Game Wrap 7/26/2022: D'Backs 5 Giants 3

 This game went to the bottom of the 7'th inning tied at 2 then this sequence happened:  Bunt single(challenge, call on field overturned), GB single, Sac Bunt/error(2 runs score), Pitching Change(Sam Long LHP replaces Logan Webb RHP), HR(Jose Rojas 3B), GO, K.  That is a microcosm of the Giants season right there.

Logan Webb RHP- 6.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K's, GO/AO= 10/1.  ERA= 2.91.  Once again, if you are going to live by the groundball you better be ready to field those GB's. 

Bright Spot:  Thairo Estrada SS- 3 for 4, 2B, SB(14).  Estrada is hitting .292 over his last 7 games and .302 over his last 15.  Probably more valuable to the team as a utility guy than a full-time position player but love his tools and enthusiasm.  Hope he sticks around awhile. 

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With the loss the Giants completed a reverse sweep of not just this 3-game series but the entire 7 game road trip.  They now come home to face the Cubs in a 4-game series with Alex Wood LHP getting the first game facing Justin Steele LHP who has an overall 4.02 ERA but 3.12 over his last 7 starts.

Down on the Farm: 7/26/2022

AAA:  Sacramento River Cats defeated the Round Rock Express 5-1.

Jason Krizan 1B- 2 for 5, 2B, HR(6).  BA= .294.

Andrew Knapp C- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .217.

Isan Diaz 2B- 1 for 4, HR(18), BB.  BA= .265.

Tristan Beck RHP- 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K's.  ERA=. 6.27.

Alex Young LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.

Joey Marciano LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 2.56. 

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AA:  Somerset Patriots vs Richmond Flying Squirrels Postponed.

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A+:  Eugene Emeralds topped the Hillsboro Hops 5-4.

Vaun Brown RF- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .337.

Luis Toribio 3B- 2 for 4, HR(15).  BA= .214.

Robert Emery C- 3 for 4, 2B.  BA= .333.

Ty Weber RHP- 3.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 4.06.

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A: San Jose Giants crushed the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 18-4.

Grant McCray CF- 5 for 7, HR(15), SB(26).  BA= .285.

Aeverson Arteaga SS- 1 for 4, HR(9), 2 BB.  BA= .272.

Carter Williams DH- 3 for 5, BB.  BA= .410.

Yorlis Rodriguez 3B- 4 for 6, 2B, HR(9).  BA= .273.

Garrett Freshette 1B- 2 for 6.  BA= .270.

Alexander Suarez LF- 2 for 4, HR(9), BB, HBP.  BA= .244.

Nick Sinacola RHP- 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K's.  ERA= 3.15.

Anyone else ready to see what Grant McCray can do at a higher level? After hitting .122 in April and .244 in May, Alexander Suarez hit .267 in June and .318 so far in July.  

Game Wrap 7/26/2022: D'Backs 7 Giants 3

Carlos Rodon LHP allowed just 5 baserunners while striking out 10 over 6 IP......except 2 of those baserunners were home-run trotters and all 5 of those runners scored. 

Wilmer Flores 2B hit his 14'th HR to drive in 2 runs.  Luis Gonzalez RF and Brandon Belt 1B had two hits each. That's about it for this game.

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With the loss, the Giants clinched a loss of the 3-game series against a team with a worse record.....at least for now.  Logan Webb RHP tries to salvage a win in the series finale tomorrow afternoon facing Zac Gallen RHP.

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Churn Watch:

Tommy La Stella IF was reinstated from the COVID-19 IL.  In corresponding moves, Gregory Santos RHP was optioned back to AAA Sacramento and Angel Rondon RHP was DFA'd off the 40 man roster.  You remember Rondon, right?  He was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals on July 13.

Game Wrap 7/25/2022: D'Backs 7 Giants 0

 Jakob Junis RHP was a gamer for 4 innings but go zero, and I mean zero, support from his teammates after reaching the end of his pitch count in a loss that was even more embarrassing than getting swept in a 4-game series by the Dodgers.  

Other than Junis, the one bright spot might have been Luis Gonzalez RF who got 2 of the Giants 3 hits....except he got picked off 1B after the single and doubled off the bag after the double.

Beyond that, utter and complete futility.  No need to go into more details.

If this game does not convince FZ to put potential buyers for Carlos Rodon LHP and Joc Pederson OF on speed dial, I am not sure what would.

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Speaking of Rodon, he gets a chance to showcase for potential buying teams tomorrow evening facing Tyler Gilbert LHP who was originally scheduled to start tonight but was replaced by Merrill Kelly RHP.

Down on the Farm: 7/24/2022

AAA:  Oklahoma City Dodgers pounded the Sacramento River Cats 12-3.  

Isan Diaz 2B- 1 for 2, 2B, 2 BB, BA= .266.

Austin Dean RF- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .249.

Sean Hjelle RHP- 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 4 K, GO/AO= 7/0.  ERA= 5.27.  

If you are going to succeed by putting the ball on the ground, you better have good fielders with range behind you and you better not be walking a batter an inning.

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AA:  Richmond Flying Squirrels outscored the Bowie Baysox 7-6.

Diego Rincones DH- 2 for 3, BB.  BA= .267.

Brett Auerbach 2B- 1 for 3, HR(10), BB.  BA= .195.

Ricardo Genoves C- 1 for 4, HR(4).  BA= .260.

Jason Heyward LF- 1 for 3, HR(4), BB.  BA= .190.

Cole Waites RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 2.57.

Blake Rivera RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 2.82.

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A+:  Eugene Emeralds beat the Everett Aquasox 12-7.

Vaun Brown RF- 2 for 4, 2B, BB, HBP, SB(11).  BA= .337.

Luis Matos CF- 2 for 6, HR(6), SB(5).  BA= .181.

Riley Mahan 3B- 3 for 6, 2B, HR(2).  BA= .286.

Luis Matos is 4 for 10 over his last two games but only batting .194 for month of July.  4 of his 5 HR's have come in July.  OK, time to give Vaun Brown a head start on AA next season.

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A:  San Jose Giants buried the Modesto Nuts 8-2.

Grant McCray CF- 3 for 5, 2 SB(25).  BA= .276.

Carter Williams LF- 1 for 5, HR(7).  BA= .402.

Jared Dupere RF- 2 for 4, HR(3).  BA= .462.

Eric Silva RHP- 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 5.43.

Ben Madison RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K's. ERA= 2.53.

Game Wrap 7/24/2022: Dodgers 7 Giants 4

I attended this game with a small group of friends who are Dodger fans.  They were happier on the drive home than I.  

The Giants managed to run up Clayton Kershaw LHP's pitch count and knocked him out of the game in the 5'th inning, but a familiar combination of poor fielding and relief pitching gave the win to the Dodgers in the late innings.

Thairo Estrada SS's 2-run single in the third inning got the Giants on the scoreboard against Kershaw.  Darin Ruf's 2-run HR in the 5'th knocked him out of the game.  All that was set up by the second inning when the Giants loaded the bases and ran Kershaw's pitch count to 46.  It was frustrating to see the bases left loaded but the extra pitches almost certainly contributed to Kershaw's subsequent ineffectiveness and early exit. 

Unfortunately, Alex Cobb RHP also struggled with early runs and high pitch counts and didn't make it out of the 6'th inning.  The umps made Cobb towel off his arms after a 2-out double by Jake Lamb DH in the 3'rd inning.  Immediately after that, he gave up single, double, single, all on hard hit line drives for a 3 spot and a 4-2 deficit.  Twitter seemed to think the umps thought he was mixing sweat with rosin.  Is that illegal?  Madison Bumgarner LHP is famous for rubbing his forearms to get moisture to rub up the baseball with.  Maybe it whatever he was doing wasn't illegal since they didn't eject him from the game?  But then why did they make him towel off his arms?   Was it because the Dodgers complained?  If so that bit of gamesmanship paid off big time!  

Dominic Leone RHP got the last out of the 6'th inning and came out for the 7'th.  He got Trea Turner to fly out, but stayed in the game with Freddie Freeman 1B and 3 more LH batters coming up.  Freeman hit a ball down the LF line that was misplayed by Yermin Mercedes LF who initially lost it in the sky.  It fell for a double.  That brought in Tyler Rogers RHP who went double, single, GO, double, walk before finally getting out of the inning now trailing 7-4.  Note the Giants are down to just 2 LHP's in the bullpen and both are overworked which is why Kap used RHP's to fact that string of lefty hitters in the 7'th inning.  

Yermin giveth and Yermin taketh:  Yermin Mercedes had a nice game at the plate with 2 doubles down the LF line.  He is starting to look like a legitimated RH bat.  Kap insists he is athletic and fast enough to handle LF, but he never played LF before coming to the Giants so there's a learning curve.

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The Giants don't have time to lick their wounds from the 4-game sweep in LA as they head to Phoenix to start a 3-gamer against the D'Backs tomorrow evening with Jakob Junis RHP facing Tyler Gilbert LHP.

Down on the Farm: 7/23/2022

AAA:  Oklahoma City Dodgers defeated the Sacramento River Cats 8-4.

Tommy La Stella DH- 1 for 3, 2 BB.  BA= .314.

Jason Krizan 1B- 2 for 4, 2 HR(5).  BA= .293.

Bryce Johnson CF- 2 for 4, SB(23).  BA= .295.

Alex Young LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.

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AA:  Bowe Baysox edged out the Richmond Flying Squirrels 3-2.

Diego Rincones DH- 4 for 4, HR(7).  BA= .262.

Kyle Harrison LHP- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K's.  ERA= 2.98.

Randy Rodriguez RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 6.00.

Taylor Rashi RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 2.64.

Kyle Harrison faced 10 batters and retired 9, all by strikeout.  Pitch count/innings limit due to long layoff for Futures Game.  Wow!

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A+:  Eugene Emeralds buried the Everett Aquasox 8-1.

Luis Matos CF- 2 for 4, BB.  BA= .177.

Casey Schmitt SS- 2 for 3, 2B, BB, SF.  BA= .273.

Keaton Winn RHP- 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, ER, 2 BB, 6 K's.  ERA= 3.00.

Mat Olsen RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 4.88.

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A:  Modesto Nuts crushed the San Jose Giants 12-3.  

Nothing to see here.

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Complex Watch:

Miguel Mora RHP(ACL, 20 yo)- 3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K's.  ERA= 4.40.