Down on the Farm: 3/31/2026

 AAA:  The Salt Lake City Bees swarmed the Sacramento River Cats 13-5:

Buddy Kennedy 3B- 4 for 4, 2B.  BA= .500.

Seth Lonsway LHP- 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 8/2 GO/AO.  ERA= 0.00.

Not much else to see here.  If recall correctly, Lonsway looked pretty good in a couple of spring training appearances.

Game Wrap 3/31/2026: Giants 9 Padres 3

Willy Adames led off the game with a home run and the Giants never looked back in spite of a shaky start by Logan Webb.  Key Lines:

Willy Adames SS- 4 for 5, 2B, HR(1), 2 R, 2 RBI.  BA= .300.  Adames looked relaxed and dialed in at the plate,  made multiple strong defensive plays and was the star of the game.  Great to see this early in the season.  

Heliot Ramos LF- 1 for 4, BB, R, 2 RBI.  BA= .222.  Ramos flied out with one out and the bases loaded in the second inning but picked himself up by singling in two runs in another bases-loaded situation in the 6'th inning to break the game open.

Matt Chapman 3B- 2 for 5, HR(1), 2 R, RBI.  BA= .222.  Chapman's solo home run in the third inning gave the Giants a 4-0 lead and enabled them to keep the lead after the Padres scored 3 off Logan Webb in the bottom of the inning.

Jung Hoo Lee RF- 3 for 5, 2 2B, 3 RBI.  BA= .222.  Lee barely missed a third double on a rope down the RF line that landed foul but about a foot and half.  He followed that up with a bloop single that drove in a run.  As Vin Scully would say, "go figure!"  Oh, and .222 seems to be a popular batting average today.

Every member of the starting lineup had at least one hit.

Logan Webb RHP- 6 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 5 K's, 8/2 GO/AO.  ERA= 7.36.    Webb was shaky through 3 innings and Manager Tony Vitello had J. T. Brubaker up in the bullpen as pitch count soared through a 3-run third inning.  Webb got through the 4'th inning on two line-outs and a ground out.  He then struck out the heart of the Padres batting order in the 5'th, Fernando Tatis RF, Manny Machado 3B and Jackson Merrill CF.  By now, Webb's pitch count was up to 97 but Vitello let him go out for the 6'th.  That did not look like such a great idea when Webb went to a 3-1 count on the first batter, but he got 3 grounders on 3 pitches to get out of the inning after 104 pitches and recording a Quality Start.  Great comeback by Webb who was enabled by a great night for the lineup.

Brubaker worked two scoreless innings and Jose Butto RHP pitched a scoreless 9'th inning to secure the Giants win.

The Giants record improved to 2-3 and they are tied with the D'Backs 2 games behind the Dodgers who are at 4-1.

Adrian Houser RHP makes his first start of the season tomorrow afternoon facing Nick Pivetta RHP who is coming off a disaster start so he'll be looking to bounce back.

Game Wrap 3/30/2026: Giants 3 Padres 2

 

Harrison Bader jump-started the scoring with a solo home run to lead off the third inning.  The bottom of the lineup added two more runs in the 4'th inning in support of Landen Roupp's stellar start and the Giants survived a shaky 9'th inning by Ryan Walker for their first win of the season.  Key Lines:

Harrison Bader CF- 1 for 4, HR(1), R, RBI.  BA= .143.  Bader unloaded on his old college teammate, Walker Buehler RHP, to give Roupp a lead he did not give up.

Casey Schmitt 1B- 2 for 3, 2B, SB(1), RBI.  BA= .167.  There have been calls from within the Giants blogosphere for Encarnacion instead of Schmitt in the lineup.  Schmitty quieted those calls with a 2-hit performance tonight as well as some nifty fielding plays at first base.

Landen Roupp RHP- 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K's, 7/0 GO/AO.  ERA= 0.00.  I am pretty sure if this game was in Oracle Park, Roupp would have gotten a standing O as he walked off the field after the 6'th inning.  A masterful performance of mixing pitches and locations to keep the Padres lineup off balance all evening.  Once again, his curveball was particularly effective.  

Keaton Winn RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.  Winn's sinker-split combo was unhittable and had Kruk and Kuip commenting that he has Closer's stuff.

Ryan Walker RHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K, Save(1).  ERA= 7.71.  Walker picks up right where he left off last season.  He's a 2-pitch pitcher and doesn't have command of either one.  Do you trust him with anything less than a 3-run lead?  Do you trust him with a 3-run lead?

The win improves the Giants record to 1-3 good enough for a tie for 2'nd place in the NL West.

Logan Webb RHP tries to shake off his Opening Day loss tomorrow evening facing German Marquez RHP.

The Giants made three roster moves today:  

Luis Matos OF was traded to the Brewers for cash considerations.  Not sure if the BrewCrew has the playing time Matos needs to succeed, but otherwise it seems like a perfect landing for him.

The Giants traded with the Tigers for Dylan Smith RHP for cash considerations. He was recently DFA'd off the Tigers Roster.  He pitched at multiple levels last season including 13 innings for the Tigers with a 1.38 ERA despite a 2.77 K/9.  He is a hard thrower with a FB averaging 95 MPH and had a much higher K/9 in the minors.  He still has 2 options so can be assigned to AAA Sacramento.  

Tyler Fitzgerald UT was DFA'd.  He had one insane stretch from 7/9/2024-8/14/2026 where he hit 13 home runs.  High K rates eventually caught up with him.  He regressed badly and never recovered.

Down on the Farm: 3/29/2026

AAA:  Sacramento River Cats outlasted the El Paso Chihuahuas 5-4(11 innings):

Drew Gilbert LF- 3 for 5, Sac.   BA= .333.

Jesus Rodriguez C- 2 for 5, 2B, SF.  BA= .200.  

Bryce Eldridge DH- 1 for 4, HBP.  BA= .300.

Blade Tidwell RHP- 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's, 0/4 GO/AO.  ERA= 0.00.

Trevor McDonald RHP- 2.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K's, 3/0 GO/AO.  ERA= 3.86.

Juan Sanchez LHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 0.00.

Gregory Santos RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K.  ERA= 0.00.

Braxton Roxby RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K's, W(1-0).  ERA= 9.00.

Jesus Rodriguez off to a slow start but bat came alive in the late innings and he hit the game-winning Sac Fly.  Tidwell and McDonald two very different pitchers as evidenced by their reciprocal groundball/flyball ratios.

Thanks to BaseballJeff1 on Bluesky for the heads up on some minor league player releases:

Brent Honeywell RHP

Tyler Myrick RHP

Miguel Blanco OF

Donovan McIntyre OF

Cale Lansville RHP

Quinn McDaniel 2B

Cole Foster IF

Ian Villers RHP

Nick Sinacola RHP

Jesus Alexander C

Jorge Ramirez C

Juan Perez C

Down on the Farm: 3/28/2026

AAA:  Sacramento River Cats slipped past the El Paso Chihuahuas 5-4(10 innings):

Bryce Eldridge 1B- 1 for 4, BB.  BA= .333.

Buddy Kennedy 3B- 1 for 3, 2B, BB.  BA= .333.

Logan Porter C- 1 for 5, 3B.  BA= .200.

Carson Seymour RHP- 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's, 2/0 GO/AO.  ERA= 0.00.

Tristan Beck RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's, 2/0 GO/AO.  ERA= 0.00.

Michael Fulmer RHP- 2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K's.  ERA= 0.00.

Seymour needs to get stretched back out after being used mostly in relief in spring training.   

Game Wrap 3/28/2026: Yankees 3 Giants 1

 

4 GIDP's kept the Giants lineup from capitalizing on 9 hits and 12 baserunners in a game that led to some second-guessing for Manager Tony Vitello.  Key Lines:

Jung Hoo Lee RF- 1 for 3, 2B, BB, R.  BA= .100.  The top of the lineup did what it's supposed to do in the third inning when Lee doubled to lead off and Matt Chapman singled him home.  

Luis Arraez 2B- 2 for 4, SB(1).  BA= .273.

Rafael Devers DH- 2 for 4, 2B.  BA= .250.  When the 3 and 4 hitters go 4 for 8 with a double and a SB and yet have 0 R and 0 RBI, something is seriously messed up.

Tyler Mahle RHP- 4 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 5 K's. Mahle did not pitch poorly but threw 80 pitches in 4 innings.  

Ryan Borucki LHP- 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 5.40.  This is where the 3 batter rule bites.  Borucki easily got two outs against lefty batters which brought up Aaron Judge with another lefty batter, Cody Bellinger, on deck.  There is a lot of talk about how Tony Vitello should have put up 4 fingers but Bellinger historically has a pretty severe reverse split and savages LHP's.  As it turned out Judge homered and Bellinger popped out.  IMO Vitello showed his rookiness by not being forceful enough in pointing that out in his postgame presser.  

Tony Vitello Manager- Another critique comes from letting Jung Hoo Lee bat against Tim Hill LHP in the 7'th inning.  Again, most managers are not going to pinch-hit in a 2-out, no runners on base situation.  Then there was Jared Oliva pinch-running for Adames in the 9'th which is defendable but it comes after Adames was lowered to #6 in the batting order amid rumors of some friction between him and Vitello.  Adames just said he was surprised about getting taken out.  Then there was Patrick Bailey batting with one out and runners at 1B and 2B and GIDPing, but Bailey was batting left against David Bednar RHP and there were no lefty batters on the bench.  

The Giants and Tony Vitello have a day off in San Diego to think about it all.  

Landen Roupp RHP starts game 1 of the series on Monday against Walker Buehler RHP which is another opportunity for second-guessing all by itself.  

Down on the Farm: 3/27/2026

AAA:  El Paso Chihuahuas mauled the Sacramento River Cats 9-3:

Bryce Eldridge 1B- 1 for 2, 3 BB.  BA= .500.

Will Brennan RF- 2 for 5.  BA= .400.

Victor Bericoto DH- 2 for 5.  BA= .400 

Grant McCray LF- 3 for 3, BB.  BA= 1.000.

Carson Whisenhunt LHP- 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 9.00

John Bertrand LHP- 3 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  ERA= 9.00.

Drew Gilbert went 1 for 4 and had the only XBH.  It's troubling that John Bertrand shut down the Giants lineup on Monday albeit mostly against reserves.