackets hot streak. Munguia’s two hits yesterday marked his fourth consecutive game with two hits. It was his seventh game with two hits in his last nine played, and his 11th with two hits in his last 16 games played. The man is on fire! Munguia hit .333/.366/.396 for the month of July and got his August started off hot as well. Yesterday the Nicaraguan started the game off with a double and came round to score, and later drove in the team’s third and final run.

Munguia was set to be the hero of last night’s contest until Matt Seelinger allowed a one-out two-run homer in the top of the 9th to lose the game.

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Salem-Keizer lost to Tri-City Dust Devils (Padres), 15-4
winning their series, 3-1

Well, it turned out that trading their scheduled starting pitcher to Tampa Bay and promoting their two All Star hitters didn’t work out so well for the Volcanoes! Trying for the four-game sweep to end their homestand Salem-Keizer laid an egg instead.

Time to regroup the, still, considerable talent they have on hand as they head to Hillsboro for a big series against the rival Hops who have a strong chance of being their first playoff opponent this year.

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AZL Giants Orange beat AZL Athletics Green, 7-1 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

AZL Giants Orange beat AZL Athletics Green, 2-1 in Gm 2 (7 inn)

AZL Giants Black won at AZL Brewers Gold, 10-0

Ginormous human Connor Cannon continues to mash AZL pitching. The 6’5”, 240 lb UC Riverside alum crushed two home runs in game 1 of this twinbill, extending his league lead to 12. With about three weeks to go, Cannon might be setting himself up for a little bit of history.

Cannon is slugging a ridiculous .680, though at 21 and with college experience he is, of course, far too old for the league. Perhaps he fill the recently evacuated space in Salem-Keizer. Cannon was removed from the second game after one at bat, with no explanation. Two games in the Arizona heat is a little much, so we’ll stay tuned and see if he comes back tonight.

Of the guys who are a little more age appropriate, Luis Toribio and Garrett Frechette had the standout lines. Toribio collected three hits over his 14 innings of double header action and adding a walk. He reached base in 4 of his 6 PA and doubled in two runs.

Frechette, the Giants 5th round pick — though he received the third highest bonus — has quietly been having an excellet pro debut. Though the LHH 1b has yet to go deep as a pro, he’s hitting .337/.374/.439 over his first 100 pro trips to the plate. He collected his 5th and 6th double among three hits yesterday.

Normally the AZL section is all hitters all the time, but there were actually interesting things taking place on the pitching mounds. First up, we had a debut!

Kilian, the club’s 8th rounder out of Texas Tech went deep in the College World Series, and the Giants have been conservative about putting more innings on him this summer. He worked one quick inning. Over on Team Black, the Giants have been going similarly slow with former Oregon St. hurler Bryce Fehmel, who had his second pro appearance, both lasting an inning.

On the rehab front, Norwith Gudino’s season with Augusta ended way back in April, but he’s recently been getting back on the mound. This was his second rehab appearance in the AZL and it was a strong effort, striking out 9 over 4 near perfect innings.

Patrick Ruotolo appeared for the fourth time with AZL Black, stretching out to 2 innings for the first time this year. Ruotolo, who missed the entire first half of the 2019 season, hasn’t allowed a run in 5 IP in the AZL and has just had three hits against him.

Some time in the coming weeks we should see Johnny Cueto take the mound for the AZL team, as well as the long anticipated pro debut of Trevor McDonald.

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DSL Giants beat DSL Colorado, 5-4 (8 innings)

Well here’s something surprising: one day after walking two times in a game for the first time, Luis Matos walked three times yesterday! Matos new-found love of walking has led to quite an On Base spree, as he’s reached safely in 9 of his 10 Plate Appearances over the past two games. Wow! He also stole his 15th base of the year yesterday. Matos has been quite efficient with his base stealing opportunities as he’s been Caught Stealing just once.

Here’s something else surprising: one day after homering for the first time this year, Sammy Jorge did it again! Jorge is in his third DSL campaign, and he’s now homered 2 times in each of those three seasons. After improving his batting line to .274/.363/.363 in his second shot at the DSL, Jorge’s 2019 has been a disappointment falling back to a career worst .621 OPS.

And for a final surprising element to yesterday’s game the Giants pitching staff held onto a lead — though the game was called after the 8th inning so they were denied a final chance to blow it. The 20-31 Giants started the year off 9-3. It’s been a rough summer in Felipe Alou camp.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento (Enderson Franco) @ Round Rock (Ryan Hartman)
Richmond (Logan Webb) @ Harrisburg (Tyler Mapes)
San Jose (Jake Wong) @ Inland Empire (Travis Herren)
Augusta (Adam Oller) vs. Lakewood (Kevin Gowdy)
Salem-Keizer (Jesus Ozorio) @ Hillsboro (Tommy Henry)
AZL Giants Orange (TBD) @ AZL Angels (TBD)
AZL Giants Black (TBD) vs. AZL Cubs2 (TBD)
DSL Giants (Jorge Garcia) vs. DSL Royals2 (TBD)

A tough assignment for the Volcanoes going up against UMichigan’s Tommy Henry one the Diamondbacks million picks in the top of the 2019 draft. Meanwhile, Sacramento and Augusta put their first place records on the line and San Jose begins their final southern trip of the year needing to make a move.

And finally, a Minor Lines Happy 30th to Madison Bumgarner! Where has the time gone to?