Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips MONDAY, MAY 22, 2017

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McCovey Chronciles Roger 1 Homers not enough, as Cain hit hard in loss MLB.

1 Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips MONDAY, MAY 22, 2017 Article Source Author Page Stratton outdueled in Sunday matinee River Cats Barsanti 1 Sacramento was defeated by Nashville (Athletics), 4-0 McCovey Chronciles Roger 1 Homers not enough, as Cain hit hard in loss MLB.com Langosch, Latsch 2 Giants hope for better results at Wrigley MLB.com Latsch 4 Giants roster likely to change as soon as players come off DL SF Gate Schulman 4

2 Stratton outdueled in Sunday matinee By Robert Barsanti, Sacramento River Cats Sacramento River Cats (16-26) starter Chris Stratton took the mound Sunday afternoon at Raley Field looking to bounce back after a rough last outing. The former first-round pick did just that, throwing his first quality start of the year. Unfortunately, Nashville Sounds (20-20) starter Jharel Cotton was even better and the River Cats fell 4-0 Sunday. Stratton looked great all afternoon other than a brief hiccup in the third. With two outs in the inning, Stratton gave up a walk followed by back-to-back hits to give Nashville two runs. He settled in after that, allowing just one more run in the seventh frame before turning things over to the bullpen. Nashville's Cotton outdueled Stratton though, shutting out the River Cats over seven innings. He walked one and struck out nine in the outing while Sacramento managed just three hits against him, one of them a double by Tim Federowicz. Tomorrow's finale between the River Cats and Sounds will features Dan Slania (0-5, 8.65) against RHP Daniel Gossett (1-2, 4.31). First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. (PT) and the game can be heard live online at rivercats.com and on the air on FM. Postgame Notes Stratton: Chris Stratton had his first quality start of the season allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks over 6.1 innings struck out five threw 100 pitches (66 strikes) in the outing, the most by a River Cats starter this season. Day Baseball: The River Cats are now 6-5 in day games this season, including 4-3 at home. Quiet Bats: Sacramento managed fewer than four hits for the fifth time this season were shutout for the fourth time this year, including the second in this series against Nashville. Gillaspie: Conor Gillaspie played six innings at first base and went 0-for-3 at the plate is 2-for- 10 in three games with Sacramento has logged 13 innings at third base and six at first. Hill: Aaron Hill went 1-for-3 while playing seven innings at second base in two games with Sacramento, is 2-for-5 since starting his rehab with San Jose, is hitting.307 (4-for-13) in five games. Sacramento was defeated by Nashville (Athletics), 4-0 By Roger, McCovey Chronicles You can t blame Chris Stratton for this loss too much. Sacramento s offense just could not handle one of the A s top pitching prospects, Jharel Cotton, collecting just three hits. Cotton collected nine strikeouts in 7 innings, allowing just four baserunners, and utterly dominated the River Cats. Only three players got hits off of him, all former major leaguers including the rehabbing Aaron Hill. 1

3 That left Stratton in a tough situation. Stratton certainly didn t have a great game, but 6+ innings and three runs would have kept most teams in a game. Stratton did lower his ERA from 5.96 to 5.59 with the outing. In the bullpen though, Roberto Gomez continued his string of good outings to lower his ERA. He hasn t allowed a run in the last four outings, lowering his ERA from 9.00 to Homers not enough, as Cain hit hard in loss By Jen Langosch and Nate Latsch / MLBcom ST. LOUIS -- Insistent that what he showed early this season was not an indication of a precipitous career decline, Adam Wainwright, in leading the Cardinals to an 8-3 win over the Giants on Sunday, delivered further evidence to rebuff such assumptions on Sunday. The Cardinals' win also helped them halt a four-game losing streak and avoid being swept at Busch Stadium by San Francisco for the first time since Once two of the most dominant right-handers in the game, Wainwright and Matt Cain each sought to build off strong starts. Only Wainwright did. Cain, stung by Randal Grichuk's basesclearing double in the second and a two-run homer by Matt Carpenter in the fifth, let things get away early. "I was coaxing it. I was doing the Carlton Fisk," joked Wainwright, of watching Grichuk's double from the on-deck circle. "It was a big swing because Matt has been pitching pretty good. He's got some good stuff out there working. He gets a double play there, the game is completely changed." Instead, Cain allowed seven runs over 5 1/3 innings and remains winless in his career at Busch Stadium with an 8.28 ERA. "He was just behind more than he's normally been this year," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's been throwing the ball well and he gave up the four spot in the second inning, that's a big number and a tough one to overcome but he battled, he competed. I thought it was just a case as you can see where he wasn't as sharp today." Wainwright, on the other hand, pulled his ERA below five for the first time since his season debut by allowing one run over 6 1/3 innings. The performance followed one a week ago in which he tossed seven scoreless innings. "He's such a competitor and he finds a way," Bochy said of Wainwright. "He had good stuff. He had a good breaking ball going. He uses his fastball well and good command. He's always a tough matchup when you're going against him and he pitched great today." The Giants tallied five hits and drew three walks off Wainwright, but went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position against him. Since opening the year 0-3 with a 7.24 ERA, Wainwright has reeled off four straight wins. "Just like his last start, when he had to make good pitches and he had guys on base, I saw him be able to execute," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said of Wainwright. "This is the guy we've watched for a long time here, and it looks right." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED 2

4 Ambushed: Dreams of another scoreless duel like the one featured on Saturday came to an abrupt end in the second, when Cain allowed the first four batters to reach. After Aledmys Diaz drew a rare walk (his seventh in 170 plate appearances) to load the bases, Grichuk delivered the afternoon's biggest hit. His bases-clearing double, which had an exit velocity of 100 mph, highlighted the Cardinals' most fruitful inning of the season. By the end of it, the Cardinals led 4-0. "He left it over the plate a bit too much," Grichuk said of the fastball he turned on. "I feel like I've gotten a bunch of balls that have flown out to the track within the last week and a half. [It] felt good for it to get down out there." Before Sunday, right-handed batters had slugged only.348 against Cain. "We were going in and that's a good job on his side to be able to keep that ball fair," Cain said "From my vantage point, it looked like it was right on the line so it's a good piece of hitting. That inning kind of put a little bit of a bump in us and a big inning like that is tough to come back from. It put us in a big hole especially against a guy like Wainwright." Building block: The game wasn't exactly in jeopardy when Brett Cecil relieved Wainwright with two on, one out in a 7-1 game. But given Cecil's season-long struggles against left-handers, it was notable what happened next. He retired two straight -- first Denard Span, then Joe Panik -- to strand two runners and suppress the final serious offensive threat the Giants would have. Entering the day, left-handed hitters had slashed.448/.514/.897 against Cecil, a pitcher the Cards hope works himself back into a higher-leverage role. "To come in and face a couple of tough lefties, too, and make quality pitches in a situation [was positive]," Matheny said of Cecil. "I know he wanted to get in there and make something happen on the positive side. These are two outings in a row where I think we're getting closer. Just keep building that up. Once we get Brett's confidence up, the stuff, they go hand in hand. And he's going to get big outs for us." QUOTABLE "I know, I blew it. We've got a good rotation and some great arms in that bullpen, too. There's no reason we shouldn't be one of the top pitching staffs in the league. Top to bottom, we're going to expect to be that." -- Wainwright, after being reminded that the starting pitchers allowed one run in 21 1/3 innings during this series SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS The Giants connected on back-to-back homers for the second time this season when Brandon Crawford and Eduardo Nunez took reliever Miguel Socolovich deep with two out in the eighth. With those two blasts, the Giants' last 15 home runs have all been solo shots. They hit a Major League-record 21 consecutive solo homers in For Nunez, the home run extended his hitting streak to eight games. He is 12-for-33 during that stretch. WHAT'S NEXT 3

5 Giants: The Giants begin a four-game series against the Cubs in Chicago on Monday. Lefthander Ty Blach, making his sixth start of the season in place of Madison Bumgarner, will face John Lackey. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. PT. Cardinals: Seven of the Cardinals' next 10 games will come against the Dodgers, beginning with Tuesday's 9:10 p.m. CT contest at Dodger Stadium. Lance Lynn draws that start against Clayton Kershaw. Lynn has yielded two or fewer runs in five of his eight starts this season. Giants hope for better results at Wrigley By Nate Latsch / Special to MLB.com The Giants head to Wrigley Field for a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs beginning Monday, hoping to reverse their fortunes from a year ago. The Giants, who are coming off a series win in St. Louis, went 1-5 at Chicago in losing three of four games in early September and then losing two playoff games at Wrigley Field. All four games during the September series were decided by one run. "We had a tough series there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We lost three tight ballgames." The Giants will throw left-hander Ty Blach (1-2, 4.15) in the first game of the series, opposite right-hander John Lackey (4-3, 4.37). Blach will be making his eighth career start; Lackey his 448th, including the postseason. "Just a really solid four-pitch guy that competes very well," Bochy said of Blach. "He uses his fastball in and out well. He has good sink on it. He's got two breaking balls. He's got a very good changeup that he uses quite a bit. But he's a strike-thrower. He's got a good tempo to him and players love playing behind him. You just like the way he throws strikes and competes." Three things to know about this game Lackey is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in three regular-season career starts against the Giants. He's also made four postseason starts against San Francisco. Giants left fielder Eduardo Nunez is hitting.333 (five hits in 15 at-bats) with four doubles in his career against Lackey. First baseman Brandon Belt and shortstop Brandon Crawford are a combined 0-10 against the right-hander. Lackey has a 2.96 ERA in four night starts this season, compared to a 5.87 ERA in four afternoon starts. Giants roster likely to change as soon as players come off DL By Henry Schulman, SF Gate ST. LOUIS The Giants opened their seven-game trip with eight relief pitchers and a four-man bench that includes one guy who only catches (Nick Hundley), another who will play only first base (Michael Morse) and two extra outfielders (Justin Ruggiano and Gorkys Hernandez). 4

6 We are limited, manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged Friday. The makeup of the team soon will change, and probably drastically. The Giants will need to make room for rehabbing players Conor Gillaspie, Aaron Hill and Hunter Pence, perhaps all three sometime next week. Bochy said ideally the Giants will restore a five-man bench at the expense of a current reliever. Left-hander Josh Osich and outfielder Mac Williamson are most at risk amid all the pending moves because they have minor-league options. But at some point the organization will have to make decisions on out-of-option players, unless they mirror other teams and use the shorter 10- day disabled list as a merry-go-round for players to hop on and off. Bochy said Gillaspie (back spasms) was to begin a rehab assignment for Triple-A Sacramento on Friday and is the closest to returning, followed by Hill (strained forearm). Pence (hamstring strain) can be activated Tuesday, but that is not likely. He hit and threw on the field at Busch Stadium on Friday but has not begun to run. Reliever hitched: Cory Gearrin did not fly with the team to St. Louis. He arrived on a delayed commercial flight at 4 a.m. Friday for good reason. He and Maddi Reynolds got married at San Francisco City Hall on Thursday morning on the balcony outside the mayor s office, with County Clerk Catherine Stefani officiating. Giants players have made the rounds at some big offseason weddings. Derek Law, Joe Panik and Pence all got hitched last winter. I didn t want to wait, Gearrin said. We really wanted to get married. We didn t want to wait around for six months. None of Gearrin s teammates attended the wedding or the lunch that followed at Slanted Door. They were taking off for St. Louis about the time of the wedding, although Pence s wife, Lexi, was among the 20 guests. Gearrin said City Hall held special meaning because he knew the Giants celebrated their three World Series titles there, before he signed. 5

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