Transactions:

The Giants made a couple of interesting injury-related transactions.  The first you may have heard of, after Evan Longoria’s sprained shoulder.

Thairo Estrada was a trade acquisition from the New York Yankees for cash in April, and was batting .381/.435/.629 in 25 games in Sacramento, with eight doubles and six home runs, and 20 strikeouts and nine walks.  Estrada has played mostly in his career in the middle infield, with a few games at third and in the corner infield.  Estrada’s likely to add depth in the middle infield as Jason Vosler and Wilmer Flores get most of the time at third, perhaps with Estrada and Mauricio Dubón maybe getting some time.

The other move was more subtle:

Jimmie Sherfy was signed as a minor league free agent in the offseason, and was off to an excellent start in Sacramento, going unscored upon in his first six games there, a total of 7.2 innings, with 11 strikeouts to one walk.  But he spent the last week-plus with Team USA in the Olympic Qualifiers, and he got into one game.  The tournament ended on Saturday, so his return was expected.  But his addition to the 40-man roster, to only go onto the disabled list, was a bit of surprise.  Henry Shulman speculated that Sherfy may have had an opt-out on June 1 if he didn’t make the 40, similar to what Shun Yamaguchi had.  But his reason for getting added, and what injury put him on the IL, remains unreported.

Bruce Maxwell has gotten into just nine games so far this season, batting 4-for-23 (.174) with a double and a home run.  He became a free agent from the A’s after 2018, and played in the Mexican League in 2019, and joined the Mets in 2020, but did not play in the bigs that season.  Maxwell will head to Richmond, where the backstop has been manned by Andres Angulo, Ronnie Freeman, and Bryan Torres. 

AAA: Sacramento 12, Reno 11

Top Lines

SS Arismendy Alcántara: 4-6, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 3B (1), 2 SO
3B Jason Krizan: 3-6, 2 R
LF Joe McCarthy: 2-5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B (6), 1 BB, 1 SO
CF Bryce Johnson: 2-6, 1 R, 2 SO, 1 SB (9)
2B Peter Maris: 2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR (2), 1 BB, 1 SO
1B Justin Bour: 1-5, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR (6), 1 BB, 3 SO
C Fabian Pena: 2-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR (2), 2 SO, 1 PB

SP Matt Frisbee: 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO, 2 HR, 1 HBP
RP John Brebbia: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 HR
RP John Russell: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
RP Silvino Bracho: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
RP Trevor Gott: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
RP Kervin Castro: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO

The River Cats were able to survive an absolute slugfest of a game in the mountains.  The Cats got five runs on seven hits and a walk in the first inning alone, with Joe McCarthy getting an RBI double and Fabian Pena with a 2-run double to highlight the inning.  Adding in home runs by Peter Maris in the third, and Justin Bour and Fabian Pena in the fourth gave Sacramento a 10-1 lead after the top of the fourth.

The offense nearly overshadowed Matt Frisbee’s Triple-A debut.  Frisbee had his ups and downs with a home run allowed in his first inning, but the wildest moment was the fifth inning.  He gave up a double and hit a batter, but got two outs after that.  He struck out the next batter, but a passed ball let the inning go on, leading to two unearned runs.  That still made the game just 10-5, but the bullpen continued to leak.  In the 9th, up 12-8, Trevor Gott gave up two walks to lead off the inning, and gave up a double and a single that let two runs in with two outs.  The River Cats brought in Kervin Castro, with the tying run on first, and he got a strikeout to get the one-out save.

Other Notes:

  • With Thairo Estrada promoted, it is Arismendy Alcántara’s turn in the middle infield spotlight.  This was Alcántara’s fourth game this season after returning from injury, and he’s been doing very well, batting 9-for-18 with a triple and a home run, a walk and three strikeouts.
  • Joe McCarthy did not hit a home run, but he hit two doubles, which isn’t really like a home run but it’s still a couple of extra-base hits.  McCarthy’s batting .474 in June with a solid 1.000 slugging percentage over five games.
  • Matt Frisbee had a 1.24 ERA in five starts at Richmond, but struggled in his first attempt at Triple-A.  He gave up as many home runs in one start as in his five starts at Double-A in this one, though being in the mountains probably did not helped.
  • John Brebbia gave up the first hit of his rehab, in his fourth game.  Too bad it was a home run, so it was his first run allowed as well.  He’s got six strikeouts with no walks in those four innings.
  • Justin Bour had his second home run in as many games, giving him six on the season.  He has only two other extra-base hits, two doubles.  But when he hits home runs, they can go very, very far.  Even if you account for mountains.

AA: Richmond 7, Altoona 3

Top Lines

RF Vince Fernandez: 2-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR (4), 1 SO
C Bryan Torres: 2-3, 1 R
C Ronnie Freeman: 1-1, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR (1)
1B Frankie Tostado: 1-3, 1 B

SP Gerson Garabito: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO
RP Joey Marciano: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
RP Ronnie Williams: 0.0 IP, 0 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 2 HBP
RP Norwith Gudino: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO

The Squirrels rode a big inning to this victory, with some help from the Curve.  Richmond got a single from Heliot Ramos with two outs before the Curve helped, hitting Jacob Heyward with a pitch, threw a wild pitch, and an error on a David Villar ground ball that scored two runs.  The next batter, Bryan Torres, singled and knocked in David Villar after another throwing error on the relay.  Vince Fernandez finished off the rally with a 2-run home run that put the Squirrels up comfortably 6-1.

Other Notes:

  • After putting up a 6.75 ERA in May, Gerson Garabito has a 1.64 ERA over his first two games of April, allowing just two earned runs on eight hits and one walk with 12 strikeouts.
  • Joey Marciano bounced back from giving up his first run of the season with another quiet inning.  He’s got 17 strikeouts in 13.1 innings with five walks.
  • Vince Fernandez now has four home runs, and those are his only extra-base hits out of 13 total hits this season.
  • Norwith Gudino picked up his first save since May 21st, giving him four on the season and a tie for the team lead with Patrick Ruotolo.

High-A: Vancouver 7, Eugene 3

Top Lines

1B Logan Wyatt: 1-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 E (3)
RF Franklin Labour: 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 SO
C Patrick Bailey: 1-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
3B Jacob Gonzalez: 0-3, 1 RBI, 1 SO, 1 SF, 2 E (3)

SP Aaron Phillips: 4.0 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 1 WP, 1 E (1)
RP Solomon Bates: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1 WP
RP Jasier Herrera: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO

Eugene struggled through a rough game.  The Emeralds collected just six hits, and none of them were for extra bases.  The only RBI hit the Emeralds got was from Logan Wyatt in the fourth inning, an RBI single.  In the 7th, they got runs on a sacrifice fly and an RBI groundout.

Aaron Phillips, meanwhile, struggled to keep Vancouver off the basepaths, giving up ten hits in just four innings, with a few errors (including one of his own) extending things and costing him some more pitches.  The bullpen faired a bit better, but on the whole, the Emeralds staff got just five strikeouts compared to the lineup striking out 14 times.

Other Notes:

  • Logan Wyatt’s famed batting eye dropped off in May, collecting 11 but not getting any walks in the final 10 days of the month.  Well, it’s come back, as he’s drawn eight walks in the first six days of the month.  It may have helped his hitting, as he’s 6-for-18 with a double and a home run.  It gives him the exact same on-base percentage and slugging percentage (.556) so far in June.
  • The ten hits Aaron Phillips gave up were a career high, and over three games, he’s allowed a batting average of .345.  He has allowed just one walk this season, though, after allowing 44 in 121.0 innings in 2019.
  • Franklin Labour is having one of the cooler hot streaks a batter could have.  He’s gotten at least one hit in eight of his last nine games, but in seven of those eight games he had just one hit.  He’s raised his batting average from .186 to .227 over that span.
  • This season, Jacob Gonzalez is splitting his time between three positions: 7 games at third, 5 games at left field, and 4 games at first.  But now all three of his errors have come at third base, where he’s struggled in past seasons.

Low-A: San Jose 11, Modesto 4

Top Lines

SS Abdiel Layer: 3-4, 1 R, 5 RBI, 2 2B (4), 1 HR (6), 1 SO
CF Luis Matos: 2-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B (9), 1 SO, 1 SB (7)
3B Luis Toribio: 2-5, 1 R, 1 3B (1), 2 SO
DH Marco Luciano: 1-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B (9), 1 BB, 2 SO
RF Alexander Canario: 1-3, 3 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SB (5)

SP Kyle Harrison: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO
RP Haydn King: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO

Abdiel Layer powered up San Jose’s offense for a dominating win over Modesto.  Layer’s 3-run home run iced off a 5-run fourth inning that also included a Luis Toribio triple, singles by Luis Matos and Ricardo Genovés, as well as a pair of walks.  Layer would have RBI doubles in both the sixth and seventh.  In all, Layer accounted for five RBI on 11 total runs scored, his best RBI day of his career.

The offense supported another effectively wild Kyle Harrison start.  Harrison allowed more hits and walks than his last game, and in a slightly shorter outing, but he still had a solid start.  Although Haydn King gave up a couple of runs, the bullpen was solid.  But with that offense, did they had plenty of buffer room in case the bullpen struggled.

Other Notes:

  • Kyle Harrison has 39 strikeouts against 19 walks in 22.2 innings.  That’s a 7.54 BB/9 rate, but also a 2.05 K/BB ratio.
  • With the home run, Abdiel Layer now has a new career-high in home runs with 6, after just 17 games.  He previously had 5 in 43 games.
  • Luis Matos picked up multiple hits for the second time in three games.  He’d gone a bit cool since mid-March but is starting to heat back up.
  • The other Luis, Toribio, picked up his first triple of the season.  Toribio is sitting right on the Mendoza line, batting .200.  And he has yet to hit a home run this season.
  • Alexander Canario picked up another pair of walks, and now has 32 strikeouts to 16 walks in 108 plate appearances.  He’s still struggling, however, with a .178/.296/.311 batting line through 26 games.