AAA: Las Vegas 4, Sacramento 2

Top Lines

C Joey Bart: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
RF Joe McCarthy: 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SO
LF Braden Bishop: 0-2, 1 RBI, 1 BB

SP Sam Long: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 SO
RP Daniel Álvarez: 0.2 iP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO
RP Kervin Castro: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO

The River Cats lost, but today was a game of firsts and returns.  First, one of the Giants’ top prospects Joey Bart made his return to the lineup after being removed from the May 20th game.  He was dealing with groin tightness.  Meanwhile, recent Giants acquisition Braden Bishop made his first appearance with the Giants organization since being claimed off waivers, waived again, and passed through waivers.  Bishop had hit 1-for-4 with Seattle, and 3-for-17 in Triple-A Tacoma, before coming to the Giants.

But the biggest debut belonged to recently promoted Sam Long.  Long faced 12 batters in 3.2 innings, giving up one hit, and striking out nine of them.  It was a huge debut for Long, who had a 3.00 ERA in four starts in Double-A, striking out 22 and walking four in 15 innings.

Other Notes:

  • Joe McCarthy extended his hitting streak to four games, as his batting average has creeped up from .239 to .279 over that time.
  • Kervin Castro had his second scoreless outing in a row, though with his two hits allowed, he’s raised his batting average allowed to .242, though his WHIP dipped to 2.00.
  • Yunior Marte hasn’t allowed a run since May 8th, a span of now eight games.

AA: Doubleheader

Game 1: Richmond 2, Reading 1 (7 Innings)

Top Lines

SS Shane Matheny: 1-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (2), 1 BB
CF Heliot Ramos: 2-3, 1 2B (7), 1 SO
LF Sandro Fabian: 1-3, 1 2B (5), 1 SO

SP Caleb Kilian: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 2 WP
RP Ronnie Williams: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 SO

Caleb Kilian made his delayed Double-A debut after Friday’s rainout, and was effective if not as dominating as he’s been showing in Eugene for most of May.  Kilian allowed one run on six hits across four innings, and struck out just three.  Kilian had struck out 32 in 21.2 innings.  But in his four innings, he allowed 2/3rds of the hits he’d allowed in Eugene (9).

Game 2: Richmond 6, Reading 4

Top Lines

LF Jacob Heyward: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (3), 1 BB
SS Shane Matheny: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B (4), 1 BB, 1 SO
3B Frankie Tostado: 1-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 3B (2), 2 SO

SP Sean Hjelle: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO
RP Matt Seelinger: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
RP Joey Marciano: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO

Richmond rode the big inning in this one.  Scoreless in the third, Heliot Ramos led off the inning with a single.  Shane Matheny knocked him in with a one-out double.  Ronnie Freeman later had an RBI single, followed by a Frankie Tostado 2-run triple.  Ryan Howard wrapped things up with an RBI single, giving the Squirrels a 5-0 lead.  Jacob Heyward hit a solo home run in the fourth to pad the lead, even to a point that the team held out over the Phillies’ own big inning.

Other Notes:

  • Sean Hjelle had a bit of a rough day, coming off his great start last week.  Hjelle was strong over his first four innings, allowing just three hits.  He struggled in the fifth, with four singles given up to the first five batters he faced.  An error happened as the Phillies scored their third run of the inning, and would get one more unearned run at the end.
  • Shane Matheny had a big day, with a home run and double, raising his batting average from .182 to 217 on the day between the two games.
  • Matt Seelinger struck out the side, giving him 17 strikeouts across 8.0 innings pitched so far this season.

High-A: Spokane 4, Eugene 2

Top Lines

SS Will Wilson: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (5), 1 SO
CF Javeyan Williams: 1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (1), 1 SO

SP Kai-Wei Teng: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO
RP Ryan Walker: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR
RP Tyler Schimpf: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HR
RP R.J. Dabovich: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO

Eugene’s offense was pretty much supplied just by the big fly, and it wasn’t enough in this game.  In the fourth inning, Will Wilson got Eugene on the board, with a solo shot for his 5th on the season.  That gives Wilson the team lead on home runs, breaking a tie with Diego Rincones, who is on leave to be in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

In the 6th, it was Javeyan Williams’ turn, and he’d been waiting a while for it.  It’s the first pro home run for Williams, who was drafted in the 22nd round.  Williams played in 39 games in the Arizona League in 2019, and this was his 13th game in 2021.  He is batting .152 on the season so far.

Other Notes:

  • Kai-Wei Teng was ejected before the third inning, reportedly for having a foreign substance on his glove.  This will be an interesting situation to watch, with baseball cracking down on such substances, with many feelings on both sides of the issue.  He is the first Giant to be ejected during this focus on enforcement of the rule.
  • R.J. Dabovich struck out the side, giving him now 19 strikeouts in 8.0 innings, with just four walks.  He’s still allowed just two hits, though both were home runs.

Low-A: San Jose 3, Lake Elsinore 1

Top Lines

SS Marco Luciano: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (5), 1 CS (1)
CF Luis Matos: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB (4)

SP Ryan Murphy: 4.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR
RP Ty Weber: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
RP Haydn King: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO

San Jose got outhit 9-4, but still one, because no one could outhit Marco Luciano on his big hit of the night.  In the second inning, with San Jose down 1-0, Luciano led off the inning with a deep home run to center field that had people buzzing afterwards.

That only tied the game, but the Giants took the lead in the fifth.  The Giants loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk.  Luis Matos came up, and grounded to shortstop that ended up in one out at second, but an error in the attempt to turn two allowed two runs to come home, giving San Jose what would be the game-winning difference.

Other Notes:

  • Ryan Murphy kept Lake Elsinore to just one run, but gave up a season-high seven hits.  He’s allowed 19 in 24.2 innings, and that raised his average allowed to .218.  However, with just four walks, his WHIP is still a very respectable 0.93.
  • Haydn King made his professional debut in today’s game, with a single inning with two strikeouts.  King is a graduate from Archbishop Mitty high school in 2017, and was drafted by the A’s in 2017 in the 39th round.  He went to UNLV, and the Giants signed him as an undrafted free agent after the 2020 draft.
  • Jimmy Glowenke hasn’t gotten a lot of hits, but he showed off his ability to pick a ball on this play.