AAA: Reno 10, Sacramento 7

Top Lines

1B Joe McCarthy: 2-3, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 2B (4), 1 HR (6), 1 BB, 1 SO
CF Bryce Johnson: 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B (7)
2B Thairo Estrada: 4-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 2B (8)
SS Arismendy Alcántara: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (1)

SP Anthony Banda: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 4 SO, 1 HR, 1 WP
RP Kervin Castro: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO
RP Camilo Doval: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO
RP John Brebbia: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO, 1 HBP

The River Cats got involved in a slugfest, but they fell too far behind too early to overcome.  Back to back RBI singles by Thairo Estrada and Braden Bishop gave the River Cats a 2-0 lead in the first.  It quickly went the other way though.  Starter Anthony Banda gave up two runs in the second, another two in the third, and three in the fourth, and they were down 7-2.  The River Cats got home runs from Arismedy Alcantara and Joe McCarthy, but both were solo home runs and not enough to come back.

Other Notes:

  • Joe McCarthy is having a pretty good run, now with four home runs in his last six games, and now with a pair of doubles as well.  He now has six home runs to four doubles in 77 at-bats this season.
  • For the first time since his first game of the season (May 6th), Thairo Estrada had a 4-hit game.  Between that, the 25-year old put up a .388/.444/.653 batting line.
  • Arismendy Alcántara got into his first game of the season, coming back from injury.  Alcántara was a free agent signing from the Angels organization, though he didn’t play for them during 2020.
  • Anthony Banda struggled through his worst start of the season (though it was actually pretty close).  On the season, Banda now has a dubious 6.66 ERA with a .308 average allowed and a 1.79 WHIP.
  • In the fourth, Kervin Castro came into the game with a runner on second belonging to Banda and two outs, but got the strikeout to end the inning.  However, he walked the first two batters of the next inning,  and gave up a one-out double and two-out single to allow a pair of runs.  Castro’s ERA sits at 7.20 over 10.0 innings in Sacramento.  He’s got 17 strikeouts, but also 10 walks in that span.
  • John Brebbia’s rehab continues strong, now three games in without any runs nor walks nor hits…unless you include the batter he hit.  He has five strikeouts.
  • The Aces manager Blake Lalli was ejected in the third inning, after a stolen base attempt by the Aces was negated when the batter’s backswing made contact with Joey Bart’s facemask on the attempted throw.  Bart didn’t react much other than the ball going to center field, but was okay otherwise.

AA: Altoona 4, Richmond 2

Top Lines

1B Ryan Howard: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (2)
CF Heliot Ramos: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 SO

SP Caleb Kilian: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO
RP Ronnie Williams: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO, 1 WP
RP Joey Marciano: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR

Altoona got to Caleb Kilian uncharacteristically, and got to him early to jump ahead in this game.  Kilian gave up a leadoff single, but then got two quick outs.  Three more singles in a row, however, gave Altoona a 2-0 lead.  Richmond came back with a solo Ryan Howard home run in the second, and an RBI groundout by Shane Matheny in the third to tie it.

Richmond lost in late, however, as a 7th inning wild pitch allowed in one run, and nearly a second run if it weren’t for a close play with the pitcher tagging out a second runner trying to come in.  The Curve iced it with a 9th inning home run.

Other Notes:

  • Is there something to Ryan Howards playing first base?  The Giants’ Ryan Howard finally got into first base for the first time in a 5-year career on Tuesday and hit a home run, and played first again on Wednesday, and hit another home run.
  • Caleb Kilian gave up a pair of runs, but perhaps more notably allowed his second walk of the season.  Kilian has a 1.76 ERA in six starts, and 39 strikeouts in 30.2 innings.
  • Joey Marciano gave up his first run of the season, on a home run.  He’s now 12.1 innings into his season before giving up that run, with 16 strikeouts and 5 walks.  He gave up 4 home runs in 41.2 innings in 2019.

High-A: Vancouver 7, Eugene 5

Top Lines

1B Logan Wyatt: 1-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR (1), 2 SO
SS Will Wilson: 1-3, 1 R, 2 BB, 2 SO, 1 SB (3)
C  Brandon Martorano: 2-4, 2 R, 1 3B (3), 1 SO

SP Nick Avila: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO
RP Solomon Bates: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 1 HR, 1 WP
RP Tyler Schimpf: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO
RP John Timmins: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 2 WP

Logan Wyatt hit his first home run of the season to give Eugene a 2-0 lead in the first…and it was all downhill from there.  The Canadians scored three runs in the first two innings, and then three more runs in the fourth to make it 6-2.  But the Ems tried to make it interesting late.

Simon Whiteman tried to get the Ems back into the game by hitting into outs…that the Canadians couldn’t make.  In the 8th inning, Whiteman hit a sacrifice fly with runners on second and third, but the center fielder misplayed the ball and two runs came in.  That made the score 6-4.  Vancouver got one more run, but in the ninth Whiteman grounded into an RBI groundout, which got a runner out at third but turned into an error as they tried to turn the double play, with Whiteman going to second.  He wouldn’t make it home, though.

Other Notes:

  • It took 24 games for Logan Wyatt to get his first home run of the season.  He had three in 44 games, and is batting .193/.297/.273 on the season.
  • Will Wilson made his first start since getting hit with a ball on his ankle.  He proved it felt good by stealing his third base of the season.
  • Nick Avila had another short outing (four of his six outing have gone less than four innings), and had only his second start with multiple walks.  He’s got just 14 strikeouts in 19.0 innings, with six walks, but with 25 hits allowed.
  • Tyler Schimpf had his best appearance of the season, facing five batters and striking out all five.  It’s also the first scoreless outing since May 15th.  Schimpf has now struck out 20 in 11.2 innings, with five walks.

Low-A: San Jose 9, Modesto 1

Top Lines

LF Armani Smith: 4-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 2B (2), 1 SO, 1 SB (1)
C Ricardo Genovés: 3-4, 3 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B (3), 1 SF, 1 PB, 1 HBP
SS Marco Luciano: 2-5, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 2B (8), 1 3B (1)

SP Carson Ragsdale: 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 SO, 1 WP
RP Ty Weber: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO

Carson Ragsdale is 6’8”, and he gets to stand on a mound that’s 10 inches high, but he is absolutely towering over the California Low-A West League.  His 10 strikeouts are his second double-digit strikeout game in a row, and he allowed just one hit and two walks, reversing the numbers from his last start.

Him and the bullpen allowed San Jose to run wild offensively.  The biggest day, however, belonged to a return.  Smith hadn’t played since May 13th with back problems.  He proved he was healthy with four hits, a double, and a steal in his comeback game, highlighting a huge day for the rest of the Giants.

Other Notes:

  • Marco Luciano picked up his eighth double and first triple as his bat heated back up, after a few cool games.  Luciano is batting .268/.324/.526 on the season, but 14 of his 26 hits have been for extra bases.
  • Ricardo Genovés picked up multiple hits for the first time since May 25th, a span of eight games, with his third double of the season.  He’s 5-for-9 in his last three games.
  • Ty Weber’s four strikeouts give him 15 in 14.2 innings, standing against one walk.  He’s struggled, however, with hits, as he’s allowed 18, to the tune of a .295 average allowed this season.

Olympics Update

The Oakland Athletics Nick Allen hit a grand slam for the United States, but it didn’t count.  Rain interrupted Team USA’s makeup game with Puerto Rico in the fourth inning, and the game was cancelled due to lightning.

The game does not matter in terms of seeding for the final Super Round.  Team USA and the Dominican Republic team advanced from Group A, while Venezuela and Canada advanced from Group B.  Team USA’s win over the DR carries over, with Venezuela’s win over Canada doing the same.  Team USA plays Canada on Friday, and Venezuela on Saturday.

The team with the best record in the Super Round advances to the Olympics.  2nd and 3rd place will go to a final Qualifying tournament, from which one team will advance.  That tournament was to have six teams compete, but two have now withdrawn.  Taiwain withdrew on Thursday, as had China previously, due to concerns over the pandemic.  Taiwan had been set to host the tournament, but it was moved to Mexico due to restrictions placed by the government after a recent surge in cases.

The Coronavirus is still out there.  And we’re trying to adjust, and stay safe, but still love this game.  But we can all agree on one thing: fans make the game.