SF Giants Minor Lines 8/30/19: Free baseball

Minus Hunter Bishop and Marco Luciano, Salem-Keizer is loading up for their playoff run with more players from the Scottsdale camp, including some arms that might really help:

And speaking of arms, the end of the season brings even more opportunities to compete on big stages:

But here we’ve got playoff races to track so let’s get down to it.

---

Sacramento beat El Paso Chihuahuas (Padres), 2-1 in 10 inn

With their ticket to the ball punched, the RiverCats started getting things in order for their playoff run, getting six different pitchers some work in their 10 inning victory last night. Burch Smith had been the listed opener but he was scratched for unknown reasons and Steven Okert to the mound as the opener. The collection of arms proved effective as they struck out 12 overall and allowed just one earned run to the puppy dogs on the night.

As Henry Schulman noted, if Smith is hurt (and not just being pushed back for the playoffs) his injury could have ramifications on the 40 man roster.

Sacramento’s lone run in regulation came on a slicing Aramis Garcia HR that ticked off the RF’s glove as he tried to make a leaping catch and into the bullpen.

That was enough to send things into extra innings where Jaylin Davis (who we’re all wondering if we’ll see soon at Oracle) gave the home fans one more thing to cheer about this weekend with a long walk off single to score Peter Maris.

Exciting, but just prologue to the real excitement coming next week.

Playoff Position: In

---

Richmond lost to Bowie BaySox (Orioles), 5-3

The Squirrels did a lot of things right that might have added up to a victory last night, but the continuing struggles of one time hot prospect Rodolfo Martinez sunk them in the space of about 7 batters in the 8th inning. That’s been something of a Squirrels mantra this year — not quite putting the pieces together, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Prior to the 8th, Richmond got a very strong start from Brandon Lawson and paired it with just enough timely hitting to build a 3-1 lead.

The fans did get to see a moment of history as Johneshwy Fargas continued his assault on the Richmond record books.

Fargas tried for the record breaker as well but was caught leaning and picked off for his 23rd CS of the year.

Joey Bart continued his torrid end of the year with a pinch hit single that boosted him up to a .300 average with Richmond. That’s now 10 hits in his last 17 at bats for Bart. For the season, Bart is batting .273/.325/.484 with 16 HRs in 77 games.

Playoff Position: Eliminated

---

San Jose lost to Stockton Ports (A’s), 2-0 in 11 inn

San Jose couldn’t press its advantage Friday night, getting shut out over 12 innings and dropping a golden opportunity to increase their Wild Card lead. That snapped their 8-game winning streak which has them on the precipice of a Cal League playoff appearance.

In his final start of the year, Matt Frisbee threw 6 shutout innings with another 6 strikeouts — giving him 154 Ks in his first full season — second most in the system behind Seth Corry’s 168. Quite a performance for the unheralded 15th rounder.

The loss didn’t hurt their position as the Modesto Nuts also lost, so the Giants gained all important time. Two more victories should do it, possibly just one.

Playoff Position: One and half game lead in the Wild Card race over Modesto.

---

Augusta beat Columbia Fireflies (Mets), 7-3

Augusta started its final homestand with a flurry — scoring six times in the first two innings to jump out to a huge lead and coasted to victory in the first game of this crucial set.

Sean Roby had RBI hits in each of the first two innings, and Frankie Tostado picked up his 83rd RBI of the season to help jump start the 1st inning rally.

Starter Adam Oller appeared to be on the verge of handing the big lead back in the 3rd inning, fliritng with disaster by walking the bases loaded and then reloading the bases with a HB. But he skirted through the worst of it and the bullpen was solid enough in picking up 5.1 innings.

Augusta’s evening was the inverse of San Jose’s — the win just gave them another night of status quo as Asheville kept pace with a win over Rome. One game separates the pair of teams with three games to play.

Playoff Position: 1 game lead for the 2nd half division title.

---

Salem-Keizer won at Eugene Emeralds (Cubs), 4-3 in 11 innings

The Volcanoes flirted with a no-hitter for 7 innings last night until Alex Canario misplayed a line drive into a hit, but a 9th inning bullpen blowup courtesy of Jorge Labrador caused the game to go to extra innings. There they ended up winning the game on a two-out strikeout/wild pitch. That’s one way to do it!

Kervin Castro was removed from the game after just 2 hitless innings, though I haven’t seen any reason for the change. If injury-related this could have a big bearing on the playoff situation. His reliever, Taylor Rashi then continued the hitless innings, thanks in part to both starting and finishing this little gem:

Luis Toribio picked up two hits (and two errors) in his NWL debut, and even contributed the game winning strikeout.

Baseball America’s Josh Norris was in the stands for the game (and will be on the Volcanoes for the next week) and had a note on how analytics are changing the game at all levels:

Playoff Position: In as 1st half champs

---

Today’s Scheduled Starters:
Sacramento (Johnny Cueto) vs. El Paso (Dillon Overton)
Richmond (Sean Hjelle) vs. Bowie (Cody Sedlock)
San Jose (Jose Marte) vs. Stockton (TBD)
Augusta (Kai-Wei Teng) vs. Columbia (Jose Butto)
Salem-Keizer (TBD) @ Eugene (Michael McAvene)

Sean Hjelle gets his last start of 2019 and tries to end his first season on an up note. Sacramento and Salem-Keizer set up for the playoffs, while San Jose and Augusta keep up their charges.

Current mood: