AAA: Scheduled Day Off

Sacramento took its usual Wednesday off, traveling from Oklahoma City back home to the state capital.  The River Cats will play their home opener on Thursday, facing the Reno Aces.

AA: Bowie 2, Richmond 1

Top Lines

CF Heliot Ramos: 2-4, 1 BB, 1 2B (5), 2 SO
DH Andres Angulo: 1-4, 1 2B (3), 1 SO

SP Matt Frisbee: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO, 1 HBP
RP Mac Marshall: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HBP, 1 WP
RP Patrick Ruotolo: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO

Early troubles on the mound and in the field were enough to doom the Squirrels in this pitcher’s duel.  Matt Frisbee came off his no-hitter start, and walked the first batter he faced, and then gave up a single that let the runner score off of an error by right fielder Sandro Fabian.  Frisbee gave up another single and hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out.  After getting two strikeouts, he then got a ground ball to shortstop, but an error by Shane Matheny let a second run score.  After Frisbee got out of the inning, he was nearly as clean as his no-hitter, allowing just one hit and no walks in his other four innings of work.

Richmond got their only run in the fifth, after a one-out walk from Shane Matheny was followed by three straight singles by Bryan Torres, Heliot Ramos, and Kyle Mottice.

Other Notes:

  • The runs Matt Frisbee gave up were his first of the season, and the walk he led off the game with was his first of those all season, as well.  He has a 0.56 ERA now on the season after three starts, with 16 strikeouts and one walk in 16 innings.
  • Ramos had his first multi-hit game since May 6, 13 days ago.  His batting average has dropped from .462 on that day down to .280 after Wednesday’s game.
  • Catcher Andres Angulo continues to have an interesting season in his Double-A debut.  He got his third double of the season, and is batting .325/.357/.475 on the season after this game.  He’s got eight strikeouts in 40 games, and two walks.
  • Patrick Ruotolo hadn’t pitched since the May 13th no-hitter, but got into this non-save opportunity and notched two more strikeouts.  In 6.2 innings, he’s got eight strikeouts and one walk, and has given up only one hit, which was a home run.

High-A: Tri-City 6, Eugene 3

Top Lines

3B Simon Whiteman: 1-2, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 SB (7)
2B Tyler Fitzgerald: 1-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR (2), 1 SO
LF Diego Rincones: 1-3, 1 R, 1 SO, 1 HBP
C Patrick Bailey: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 SB (3)

SP Seth Corry: 4.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO, 1 HBP
RP Taylor Rashi: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 WP
RP Jose Marte: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HBP

This pitcher’s duel was interrupted by one big inning…unfortunately by Tri-City.  Both starters combined to allow just two hits between them over 9.1 innings pitched.  For Seth Corry, he’d pitched four no-hit innings before starting the fifth with a strikeout.  That was followed by a single and a hit batter, and Corry came out of the game.  His replacement, Tyler Shimpf, got a groundout but then gave up a double, a walk, and a home run, and five runs were in.

For the Emeralds, nothing came easy.  They got a run thanks to Tri-City pitching in the sixth, when their starter Robinson Pina walked the first two batters of the inning on eight pitches, and then his replacement walked a third.  Will Wilson hit a sacrifice fly, but that one run was all they got that inning.  In the seventh, Diego Rincones was hit by a pitch, and Tyler Fitzgerald got the team’s only extra-base hit, a 2-run home run.  But that was all that the Ems got.

Other Notes:

  • Seth Corry was looking strong until that fifth inning, as he collected a season-high nine strikeouts.  He still had three walks, but the lack of hits brought his WHIP down to 1.88 (from 2.53), and his batting average allowed is .243.  In 10.2 innings this season, he has 20 strikeouts, but 11 walks.
  • With his second home run, Tyler Fitzgerald has now doubled his total from his debut 2019 season, when he hit just one in 48 games across three levels.
  • Simon Whiteman played his first game at third base on the season, after playing mostly at second and one game at shortstop.  He stole his seventh base, giving him a tie for third in the league (behind Cameron Eden’s league-leading 12).  Whiteman is batting .333 and has an on-base percentage of .467.
  • Jose Marte added two more strikeouts to his total, giving him 11 in 5.1 innings, with still no walks and just two hits.

Low-A: Fresno 5, San Jose 4

Top Lines

SS Marco Luciano: 2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR (3), 1 SO, 1 E (2)
1B Abdiel Layer: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (4), 1 BB

SP Wil Jensen: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO, 1 E (1)
RP Brooks Crawford: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO

In a tight loss, one of the Giants’ biggest prospects may have had his breakout game.  Marco Luciano hit two home runs, giving him three on the season, and had multiple hits for just the third time this season, all three in the last four games.  Luciano has been slowly raising his batting average from the .136 it was on the last day of the season’s first series (May 9th) to .245. 

(Someone please get the guys in Fresno a proper lens hood for their MiLB.tv camera? Coverage is getting better, but come on, guys!)

Other Notes:

  • Also on the home run train, Abdiel Layer hit his team-leading 4th home run, all in his last four games.  The team lead also gives him a share of the league lead with two other players, despite the fact he’s played half the games (6) of the others tied for the league lead (12 and 13 games).
  • Wil Jensen made his second start of the season, giving up three runs in each start.  His two walks allowed in this game were his first allowed on the season.
  • Brooks Crawford got into just his second game of the season, his first coming nearly a week ago.  In both games, he’s thrown two innings without allowing a baserunner.