Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2017

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Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2017 Article Source Author Page Bumgarner s road to recovery makes stop in Sacramento River Cats Arnold-Gordon 1 Bumgarner

com Hawthorne 3 Despite a cracked bat, Austin Slater still muscled a ball to deep center field Cut 4 Staff 4 Giants Triple-A pitcher popped for steroids SF Gate Schulman 5 Giants Hwang

1 Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2017 Article Source Author Page Bumgarner s road to recovery makes stop in Sacramento River Cats Arnold-Gordon 1 Bumgarner delights Sacramento fans, even though Giants ace Sac Bee Davidson 1 wasn t supposed to be here Bumgarner shakes off struggles in rehab start MLB.com Hawthorne 3 Despite a cracked bat, Austin Slater still muscled a ball to deep center field Cut 4 Staff 4 Giants Triple-A pitcher popped for steroids SF Gate Schulman 5 Giants Hwang wishes he could face countryman Kang SF Gate Schulman 6 BUMGARNER TAKES BIG STEP IN TRIPLE-A REHAB START CSN Bay Area Pavlovic 6 DESPITE SHAKY STATS GIANTS TOP 10 PROSPECT SUSPENDED FOR REST OF 2017 SEASON Associated Press Staff 7

2 Bumgarner's road to recovery makes stop in Sacramento By Evan Arnold-Gordon / Sacramento River Cats West Sacramento, CA - Madison Bumgarner made his first career start at Raley Field in front of a sellout crowd Friday night as he works his way back toward the San Francisco rotation. Despite the ace's presence at Raley Field, the Sacramento River Cats (32-47) fell just short in their 8-7 loss to the Fresno Grizzlies (43-38). Bumgarner started Friday night expecting to throw 60 to 65 pitches for the River Cats. The left-hander threw 62 (41 for strikes) before exiting the game with two outs in the fourth inning. For Bumgarner, the pitch count represented a 15 pitch increase from his last outing - three no-hit innings in Arizona with the Giants Rookie League team. The River Cats offense backed up Bumgarner by taking a 5-4 lead into the fifth inning but were unable to keep pace with the Grizzlies from there. Orlando Calixte collected three of Sacramento's 14 hits, one of which was a leadoff home run in the first inning. Carlos Moncrief knocked in a pair for his second multi- RBI game with the club but struck out swinging to end the game. Sacramento will send right-hander Tyler Beede (4-5, 5.11) to the hill tomorrow night for game two and Fresno will counter with righty Dean Deetz (0-2, 13.00). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. (PT) and the game can be heard live on the air on ESPN 1320 and online at rivercats.com. Postgame Notes Bumgarner quotes: "I've felt really good throughout this whole process and I definitely feel good about where I am at. I don't feel very far." - on how he feels following his start "I appreciate everyone's support. I'm working hard to get back. We're going as fast as we can go safely without pushing it too much or taking too much of a chance. But we're definitely moving quick to get back out there." - on what he wants to say to the fans Rehab Report: Tonight was Madison Bumgarner's first career rehab assignment and his first Triple-A start since 2010 with Fresno he allowed four total runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out another his fastball clocked in between 88 and 92 MPH his battery mate tonight, catcher Tim Federowicz, last caught Bumgarner on April 13 with the Giants. Calixte: Third baseman Orlando Calixte played in his team leading 59th game tonight now tied with Mac Williamson with 32 RBI also tied with Williamson for the team lead in home runs with nine. Bumgarner delights Sacramento fans, even though Giants ace wasn t supposed to be here BY JOE DAVIDSON / Sacramento Bee These are not fickle fans or even bandwagon jumpers. Harlan and Sidney Tougaw married 47 years soak in all things baseball. Season-ticket holders with the River Cats since 2001, the Tougaws embraced the A s when their Triple-A feeder was rooted in Sacramento, and then they switched allegiances when the Giants became affiliated with the River Cats 1

3 in Harlan watched the Sacramento Solons play in the 1940s when that Pacific Coast League team resided on Broadway. The couple arrived to Raley Field on Friday afternoon nearly two hours before the first pitch to set up shop not too far behind the plate, all the better to watch every movement of the evening s headliner. Madison Bumgarner started for Sacramento against the Fresno Grizzlies; the anchor piece to the Giants three World Series championship teams is working his way back to San Francisco. Had to get here early, Harlan said with a laugh, peering at his wife, who was wearing Giants colors. Both are retired state employees. We started off as A s fans, then back to the Giants, and it was easy to be a Giants fan. You root for guys like Bumgarner. Bumgarner departed with two outs in the fourth inning with a 5-4 lead after 62 pitches, 41 for strikes. He wasn t sharp, allowing seven hits, four earned runs and walking one, but he still received a standing ovation. I actually felt pretty good, getting closer, Bumgarner said. It was a good atmosphere, pretty fun. Raley Field was awash in orange and black, including dozens of Bumgarner No. 40 jerseys. But a lot of fans had mixed emotions. The big 6-foot-5 left-hander wasn t even supposed to be here. He was supposed to be good medicine for an otherwise sickly Giants campaign, but the 27-year-old MVP of the 2014 World Series is recovering from a sprained AC joint in his pitching shoulder suffered in a dirt-biking accident in April. But Giants fans are a forgiving lot. Bumgarner, it appears, is too likable to loathe. He s a person just like us, and for him to get injured in a bike accident was human, even if it was a mistake, said Robert Jasso, who brought his 6-year-old son, Alex, from their Vallejo home. He s an every-day guy. That s why people like Madison, and I m not a fan to bash someone. We re here to appreciate and watch him. Alex wore a Bumgarner jersey that went to his knees, and the bright orange matched his grin and his Joe Panik backpack. Oh, we had to be here, Jasso said. My son insisted on it. A rehab assignment for a Giants player is a big deal here. When Hunter Pence was in town in 2015, he gladly signed autographs before taking the field. But it s different for pitchers. They are creatures of habit, and fans generally understood that this was work duty for Bumgarner, not an autograph show. Pitchers need to be in the right mental state, River Cats general manager Chip Maxson said. I think fans understand that it s a treat just to watch this guy pitch. Maxson caught wind of Bumgarner s impending Raley visit some 15 days earlier via text from Giants general manager Bobby Evans. Giants executive vice president Brian Sabean watched Bumgarner s start from the press box. There s been a buzz here all week, Maxson said. 2

4 The buzz included jam-packed concourses. Beer and food lines were long. Raley Field s team store was bustling with business, selling Bumgarner shirts, jerseys and rally towels. River Cats play-by-play radio announcer Johnny Doscow felt the vibe, and he fed it, too, on his broadcast. Definitely a buzz, he said before the game. My sister Emily called: I need 10 tickets! You want a sellout. It s a great atmosphere here. You can let the game breathe. It s wonderful. Bumgarner shakes off struggles in rehab start By Jonathan Hawthorne / MLB.com SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sure, Madison Bumgarner's rehab start at Triple-A Sacramento on Friday didn't shine on paper. But San Francisco's ace still saw measured improvement in his first Minor League action since Working his way back from a shoulder sprain, an injury sustained in April, the four-time All-Star threw 3 2/3 innings (four runs and seven hits) in Sacramento's 8-7 loss to Fresno at Raley Field. "I feel like I'm four innings through Spring Training," Bumgarner said after throwing 62 pitches of which were strikes. "I don't feel very far off. The results obviously weren't very good, but that's not what's important right now. "The important thing to me is being healthy and stamina and arm strength and all that. I feel pretty good about it." Bumgarner topped out at 92 mph from the first inning. He surrendered four runs in the first two innings before settling down for an eight-pitch third inning. He threw 26 pitches in the first, allowing a leadoff double, hit batter, walk and sacrifice fly. He recorded his lone strikeout during a 19-pitch second inning. The southpaw allowed three runs on a pair of doubles, a single and another sac fly. He surrendered a leadoff single in the fourth then retired the next two batters before departing. Sacramento manager Dave Brundage said Bumgarner was rusty early but mixed in cutters and curveballs to slow down Fresno batters from getting ahead in the count. "He looked fine the last couple innings and had a better angle on it," Brundage said. "I thought he was down in the zone more. Early on, he had some balls up early in the count. And they jumped on it." Bumgarner's fastball was consistently fast, topping out at 92 mph. But it was his slider, he said, that demands more attention before returning to the Majors. "The slider wasn't great," Bumgarner said. "Some were OK. Later on in the game, they got better. That's the one pitch that has to be a little better before we're ready. But it's close." A crowd of 14, Sacramento's first sellout of the season -- showed up in Giants orange for his start. And Giants executive vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean traveled to see the outing. 3

5 "It was pretty fun to be a part of and see, like baseball's supposed to be," Bumgarner said. Though Bumgarner admitted he's itching to return to the Majors, his stamina and arm strength still need progress to compete with opposing batters in "midseason form." "I can't go up there throwing 65 pitches," Bumgarner said. "That's not going to do us much good. I just have to make sure that we're ready to go once we're finished with this thing." Bumgarner will make another rehab start Wednesday -- likely at Class A San Jose, with Sacramento visiting Albuquerque next week. The 27-year-old said honing his mental edge is as important as velocity and endurance. "Everybody is going to be razor sharp right now," Bumgarner said. "I've got to make sure I'm ready mentally and physically." Despite a cracked bat, Austin Slater still muscled a ball to deep center field Cut 4 Staff / MLB.com How one handles a situation under less-than-ideal circumstances reveals a lot about his character. During the eighth inning of Friday night's 13-5 win against the Pirates, Giants left fielder Austin Slater showed his ability to handle such situations. Three pitches into his at-bat -- two balls and a swing-and-miss -- cameras revealed that Slater was working with faulty equipment. To his credit, he didn't let the imperfect circumstances faze him -- though it's possible he didn't notice -- and managed to hit the next pitch out to the PNC Park warning track. Though Gregory Polanco retreated to make the catch, the power Slater was able to get on his contact with a clearly cracked bat remains impressive. "It was broken for sure after the one to center," said Slater to MLB.com's Chris Haft. "I thought I got that one pretty good and it didn't go anywhere. So I was a little confused. I might have broken it on that to right (in the sixth). Now I'm pretty curious." The rookie not only showed veteran composure, but also old-man strength. Giants Triple-A pitcher popped for steroids By Henry Schulman / SF Gate PITTSBURGH - Cross one pitching prospect off the list for Right-hander Joan Gregorio apparently had help posting a 3.04 ERA in 13 starts with Triple-A Sacramento. He was suspended without pay for the rest of the season Saturday after testing positive for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. 4

6 Gregorio was on the disabled list with a back injury when the news was announced. You might have noticed the Giants have brought a lot of position players and relievers up from Sacramento, but no starters. Partly that is due to a lack of openings on the big club, but the Giants also want to see some consistency from start to start with some of these guys. Tyler Beede, considered the closest to the majors, has lacked that. His last start was great, eight innings and two runs allowed at El Paso, a hitters' haven. But in the two before that he yielded 14 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings. In other words, Beede is not forcing his way to San Francisco. The Giants did promote a pitcher from Sacramento on Saturday, recalling Chris Stratton. Dan Slania was optioned (not sure yet whether to Sacramento or Richmond). Stratton was the guy the Giants wanted when Mark Melancon went down but he had pitched too recently to help the big club Wednesday, when they needed an extra arm for insurance. Slania did not leave empty-handed. He got his first major-league inning, which was perfect, and got to shake hands on the field after Friday night's 13-5 victory. He got the final three outs. Matt Moore goes Saturday in yet another bid to turn his season around. He had a really good start at Atlanta on June 20 (seven innings, three earned runs) then regressed with five earnies in 4 1/3 against the Mets on Sunday. He faces Pirates righty Chad Kuhl, who will see the same lineup the Giants used Friday night except for Ryder Jones at third instead of Jae-Gyun Hwang. Giants Hwang wishes he could face countryman Kang By Henry Schulman / SF Gate PITTSBURGH - Third baseman Jae-Gyun Hwang said his cellphones were "on fire" after he homered in his major-league debut Wednesday. He got 1,000 calls and texts on his Korean phone, 200 on his U.S. phone. The Giants' decision to have Eduardo Nuñez play two rehab games for Double-A Richmond, Va., this weekend before coming off the disabled list in Detroit on Tuesday put Hwang back in the lineup for Friday night's series opener against the Pirates. Hwang's debut was a huge deal in South Korea. Friday's game would have been a monumental had he squared off against Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang. But that will not happen. Kang was denied a U.S. visa after he was convicted in Korea for a hit-and-run drunken-driving accident. A judge sentenced Kang to a two-year suspended prison sentence after his third DUI. Kang, who hit 36 homers for the Pirates in 2015 and 2016, publicly admitted his guilt and asked forgiveness. Hwang wishes he could play against Kang. They have known one another from the ballfields since they were about 12 and drafted together at 17 by the Hyundai Unicorns of the professional Korean Baseball League. 5

7 "One of the first things that came to mind when I found out we were going to Pittsburgh was, it would have been a much more fun game if he were here," Hwang said through translator Mark Kim. "From what I know he is very regretful for what he did. He wishes he made a better choice." Kang did not leave a message on Hwang's phone. Hwang said it's "very difficult" for Kang to reach out after the shame of his conviction. Hwang did hear from countryman Hyun-Jin Ryu, who left a one-word message by text that said, "Nice." Hwang and Ryu already spoke about a potential meeting with the Giants are in Los Angeles on July 28, Hwang's 30th birthday. The new Giant joked that if he faces Ryu on his birthday he expects a grooved fastball as a present. Nuñez took early batting practice and ran the bases Friday afternoon at PNC Park. Manager Bruce Bochy declared him healthy, but said, "We would hate to activate him and something happens. We want to give him a few at-bats, too, to get his timing down." The Giants have ulterior reasons for putting a healthy Nuñez on the field. They need to show he is healthy if they hope to trade him by the July 31 nonwaiver deadline. Bochy said he will use Nuñez and Ryder Jones at third this weekend. Cueto seeks milestone win: Boy, the schedule makers did the Giants a real solid, sending them to Pittsburgh the same weekend as the Furry Convention. The Furries are folks who like to dress up in animal consumes because.because.i dunno. Read about it here. The Giants are riding a rare three-game win streak into PNC Park, where Johnny Cueto will attempt to win his 20th game against the Pirates, which is quite a number. He is 19-4 with a 2.10 ERA in 29 starts. That's impressive for this era, but far from the record. Warren Spahn won 48 games against the Pirates for the Braves. So, who won the most games against the Giants? Spahn at 56. He must've been pretty good. Of course, every start for Cueto is a tryout for contenders who might want to add a pitcher. He's coming off two good games in which he allowed a total of three earned runs in 14 innings against the Braves and Mets. The Giants lost both. Cueto is riding a three-game losing streak. He has not won in June. Cueto will face a vastly improving lineup. Remember how bad Andrew McCutchen was? Forget it. He s hitting.431 over his past 19 games and.452 over his lasat dozen home games, good for a.398 average in June. One minor-league note: Sacramento catcher Trevor Brown was placed on the DL with a concussion after he took a foul tip Wednesday. BUMGARNER TAKES BIG STEP IN TRIPLE-A REHAB START DESPITE SHAKY STATS By Alex Pavlovic / NBC Sports Bay Area 6

8 SAN FRANCISCO The next step of Madison Bumgarner s rehab was a bit shakier than expected, but positive nonetheless. Bumgarner threw 3 2/3 innings in a rehab start for Triple-A Sacramento on Friday night. A talented and free-swinging Fresno Grizzlies (Astros affiliate) squad tagged him for four runs on seven hits, but the most important number came in the pitch count column. With 62 pitches, Bumgarner is well on his way to returning to the big leagues near the start of the second half. Bumgarner gave up a run in the first on a double, hit-by-pitch, walk and sacrifice fly. In the second inning, the Grizzlies got two singles, two doubles and two more runs. Bumgarner needed 45 pitches to get through the first two frames, but he looked fine physically. His biggest annoyance appeared to be a floating strike zone. Bumgarner worked around a single in the third and got two outs in the fourth before hitting a designated pitch count. The River Cats sold out their home park in Bumgarner s first minor league appearance in seven years. He is expected to make a start for the San Jose Giants on July 5. GIANTS TOP 10 PROSPECT SUSPENDED FOR REST OF 2017 SEASON By Associated Press NEW YORK Pitchers Joseph Colon of Cleveland and Joan Gregorio of San Francisco have been suspended for the rest of the season after testing positive for performance-enhancing substances. Colon was cited for a synthetic drug whose effect is similar to that of testosterone. Gregorio showed evidence of the anabolic steroid Stanozolol. The suspensions were announced Saturday by the commissioner's office. Both are 40-man roster players. These are the fourth suspensions this year under the major league drug program. Also banned were Pittsburgh All-Star outfielder Starling Marte and Philadelphia pitcher Elniery Garcia. There have been 47 suspensions this year under the minor league program. Colon is a 27-year-old right-hander who made his big league debut with the Indians last July 8 and was 1-3 with a 7.20 ERA in 11 relief appearances. He has a 4.13 ERA in 28 relief appearances this year at Triple-A Columbus. The 25-year-old Gregorio is 4-4 with a 3.04 ERA in 13 starts this year at Triple-A Sacramento. 7

ORGANIZATIONAL REPORT Wednesday, May 24, 2017

ORGANIZATIONAL REPORT Wednesday, May 24, 2017 TEAM LEVEL RECORD LAST GAME STREAK/ LAST 10 Sacramento River Cats Triple-A 17-27; 11.0 GB 4th Place W, 6-2 Vs. Memphis W1, 4-6 Richmond Flying Squirrels Double-A