AAA: Sacramento 13, Oklahoma City 1

Top Lines

SS Thairo Estrada: 3-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 2B (3), 1 HR (3), 2 BB, 1 SO
2B Donovan Solano: 3-3, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B (1)
CF Bryce Johnson: 3-5, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
LF Joe McCarthy: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 SO
3B Jason Vosler: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 2B (1), 1 SF, 1 HBP
RF Drew Robinson: 1-4,1 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
C Chadwick Tromp: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (2)

SP Tyler Beede: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
RP Scott Kazmir: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
RP Gregory Santos: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO

With the help of two rehabbing players, the River Cats won this one in big time style.  Tyler Beede was on the mound, making his third appearance of his rehab from Tommy John surgery, and had his best appearance yet, stretching out to three innings and remaining unscored upon.  Though he lasted just a short time, he was backed up by Scott Kazmir, continuing his quest to return to the Majors.  Kazmir gave up a run, but generally was effective over the 3.1 innings he pitched.

That was easily more than enough with the offense the River Cats had.  They were led by Donovan Solano, who went a scheduled five innings, and was perfect at the plate. Around him, other River Cats were excellent.  Thairo Estrada had a home run and a double batting behind Solano, helping him collect four RBI.  Bryce Johnson broke out a 3-hit game of his own at leadoff.

Other Notes:

  • Estrada continues to excel at Triple-A for the Giants, batting .395/.452/.711 with three doubles and three home runs in eight games.
  • Bryce Johnson had fallen into a mini-slump, batting 1-for-11 (with three walks) over his previous three games.  With today’s game, Johnson is batting .486/.581/.829 on the season, and has five multi-hit games in nine games played.
  • Scott Kazmir only has five strikeouts in 6.1 innings, but has walked just one with four hits.  The 37-year old only has two games under his belt, but still looks effective.
  • Chadwick Tromp has only gotten into six games, catching in only three of them.  But he picked up his second home run of the season.
  • Gregory Santos bounced back after giving up his first Triple-A home run in his last game with another scoreless outing.  Though he didn’t give up any baserunners, there were also no strikeouts for him.
  • AA: Harrisburg 6, Richmond 3

Top Lines

3B David Villar: 3-5, 1 R, 2 SO
2B Kyle Mottice: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 2B (3), 2 E (2)
SS Shane Matheny: 2-4
PH Vince Fernandez: 1-1, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR (2)

SP Tristan Beck: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 1 HR
RP Matt Seelinger: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO, 1 WP
RP Raffi Vizcaino: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO

Hits aren’t always everything.  On Saturday, the Squirrels outhit the Senators 12-8, but that wasn’t nearly enough to pull out the win.  The Squirrels had the lead breifly, with a RBI double in the second inning, but for all the eight hits they got against Harrisburg starter Tim Cate, that was the only one with runners on bases.  Meanwhile, Harrisburg followed a 2nd inning single with a home run to take the lead for themselves, and paired hits together to keep knocking in runs as the game went on.  The Squirrels did help, with a wild pitch letting a run score in the fifth, and two unearned runs scored in the 8th off of an error.

Other Notes:

  • Tristan Beck struggled through his third start.  With six hits given up in this game, Beck has allowed a .278 batting average, despite only giving up four walks in 13.1 innings.
  • With his 3-hit game, Villar has raised his batting average to .300 for the first time since Opening Day.
  • Matt Seelinger continued his quiet domination in the bullpen.  He struck out four of the five batters he faced.  He’s given up just two hits on the season, and has 10 strikeouts against three walks in 4.2 innings.
  • Although he’s thrown just three innings, Raffi Vizcaino now has as many walks, equalling a 9.00 K/9 ratio.  Vizcaino had a 5.03 rate in 2019, and a 5.90 rate in 2018.

High-A: Hillsboro 9, Eugene 5

Top Lines

SS Will Wilson: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (3), 1 SO
DH Patrick Bailey: 1-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (2), 3 SO
LF Logan Wyatt: 1-3, 1 R, 1 3B (1), 1 BB
2B Simon Whiteman: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 SB (6)
1B Jacob Gonzalez: 1-4, 2 RBI

SP Conner Nurse: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO, 1 HR
RP Jasier Herrera: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR

Just a tough game for the Ems, which started out so well with Connor Nurse striking out the side in the first and third innings.  But in the fifth, it all went south.  In that inning, Nurse gave up a walk, two singles, two stolen bases, and a home run (not to mention a throwing error by the catcher Brandon Martorano on a pickoff with a man on third).  But that didn’t end things, as Jasier Herrera came in, giving up three singles, a double and a home run of his own.  That ended up as a 9-run inning, which effectively should’ve ended the game.

The Emeralds did show life in the ninth, however.  Down 11-0, Patrick Bailey and Will Wilson hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the inning.  And those home runs did not end the rally, as Logan Wyatt walked, Sean Roby singled, and Franklin Labour reached on a rare catcher’s interference call.  A passed ball let a run in, and then Martorano walked to reload the bases.  That led to Jacob Gonzalez’s 2-run single that would be the last of the offensive push.

Other Notes:

  • Will Wilson has been fantastic this season, with at least a hit in every game he’s played.  He leads the Northwest High-A West League in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, and of course, also OPS.
  • Logan Wyatt played his first game in the outfield.  He also notched his first extra-base hit of the year, a triple.  He’s also fallen behind in the league in walks, at 10 with the league leader at 11.
  • Patrick Bailey’s first home run of the season was on Opening Day.  Since then, he’d only had two doubles before hitting his second in his 9th game of the season.
  • Conner Nurse was rolling until that fifth inning.  He also notched nine strikeouts, after his first game out he only got one in four innings.

Low-A: San Jose 2, Stockton 0

Top Lines

CF Luis Matos: 2-3, 2 RBI, 1 SF, 1 SB (3)
SS Marco Luciano: 2-4
1B Rob Emery: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 SO

SP Prelander Berroa: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO
RP Luis Moreno: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO
RP Chris Wright: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO

After Friday’s blowout win, San Jose went the other way on Saturday, taking a tight pitcher’s duel with the Ports.  Prelander Berroa had his best start of the young season, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out five in almost four innings.  That was part of a strong three-man performance from the pitching staff, with Luis Moreno holding down the middle innings, and a highlight performance from Chris Wright to finish things off.  Wright struck out five of the seven batters he faced to seal the win.

That set the scene for Luis Matos, who’s taking the role of being the best hitter on the young Giants team.  Matos put the Giants on the board in the third inning with a sacrifice fly, after a Marco Luciano ground ball turned into an error and put a runner on third.  In the 7th, he got an earned run, beating out an infield single to score the second run of the game.

Other Notes:

  • Matos now has a streak with four multi-hit games in a row, and has also stolen bases in two games in a row.  He’s batting .381/.391/.619.
  • Marco Luciano has been slow to get going this spring, but he notched his first multi-hit game of the season.  He’s batting .184/.225/.316 in nine games this season.
  • Berroa is having a strong start to his year, after he had a combined 5.86 ERA in 2019, the year he was traded to the Giants in the Sam Dyson trade.