SF Giants Minor Lines 8/23/19: On the verge of Clinching and Finishing

Let’s start off with some injury news.

Those are a couple of big names, but turf toes and quad strains could be a lot worse, and those are pretty much reliefs. The bigger question right now will be readiness for the playoffs. The Northwest League playoffs begin on Wed., Sept. 4th for a best-of-3 series.

There’s a few more transactions to talk about, as a few more players move between Salem-Keizer and the AZL.

That’s a few notable names moving out of Salem-Keizer, although to the AZL team that’s not going to the playoffs. But I think the Volcanoes may have reached the quota on Wyatts.

Highlights: Joey Rickard was 4-for-4; Mauricio Dubon gets three hits; Franklin Labour got his first Augusta home run; Canario hit a home run for S-K.

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Sacramento defeated El Paso (Padres), 11-5

It was a huge offensive day for the top of Sacramento’s lineup, with the top three hitters going 11-for-16 with three walks. And Jaylin Davis wasn’t a part of that madness. And Sacramento could clinch their first playoff appearance as a Giants affiliate as early as Saturday.

Joey Rickard was 4-for-4 with two walks, boosting his on-base percentage in Triple-A this season to .397. Rickard is 7-for-16 with four wallks now in five games since coming back from the Majors. Meanwhile, Mike Gerber kicked in four hits of his own, with one of the only two extra base hits for the Cats, his 38th of the year.

Meanwhile, Mauricio Dubon had his second 3-hit game in a row, and third in the last four. Dubon’s Sacramento batting average is up to .341, and now has ten walks against eight strikeouts in 22 games since his trade. Davis had an off day, just getting one hit and a walk. But he’s still getting hits.

Justin Haley made his third start of the season. He’s got a .276 batting average allowed and a 1.30 WHIP over his three starts so far this season. In the bullpen, Sam Wolff made his return to Sacramento, where he made one relief appearance in July after coming back from injury before returning to Richmond. Wolff had a 1.78 ERA in 25 appearances this season with Richmond.

Playoff Position: 1st place, 9.5 games ahead of 2nd place Reno. Magic Number is 2 with 10 games left.

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Richmond was defeated by Akron, 4-3 (10 Innings)

Joey Bart came back alive, but in a losing effort by the Squirrels.

Bart hit his third home run in Double-A, another hard shot to left field. Bart is 5-for-18 (.278) with a walk over his last four games, as he slowly starts to get some better numbers in Richmond before the season ends. Bart’s batting line is .213/.255/.404.

There wasn’t much else in the offense. Johneshwy Fargas picked up a single, but was caught stealing for the 19th time this season. Fargas has 45 steals in 64 attempts (70.3% success rate). Jalen Miller picked up a single as well, giving him hits in his last four games, and his batting average is hovering at .217.

Alfred Gutierrez gave up three runs, but still got 7 strikeouts (his second-highest total of the season) a game after getting a season-high 10 in his last start. However, he also gave up five walks. Gutierrez has struck out 111 and has 58 walks in 114 innings this season.

Playoff Position: Out.

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San Jose defeated Stockton (Athletics), 3-1

San Jose’s top of the order was the opposite of Sacramento, but they still got the win. The top four batters were 0-for-11 with just one walk (and four times getting hit by pitches).

Manuel Geraldo picked up two hits, including his fifth home run of the year, a 2-run home run that was enough for the win in the end. Geraldo is 5-for-13 over his last three games, but he’s also turned into a bit of an RBI guy for the Giants in this playoff hunt. Geraldo has seven RBI in his last three games, of his 49 on the entire season.

Tristan Beck had his best start since the trade to the Giants. Beck lowered his ERA to 3.18 with San Jose. He has 25 strikeouts and seven walks in 22.2 innings as a Giant. Jesus Tona gave up another run for San Jose, and now has allowed 10 earned runs in 15 innings as a Giant. He has a .263 average allowed in San Jose, after he had a .164 average allowed in Augusta.

Playoff Position: .5 Games behind Stockton in the Wild Card race with 10 games left.

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Augusta defeated Lexington (Royals), 2-1 (6 innings)

Before the rain and lightning came, but Augusta inched out a win.

Franklin Labour, who had 14 home runs in 41 games with Salem-Keizer, hit his first home run with Augusta in his 21st game. Labour has been (sorry) laboring in Augusta since his promotion, and is batting .232/.312/.348 with the GreenJackets. Meanwhile, Simon Whiteman had a pair of hits and came in to score the game’s first run on a passed ball in the first inning. Whiteman is batting .268/.360/.268 in 27 games at Augusta, obviously without any extra-base hits.

Sean Roby got just his fourth hit in nine games at Augusta, as the home run derby champ is batting just .094/.194/.125.

Trenton Toplikar had a strong start, allowing just one earned run in three of his last four starts. In eight starts at Augusta, the 23-year old Toplikar has a 3.09 ERA. In 43.2 innings, he has 27 strikeouts and 14 walks with the GreenJackets.

Playoff Position: 2nd place, 1.0 games back of Asheville. Elimination Number of 10 with 10 games left.

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Salem-Keizer defeated Vancouver (Blue Jays), 4-1

Armani Smith continues to be strong for the Volcanoes, and got his first home run in the last eight games. Smith now has four on the season. Over the last six games, he’s batting 12-for-18 with a double, triple, home run and two home runs. Alexander Canario hit his seventh home run in Keizer for his only hit. It was his first home run in 12 games, and gives him as many home runs in the NWL as he had in the AZL. Carter Aldrete also had three hits, raising his NWL batting line to .304/.412/.464.

Jasier Herrera had the start and one of his better ones, allowing just one run in seven innings, after giving up four earned in each of his last two. His ERA dropped from 5.06 to 3.91 with this start, but he has just 13 strikeouts in 23 innings in the NWL.

Playoff Position: In, First Half Division Champions.

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AZL Black lost to the AZL Brewers Blue, 2-1

The headline of the AZL Black squad continues to be the Giants’ 3rd round pick.

Grant McCray got three hits, extending his hitting streak to 10 games, and stole two more bases. McCray has raised his batting average from .221 to .282. McCray now has 17 steals in 30 attempts, a 56.7% success rate.

The pitching staff featured Trevor Horn getting his first start in the AZL, and just second of his pro career. Horn has bounced around San Jose, Salem-Keizer and the AZL this season, with a 6.15 ERA mostly from those higher levels. Mac Marshall made his fourth appearance on his rehab, allowing four hits over two innings.

Playoff Position: Out.

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AZL Orange were defeated by the AZL Padres 2, 5-0

A day after clinching the second half division title, the Orange team took a bit of a day off in a quiet loss.

Luis Matos got a hit so he now has at least one hit in each of his games in the U.S., even if his batting average went down a little with it. He’s now batting .455/.571/.545. Abdiel Layer got two hits, the fourth time in the last five games he has gotten two hits. He’s batting .297/.346/.520 on the season.

Playoff Position: In. Won both Division Halves.

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The DSL Giants defeated DSL Colorado, 4-3

The offense for the DSL was Jose Hernandez, who was the only hitter with multiple hits on the day. The 19-year old had three hits, and is 10-for-17 with three walks over his last five games. In his second go-around in the DSL, he’s batting .270/.449/.337.

Jason Bonilla had his second start without allowing any earned runs, after 11 straight games allowing runs. The 20-year old has a 3.21 ERA and 50 strikeouts and 25 walks in 56 innings this season.

And that’s your penultimate game! That’s right, the DSL regular season comes to an end on Saturday, and we have no playoffs for the Giants down there.

Playoff Position: Out.

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Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento (Chase Johnson) at El Paso (Bryan Mitchell), 6:05 pm PDT

Richmond (Ryan Halstead) at Akron (Sam Hentges), 6:35 pm EDT

San Jose (Aaron Phillips) at Stockton (TBA), 7:10 pm PDT

Augusta (Keaton Winn) vs. Lexington (Jon Heasley), 6:05 pm EDT

Salem-Keizer (TBA) at Vancouver (TBA), 7:05 pm PDT

One final bit of news, for next year:

Raley has graced the name of Sacramento’s stadium since the River Cats moved to town in 2000. It’s name hasn’t gone through the changes that San Francisco’s has over the same time period, but it’s just one more new name we’ll all have to get used to.