Sacramento River Cats & SF Giants Press Clips WEDNESDAY, July 19, 2017 Article Source Author Page What can Brown do for you? Trevor delivers in 12th River Cats Arnold-Gordon 1 Sacratomatoes take over Raley Field River Cats Barsanti 1 Pitchers duel ends with Giants walk-off win MLB.com Hawthorne/Bastian 2 Giants hope to add high schooler rejected by O s SF Gate Schulman 3 Two Giants pitchers attracting trade interest SF Gate Schulman 4 Gillaspie celebrates birthday with clutch hit for Giants San Jose Mercury Gackle 5 TUESDAY S VICTORY GIVES GIANTS A REMINDER OF HOW NBC Sports Bay Area Pavlovic 6 THEY USED TO WIN
What can Brown do for you? Trevor delivers in 12th By Evan Arnold-Gordon / Sacramento River Cats It took 12 innings Tuesday night at Raley Field, but thanks to a strong bullpen showing and a walk-off RBI single from Trevor Brown, the Sacramento River Cats (39-56) beat the El Paso Chihuahuas (48-48) 7-6. Coming into tonight, Sacramento was 0-21 when trailing at home after eight innings. Tonight however, the River Cats rallied to score the game's final four runs from the seventh inning on in their third-longest game this season. Sacramento first mounted their comeback in the ninth thanks Ryan Lollis' RBI-single, which scored Ali Castillo to tie the game at six. Lollis once again was the catalyst in the 12th, leading off the inning with a double before scoring on Brown's walk-off single. With the win, the River Cats improved their record to 5-4 in extra innings and 3-1 at home. The River Cats and Chihuahuas will come right back tomorrow afternoon for a game three matinee. Right-hander Tyler Beede (5-7, 5.12) will get the call for Sacramento and left-hander Dillon Overton (2-2, 6.75) will go for El Paso. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m. (PT) and the game can be heard live on the air on ESPN 1320 and online at rivercats.com. Postgame Notes Quote of the night: "A walk-off in any kind of fashion is pretty cool, especially in baseball. That's a good team win, we were down and we battled back. Our guys battled back, we kept gradually chipping away before we finally took the lead there at the end." - Trevor Brown on the walk-off victory Suarez: Albert Suarez made his first start at Triple-A this season, striking out five of the 12 batters he faced made two starts with San Jose before tonight, going six innings while allowing two runs he made seven starts with the River Cats last season, going 4-3 with a 4.34 ERA. Brilliant Bullpen: The River Cats 'pen combined for nine total innings in tonight's win allowed just one run on four hits over their final six frames DJ Snelten picked up the win, his third, with a perfect 12th inning. Jones: Third baseman Ryder Jones made his first rehab start with tonight finished the game 0-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch in his seven innings hit.299 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI before being called up by San Francisco. Parker: Jarrett Parker extended his hitting streak to four games tonight hitting.389 over that span (7- for-18) with four walks and three RBI. Sacratomatoes take over Raley Field By Robert Barsanti / Sacramento River Cats Holy tomato! 1
The Sacramento River Cats are excited to unveil their specialty Sacramento Tomato jerseys which will be worn on Sactown Grown Night on Saturday, July 29. Sactown Grown Night and the Sacramento Tomato specialty jerseys will celebrate the Sacramento region as the Farm-to-Fork Capitol of the nation. The jerseys will be worn by the players and will be auctioned off during the game. Benefits from the jersey auction will support Team Chris. Tickets for Sactown Grown night can be purchsed online or by visiting the Round Table Pizza Ticket Offce at Raley Field. Pitchers' duel ends with Giants' walk-off win By Jordan Bastian and Jonathan Hawthorne / MLB.com SAN FRANCISCO -- Eduardo Nunez shot a pitch into right field, delivering a walk-off win against Indians closer Cody Allen on Tuesday night. San Francisco's 2-1 victory in 10 innings over the Tribe culminated in a mob of celebrating Giants players on the infield. The win was the fourth in walk-off fashion this season for the Giants, who started their decisive rally with a leadoff double by Conor Gillaspie on his 30th birthday. Allen then watched a bunt from Denard Span roll by for an unlikely infield single, setting up the game-winning blow from Nunez, who recorded his first RBI since rejoining the team from a stint on the disabled list. "It's great to have those," said Giants starter Ty Blach. "Everybody feels good after a win like that, especially after a tough one last night with a couple of plays that really hurt us. Being able to bounce back and play a really crisp game, that was great for our guys." With the loss, Cleveland dropped to 1-4 on its current trip through Oakland and San Francisco. In the five games, the Indians have hit.192 as a team with 12 runs scored and have posted a.334 OPS in 41 atbats with runners in scoring position. "It's been kind of a theme this trip," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "I don't want to go back and [focus on that], because that doesn't help, but we've just got to keep grinding. Sometimes teams go through periods like this. We've just got to figure out a way to win 2-1, as opposed to losing 2-1." Blach handcuffed the Tribe over seven innings, scattering seven hits, striking out three and walking one in his no-decision. He dropped his ERA to 2.33 over his last three starts. Cleveland's only breakthrough against the lefty came in the third, when Bradley Zimmer singled and later scored on a triple by Brandon Guyer. Indians righty Mike Clevinger -- also forced to walk away with a no-decision -- struck out seven, walked two and limited San Francisco to one unearned run in six innings. Over his past six turns for the Tribe, the right-hander has logged a 1.36 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and a.161/.277/.259 opponents' slash line. "It's exciting. It's really exciting," Francona said of Clevinger's progress. "He and [pitching coach Mickey Callaway] have been working really hard about attacking the zone and he's doing it more. You're seeing the results. It gets exciting." 2
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Dyson's redemption: Giants reliever Sam Dyson's trying season opened with a pair of rough outings against the Indians during their season-opening series against Texas. Dyson allowed eight runs in one inning combined as the Rangers' closer in those games against Cleveland. On Tuesday night, he held the Tribe scoreless over the ninth and 10th innings, helping buy time for San Francisco's offense. "You look at his body of work last year, really in the Major Leagues, he's used to pitching in high-level situations," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's got the stuff to do it." Guyer's gaffe: The lone unearned run against Clevinger arrived in the sixth, when a missed catch by Guyer in right field proved costly. Nunez shot a pitch into right-center, where Guyer lost sight of the ball, which clanked off his glove, hit his chest and dropped to the grass for a two-base error. With first base open, Clevinger then tried to pitch around Buster Posey, but the Giants catcher got his bat on an outside slider and delivered his RBI single. "I've got to catch it," Guyer said. "But at the last second, for whatever reason, I lost it. I've had that happen to me before and made the catch. It's a ball I've got to catch. It's really frustrating, especially when it's such a big run in the game. You never want anything like that to happen. [Clevinger] was pitching really good and didn't deserve to give up any runs." QUOTABLE "No wonder the ball got through. The baseball gods took care of him. Good pitch he hit, too." -- Bochy, upon learning Tuesday was Gillaspie's birthday SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Tuesday's contest was the first extra-inning game for Cleveland since April 11. It ended a streak of 84 consecutive games without extra innings, breaking the franchise's previous mark of 81 set in 1902. WHAT'S NEXT Indians: Right-hander Carlos Carrasco (10-4, 3.65 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Tribe in a 3:45 p.m. ET Interleague game with the Giants on Wednesday at AT&T Park. Carrasco has not faced San Francisco since 2014, but has gone 7-2 with a 2.86 ERA in 10 road starts this season. Giants: Matt Cain (3-8, 5.56 ERA) takes the mound for the Giants in a 12:45 p.m. PT contest against the Indians on Wednesday. Cain hasn't started a game since the Fourth of July, when he lost his seventh consecutive decision. Giants hope to add high schooler rejected by O s By Henry Schulman / SF Gate The Giants are involved in a bizarre addendum to the June amateur draft that could bolster their minorleague system. 3
The club hopes by Wednesday to complete a physical on Texas high school pitcher Jack Conlon, whom the Orioles selected in the fourth round but did not sign because he failed their physical. Conlon, who had an offer to play for Texas A&M, became free to sign with any club and reached a tentative agreement with the Giants. Does that mean they are buying damaged goods? Not necessarily. The Orioles are notorious for their strict standard for physicals, which has led to several free-agent deal falling apart. All athletes, even high schoolers, have some degree of physical deterioration. The question becomes how bad it is and how much financial risk teams are willing to take as a result. It was not clear why Conlon failed Baltimore's physical or how large a bonus they had offered him. The slot value for his pick was just over $400,000. Baseball America, which said the right-hander has a fastball in the low-90s that can touch 95 mph, reported he wanted closer to $1 million. Giants officials declined to comment because a deal had not been completed. Their physical is not a formality, but a person familiar with the situation said team doctors will draw their own conclusions and not be influenced by what Orioles doctors found. First-base options: Brandon Belt returned to the lineup after a two-game absence with a wrist injury. Jae-Gyun Hwang made his big-league debut at first base Monday night after considerable time at the position at Sacramento and did not look nearly as comfortable as he does at third base. His throwing error on a bunt allowed the go-ahead run to score in a 5-3 loss to the Indians. Asked if he might play Hwang at third and Nuñez at first if both were needed again on the infield, manager Bruce Bochy said no. "It doesn't matter who I put out there other than Buster (Posey). I don't think he's going to be completely comfortable," Bochy said. Briefly: Bochy plans to start rookie infielder Miguel Gomez and Kelby Tomlinson on Wednesday, the latter possibly playing left field with either Denard Span or Hunter Pence getting a day off. Posey is expected to sit as well. The Giants activated Ryder Jones from the DL and optioned him to Sacramento. Two Giants pitchers attracting trade interest By Henry Schulman / SF Gate Since I haven't gotten any "why is Gorkys Hernandez playing" questions in the past 18 hours, let's change the subject to the trade deadline, which is still a lifetime (11 days) away. I've heard from major-league sources that the Giants are getting a lot of hits on starter Jeff Samardzija and reliever Hunter Strickland. Since every contender needs bullpen help, and the reliever market has already yielded deals, I'd say if one were to be moved first it would be Strickland. 4
Samardzija has a 4.86 ERA, he's on pace to allow a career-high 34 RBIs and he has more than $60 million left on a deal that does not expire until after the 2020 season. But he is durable, which matters, and teams have taken note of his 9.64 ratio of strikeouts to walks. That is a big deal. That said, the Giants have a problem that all potential sellers face: a lack of buyers. In fact, one majorleague executive asked rhetorically, "Has there ever been this few buyers in the wild-card era?" The National League has five playoff spots and only six teams with winning records. The Dodgers and Nationals are in. The Diamondbacks are in great shape for a wild card. The one compelling race is for the Central title between the Brewers and Cubs, who have won four in a row out of the break and open Tuesday 3 ½ games back. The American League is more competitive even with the Astros owning the West. Boston and Cleveland lead the East and Central, and each division has two teams within 3 ½ games of first place. That is more fertile ground for potential deals. The Giants need help everywhere -- offensively, defensively and on the mound - and I'm told from outside sources that they are being "creative" in discussions. To me that means anything from a willingness to deal core players, eat salary on guys they move or even involve a third team in talks. But I'm told from within that the Giants do not feel they have to overhaul the team by July 31. Indeed, they might be better served waiting until the offseason to make any major trades when more teams might get involved. They do not feel they have to make trades for the sake of doing something. Every deal they consider must be viewed through the prism of their schedule for contending again. The Giants want to compete for playoff spot next year if they can, and if not, at least be a winning team. They definitely want to fight for the playoffs in 2019. Dealing Samardzija would provide payroll relief, but the coming free-agent marked is bereft of quality starters. That would not preclude trading him. But it could give the Giants pause. Teams in the Giants' predicament need to be very open-minded. Incidentally, regarding talk of a Giancarlo Stanton trade, a Giants source said, "There's nothing to it." Stanton and the nearly $300 million left in his contract are intertwined with the Marlins prospect sale. I can t imagine a deal that complex happening anytime soon. Gillaspie celebrates birthday with clutch hit for Giants By PAUL GACKLE / Bay Area News Group SAN FRANCISCO Conor Gillaspie celebrated his 30th birthday in heroic fashion. In just his second at bat since the All-Star break, Gillaspie delivered a pinch hit double that set up the Giants 2-1 extra-inning win over the Cleveland Indians at AT&T Park. 5
I love to get them any time I can. You ve got to be grateful when you get hits, especially off the bench, Gillaspie said, dismissing the significance of his birthday heroics. I was fortunate to put a good swing on a pretty good pitch. Gillaspie led off the 10th inning with a double down the right field line that nicked off the glove of Edwin Encarnacion as he dove toward first base, just his third extra-base hit of the season. The 30-year-old infielder expected Encarnacion to catch the ball, so he almost stopped running before the ball bounced into the Indians bullpen. Manager Bruce Bochy saw the play as a birthday gift from above. No wonder that ball got through, the Giants manager said. Baseball Gods took care of him. Good pitch he hit, too. After Denard Span moved Kelby Tomlinson, who was pinch running for Gillaspie, over to third with a bunt single, Eduardo Nunez, who had a 33-game on-base streak snapped on Monday, brought him home with the first walk-off hit of his Major League career, a single to right off a first pitch fastball. Nunez was able to bounce back from losing the longest on-base streak in the Majors this season because he wasn t even aware of it until Monday. I didn t know that, Nunez said. I didn t think about it. I just think about [moving] forward. Before Gillaspie and Nunez delivered the win, Ty Blach gave Bochy exactly what he s hoping to see from his starting pitching during the Giants current 10-game stretch at AT&T Park. The Giants manager wants his rotation to regain its home-field mojo in baseball s friendliest pitcher s park and Blach did just that in his seven innings of work Tuesday. After posting a 9.00 ERA in his three previous starts at China Basin, Blach rebounded by surrendering just one earned run on seven hits while walking one batter and striking out three. Blach, who was pitching for the first time since July 5, retired nine-straight batters between the fourth and sixth innings. He escaped a pair of jams with two runners on by inducing 6-4-3 double plays in the second and the sixth and he only allowed two runners to reach third base. I ve been staying on line a little bit better. I was getting a little rotational, Blach said, reflecting on his recent resurgence. I feel like I m getting down out over my front side a little bit better, getting the ball down in the zone, getting more ground balls. The left-handed rookie s only blemish came in the third when Brandon Guyer smacked a triple off the top of the wall in left-center field, scoring Bradley Zimmer from second. Blach s quality start came on the heels of Matt Moore s best home outing since May 13, an encouraging sign for Bochy at the backend of his rotation. That s who we are, Bochy said. If you look at the success that we ve had since 2010, or I ll go back to 2009, it s been our pitching, our starting pitching. The Giants bats got Blach off the hook in sixth by tying the game up with a two-out single. Buster Posey scooped up his 38th RBI of the season by driving in Nunez from second with a line drive up the middle. 6
Nunez nearly botched the play by hesitating at third base for a few seconds even though he was being waived in, but he still managed to beat Zimmer s throw to the plate. After Blach did his job, the Giants bullpen shut things down as Hunter Strickland and Sam Dyson (2-7) combined to pitch three shutout innings without surrendering a hit. Everyone feels good after a win like that, especially after a tough one last night, Blach said. To be able to bounce back and play a really crisp game today, that was great for our guys. After selling out 530-consecutive games, the Giants failed to fill AT&T Park to capacity for a secondstraight game Tuesday, drawing a paid attendance of 39,151. Hump day will be rest day for several Giants regulars. Bochy is planning to give Posey and Hunter Pence a day off Wednesday, and he suggested that Span could get a breather, too. As a result, rookie infielder Miguel Gomez will likely crack the starting lineup for the first time since he made his Major League debut on July 7 and outfielder Kelby Tomlinson will make his first start since July 5. Gomez is 1 for 6 since his recall from Double-A Richmond and Tomlinson has produced a slash line of.267/.307/.640 in 48 games this season. Brandon Belt returned to the Giants lineup Tuesday after missing a pair of games with a left wrist injury. Although his wrist may be healthy, Belt didn t look so good at the plate, going 0 for 3 with three strikeouts. TUESDAY'S VICTORY GIVES GIANTS A REMINDER OF HOW THEY USED TO WIN By Alex Pavlovic / NBC Sports Bay Area SAN FRANCISCO Giants executives have been meeting every day in recent weeks, and the conversations go far beyond the trade deadline. The front office is trying to figure out if the Giants can still be competitive in this age of home runs and strikeouts. The Giants have been left behind in the power department, but Tuesday s win was a reminder that there s still another path. It s harder, but it can be just as rewarding, and it s simply the way this roster is built. Tuesday was a throwback: A deep outing from the starter, a shutdown night from the bullpen, strong defense, and an opportunistic offense. It added up to a 2-1 win over the Indians in 10 innings. Eduardo Nuñez walked it off with a single to right that scored Kelby Tomlinson in the bottom of the 10th, but this one was won much earlier, when Ty Blach continued a positive trend and got through the seventh. Blach became the third Giants starter in four days to record 21 outs, and the previous one Matt Moore showed just how tenuous life can be when you re not built on homers. The Giants fell 5-3 in the opener of this series because Moore and Jae-gyun Hwang made crucial errors. They can t afford to play like that, and a night later, they flipped the switch the other way. Brandon 7
Crawford was spectacular at short and Joe Panik joined him in turning a couple of double plays for Blach. Denard Span chased down a liner in center and Hunter Pence sprawled to grab a bloop. In a lost season, perhaps the Giants can take some solace in Tuesday s win, just their 36th of the year and one that kept them from falling 30 games out in the NL West. They have many of the pieces to win on pitching-and-defense. They just have to, you know, actually do it. It makes life a lot easier, Bochy said after Blach joined Moore and Bumgarner in getting through seven. It s going to be critical for them to get us deep into games and give us a quality starts to help get this thing turned around. It allows you to keep the bullpen fresh and make the moves you want to make. Blach gave up just one run in his time, and he said afterward that he has fixed some rotational issues in his delivery. His outing allowed Bochy to shorten his bullpen, and Hunter Strickland pitched a scoreless eighth to lower his ERA to 1.85. Sam Dyson, a revelation since coming over from Texas, pitched two hitless innings to lower his National League ERA to 2.93. The Giants cannot see first place or even a playoff spot from where they stand. But they don t have to squint hard to see the makings of an intriguing bullpen in 2018. Bochy can picture many a night where a starter gets deep and turns a lead over to a bullpen that could be much improved if Dyson is for real and Mark Melancon comes back healthy. It starts with the starters, though. That s who we are, Bochy said. If you look at the success going back to 2010 and even 2009, it s been the starting pitching. Those teams never won by bashing opponents over the head. They scored creatively and took advantage of mistakes. The Giants did both Tuesday. The first run came when Brandon Guyer dropped a fly ball in right, allowing Nuñez to reach second with one out in the sixth. The winning run came after Conor Gillaspie on his 30th birthday smoked a pinch-hit double off Edwin Encarnacion s glove at first. Tomlinson pinch-ran and Denard Span pushed him over and reached on his own with a perfect bunt. Nuñez had never before recorded a walk-off hit. He thought he lost his chance when Span stole second. I thought they were going to walk me, he said. "As soon as Span got to second base, I was like, fuuuuu " The Indians did not put him on. Instead, Nuñez sent everyone home. 8