AAA: Tacoma 4, Sacramento 3

Top Lines

C Joey Bart: 1-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR (6), 1 SO
1B Jason Krizan: 2-4, 1 R
SS Arismendy Alcántara: 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (3), 1 SO

SP Aaron Sanchez: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR
RP John Russell: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
RP Sam Selman: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO
RP Silvino Bracho: 0.1 IP, 1 h, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR

The River Cats and the Rainiers traded home runs at the end of this game to lead to an exciting finish.  With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Tacoma’s Luis Torrens hit a solo home run to break the tie and give the Rainiers the late lead.  In the top of the ninth, Arismendy Alcántara hit a 2-out home run to ninth to keep the Cats alive, tying the game.  But in the bottom of the ninth, Tacoma’s Ty Kelly hit a 1-out home run to walk off the game.

Other Notes:

  • Aaron Sanchez got into his second rehab start, and struggled with both hits allowed and walks.  He’s given up a home run in each of his rehab starts so far.
  • Joey Bart’s sixth home run was also his third in the last five games.  Bart’s cooled off a tad in June after a scorching (if injury-shortened) May.  He’s got a batting line of .278/.316/.556 for the month so far, with three home runs in eight games, but also 11 strikeouts to one walk.
  • Also with eight games in June, Arismendy Alcåntara has three home runs, but he’s been red-hot, batting .343/.295/.657.  He had a 6-game hitting streak to start his season broken up on Friday, and came back with the home run.
  • Sam Selman was impressive in relief, striking out five of the eight batters he faced.  It was Selman’s first appearance of four in Sacramento this season without allowing a run.  In 6.1 innings, he has 11 strikeouts to six walks at Triple-A, after striking out eight and walking four in 8.0 innings in San Francisco.

AA: Richmond 7, Harrisburg 4

Top Lines

1B Frankie Tostado: 2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR (2), 1 BB, 1 E (4)
RF Sandro Fabian: 2-4, 2 RBI, 1 2B (6), 1 SO
CF Heliot Ramos: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B (9), 1 BB, 1 SO
LF Jacob Heyward: 2-3, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 E (1)

SP Phil Pfeifer: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO
RP Frank Rubio: 1.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
RP Joey Marciano: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
RP Jose Marte: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
RP Norwith Gudino: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO

The Squirrels won in a late-inning comeback.  Down 4-3 in the seventh, the rally began with Bryan Torres reaching on an error, and Heliot Ramos drawing a walk.  After a sacrifice bunt, outfielder Sandro Fabian doubled to bring both runners home to take a 5-4 lead.  With the lead in hand, Richmond extended it in the 8th with a 2-run home run by Frankie Tostado to make it 7-4.

Other Notes:

  • Frankie Tostado hit his second home run of the season in his 33rd game.  He had 18 home runs in 2019, in 128 games at Low-A.
  • Phil Pfeifer’s second start in Richmond was far better than his first, as the team looks to be trying to shift him back to the rotation.  Pfeifer made 18 starts in High-A and Double-A, out of 30 appearances that included Triple-A, but otherwise has been a regular reliever in his six year career.  This means he’s finally getting chances to hit, and picked up the first of his career.
  • Frank Rubio gave up his first earned runs of the season, three of them, jumping his ERA to 2.25.  He had a 2.98 ERA in 2019 across High-A and Double-A.  However, his Double-A ERA was 7.11 that season, across 11 appearances.
  • Joey Marciano gave up multiple hits in an outing for just the second time this season, in 12 appearances.  He has 21 strikeouts in 15.0 innings, with five walks.
  • Jose Marte had his third straight game without allowing a run after his roughest game of the season when he gave up four runs.  It was the first time he’d given up a baserunner, in this case by a hit, since that game on June 2nd.

High-A: Everett 6, Eugene 1

Top Lines

RF Franklin Labour: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 3B (1)
DH Tyler Fitzgerald: 1-3, 1 R, 1 2B (7), 1 SO

SP Aaron Phillips: 4.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 1 HBP
RP John Timmins: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO

Another tough game for the Emeralds, who fell nearly silent at the plate again against Everett.  The Ems only managed two hits, although two of them went for extra bases.  Their only run came in the second inning, when those two extra-base hits were back-to-back, as Tyler Fitzgerald doubled and Franklin Labour tripled to score the run.

The Emeralds then fell behind in the bottom of the second, as starter Aaron Phillips needed some help by his defense.  Phillips gave up five straight hits to lead off the inning, though Patrick Bailey catching a runner stealing helped limit the initial damage.  After Phillips hit a batter, he gave up a bases-loaded double to right that deflected off Labour, and two runs scored, but a third was nailed at the plate by Labour’s throw all the way home.  Phillips got a fly ball to end the inning, but with a 4-1 deficit and the Ems offense, that effectively ended the game.

Other Notes:

  • Franklin Labour has been off to a bit of a slow start, batting just .220 so far this season, but he’s picked up five doubles, a triple, and three home runs while going 20-for-91.
  • Tyler Fitzgerald is 11-for-31 (.355) over his last eight games, with three doubles, four walks and 12 strikeouts over that span.
  • Aaron Phillips is having a rough go of it early this season, with a 5.89 ERA.  He’s given up a batting average of .372, and struck out only 12 in 18.1 innings (but has allowed just three walks, two in Saturday’s game).  In 2019, batters hit just .262 off him, with 108 strikeouts in 121.0 innings.

Low-A: San Jose 12, Stockton 2

Top Lines

DH Casey Schmitt: 4-5, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR (8), 1 SO
RF Armani Smith: 4-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B (3), 1 HR (4)
CF Alexander Canario: 3-4, 4 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B (6), 1 CS (3)
2B Brett Auerbach: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 3B (1), 1 HR (2), 1 SF
C Ricardo Genovés: 1-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (5), 1 SO

SP Kyle Harrison: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO
RP Austin Reich: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
RP Ivan Armstrong: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 SO

The league-leading home run hitting San Jose Giants had a banner day with them, hitting five on the day as they blew out the Stockton Ports, and they did not waste time hitting them.  With two out in the first inning, Armani Smith and Ricardo Genovés went back-to-back to put San Jose up 2-0.  In the second, Casey Schmitt’s 2-run home run was part of a 3-run inning.  The Giants didn’t hit another until the 7th, when Brett Auerbach hit a leadoff home run, which at that point gave San Jose a 8-2 lead.  And they wouldn’t go away without hitting one more, with Casey Schmitt hitting a 2-run home run with two out in the ninth to ice the game, making it 12-2.

All of that overshadowed another excellent start by Kyle Harrison, who notched his first game of double-digit strikeouts of his young career.  He also held his opponents to just one walk for the second time this season, important for a pitcher who’s giving up 6.75 walks per nine innings.  But it helps when you strike out 16.54 batters per nine innings alongside that.

Other Notes:

  • Casey Schmitt’s two home runs not only took away the team lead from Marco Luciano, but put him into a tie for the California Low-A West League lead with two other players with 8 home runs.
  • Armani Smith is batting .355 in June, but a lot of that has been powered by two 4-hit games.  He also now has three home runs over his last four games, as he has taken a good season and has gotten even hotter.
  • Ricardo Genovés has hit his home runs in bursts, he has two in the last three games.  His other three home runs were in a span of four games in mid-May.
  • Brett Auerbach has hit both of his home runs this season in the last four games, and also picked up his first triple.  He’s got six doubles on top of those, giving him eight extra-base hits while batting 22-for-76 (.289).
  • Ivan Armstrong got a 3-inning save in a game that didn’t deserve a save, and has continued to be an interesting reliever in how often he’s used to stretch multiple innings.  He has 21.0 innings in nine appearances, averaging 2.1 innings per outing.