Sacramento Rivercats

Sacramento falls late to Fresno 7-6

Fresno, CA - The Sacramento River Cats (29-43) took a two-run lead into the eighth inning Friday night

against the Fresno Grizzlies (36-38) but watched it slip away in their 7-6 defeat.

Sacramento got on the board first thanks to a three-run first inning in which they sent eight men to the

plate. Two of the runs came courtesy of Mac Williamson who singled home Jarrett Parker and Ryder

Jones. Williamson came through again in the fifth after the Grizzlies tied things up, this time driving in

Parker with a sacrifice fly for his third RBI on the night.

Starter Michael Roth filled in admirably for scheduled starter Joan Gregorio, going a season-high 6.2

innings. The left-hander also threw a season-high 108 pitches during his outing while allowing four runs

(three earned) on seven hits. Fresno did their damage against the bullpen tonight however, pushing one

across in the eighth off reliever Matt Reynolds and two more in the ninth with Derek Law on the mound.

The River Cats and Grizzlies will wrap up their four-game series with a doubleheader Saturday. Fresno

will send right-hander Casey Coleman (2-4, 6.27) to the hill for game one and righty Dean Deetz (0-2,

20.25) will pitch game two. Sacramento has yet to announce their starters. First pitch for game one is

set for 5:05 p.m. (PT) and the game can be heard live online at rivercats.com and on the air on ESPN

1320.

Postgame Notes

Not over 'til it's over: The Sacramento bullpen blew their 13th save opportunity of the year and first by

Derek Law…the River Cats are now 22-4 when leading after eight innings, the second worst mark in the

league after New Orleans (21-4)…the club is 18-18 when scoring first.

Williamson heating up: Mac Williamson registered his second three-RBI game of the season

tonight…he's now hitting .363 (8-for-22) over his last six games with five runs and seven runs knocked in.

Parker producing: Jarrett Parker scored three of the team's six runs tonight…he now has seven runs

scored in his four starts with Sacramento…also walked twice tonight and now has five free passes…is

hitting .273 with a .500 on base percentage.

Hwang: Jae-Gyun Hwang knocked in his team-leading 43rd RBI of the season tonight…smacked his 19th

double, most on the team.

Richmond Flying Squirrels

It's Me, Luigi! Rodriguez Leads Ducks In Opener

RVA - Akron's Luigi Rodriguez homered twice to lead the RubberDucks in a 9-6 victory over Richmond on

Friday night at The Diamond. Richmond (30-42) rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning

and were one batter shy of brining the tying run to the plate. The Squirrels collected nine hits, including

three apiece for C.J. Hinojosa and Myles Schroder in the defeat. Akron lefty Matt Whitehouse tossed a

season-high seven innings to earn the win. Richmond will attempt to get even in the middle game of the

series on Saturday at 6:05 p.m.

Trailing 9-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, Richmond bull rushed Akron reliever Mitch Brown for four

run to make things interesting Brown walked Brandon Bednar and hit Hunter Cole to begin the uprising.

After Brown set down the next two batters, Jeff Arnold drilled a three-run homer over the left field

fence to make it a 9-5 contest. Schroder kept it going with a walk and Hinojosa brought him home on a

base hit, bringing the tying run into the on deck circle. Akron went back into the bullpen, bringing in

closer Neil Holland. Holland finished off Daniel Carbonell to end the game and earn the save .

Jordan Johnson stared the contest for Richmond, coming off his roughest outing of the season. Johnson

retired all three batters with ease in the first inning, but encountered some control issues in the second.

Johnson walked Bobby Bradley to begin the second and then walked Yu Chang with two outs. Dorssys

Paulino provided the first runs of the game when he knocked a double off the right field wall to give

Akron a 2-0 lead. Paulino was thrown out on the play attempting to take third base to end the inning.

The Squirrels nibbled around the bases in the first three innings against Akron starting pitcher Matt

Whitehouse. Richmond stranded a runner on third base in the first and a pair in the second. Schroder

connected on his second hit of the game, a base hit to center field, but Whitehouse left him on by

punching out Daniel Carbonell to end the inning. Whitehouse tallied 49 pitches over the first three

innings in the game.

Akron added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Eric Hasse lined a double with one out and

Luigi Rodriguez launched a two-run homer that skimmed over the center field fence. Rodriguez' home

run was his seventh of the year and gave Akron a 4-0 advantage. Johnson struck out the next batter to

end the inning. He closed out the fourth frame on his 63rd pitch of the evening.

Whitehouse managed to reach the sixth inning without allow a run, thanks in part to a pair of double

plays. Richmond eventually dinged the lefty for a pair of runs to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. The Squirrels

loaded the bases and pushed across the first run on a Jerry Sands ground out. Brandon Bednar followed

with another RBI ground out for the second run.

Johnson (4-5) lasted six innings in the defeat. The righty allowed four runs on six hits. He struck out five

and walked three on 94 pitches.

Ryan Halstead replaced Johnson to begin the seventh inning. Halstead was ambushed for three runs,

including run-producing, extra-base hits from Tyler Krieger and Bobby Bradley.

Whitehouse finished off a season-high seven innings to earn the win. The lefty allowed two runs on six

hits, using 90 pitches in the outing. He walked one and struck out three.

San Jose Giants

Giants Lose Sixth Straight To Rawhide

VISALIA, CA - Visalia's Justin Donatella fired seven scoreless innings as the Rawhide cruised to a 6-1

victory over the Giants on Friday evening at Recreation Park. The loss was San Jose's (30-42) second

straight to begin the series and sixth in a row overall. All six losses during the current skid have come to

Visalia.

Heath Quinn (2-for-4, RBI) and Aramis Garcia (2-for-4) had two hits apiece to lead the Giants offensively

in defeat. All eight of San Jose's hits in the contest were singles with their lone run coming on a Quinn

RBI single in the top of the ninth.

Jake McCasland started on the mound for the Giants and began his night with two scoreless innings

before running into trouble in the bottom of the third. With one out, Galli Cribbs singled before stealing

second. Following a Matt McPhearson strikeout, Sergio Alcantara stepped to the plate and grounded a

double down the right field line that scored Cribbs for a 1-0 Rawhide advantage.

Meanwhile, Gio Brusa's single in the top of the second was San Jose's only baserunner over the first

three innings against Donatella. In the top of the fourth with Visalia ahead up by a run, Dillon Dobson

delivered a one-out single. Garcia then hammered a line drive off the bottom of the fence in deep left.

Dobson advanced to third, however Garcia was thrown out at second by the left fielder Cribbs

attempting to stretch the hit into a double. Quinn then flied out to the warning track in left center to

end the inning.

In the top of the fifth, T.J. Bennett walked with two outs before John Polonius singled, but Donatella

retired Jalen Miller on a come backer to keep the score at 1-0.

The Rawhide then scored a pair of unearned runs against McCasland in the bottom of the fifth to stretch

their lead to 3-0. A walk to Daniel Lockhart started the inning before McPhearson singled with one out

to put runners on first and second. Alcantara followed with a grounder into the hole on the right side

that deflected off the glove of the second baseman Bennett. The error allowed Lockhart to score from

second base while McPhearson moved into third and Alcantara was safe at first. Austin Byler was up

next and he lifted a sacrifice fly into center plating McPhearson to make the score 3-0.

Donatella breezed through the sixth and seventh innings before a three-run bottom of the seventh for

Visalia broke the game open. With reliever Connor Kaden on the mound, McPhearson and Alcantara

drew back-to-back one-out walks. Byler then bounced an RBI single into left as McPhearson scored for a

4-0 cushion. Marty Herum followed with a line drive double into the left center field gap to bring home

Alcantara and Byler extending the lead to 6-0.

The Giants' only run of the night came in the top of the ninth. A Ronnie Jebavy leadoff single and a

Garcia one-out single put runners on first and second. Quinn then lined a single into center to score

Jebavy trimming the Rawhide lead to 6-1. Visalia reliever Nick Baker though prevented further damage

as he set down the next two hitters, Brusa on a pop out and Jonah Arenado on a groundout, to end the

game.

Donatella (4-8) surrendered just five hits and issued only one walk during his seven shutout innings to

pick-up the win. The right-hander, who faced only three batters over the minimum, struck out three.

McCasland (2-8) suffered the loss despite allowing just one earned run in six innings. McCasland gave up

three runs total and seven hits during his stint on the mound. He walked one and matched a season-high

with seven strikeouts.

Notes

* San Jose's current six-game skid matches their longest losing streak of the season. The Giants also lost

six in a row from May 12-17.

* The current streak includes four losses to the Rawhide to end the first half before back-to-back defeats

to Visalia to open the second half.

* The Rawhide out-hit San Jose 10-8 on Friday.

* McCasland has struck out 21 batters over his last three starts spanning 19 2/3 innings.

* Michael Cederoth struck out three over 1 2/3 perfect innings of relief on Friday.

* The Giants fell to 4-13 against Visalia this season. San Jose has been held to three runs or fewer in 12

of the 17 games.

* Friday's loss dropped San Jose to a season-high 12 games below .500 overall.

On Deck

The Giants and Rawhide continue their four-game series on Saturday evening with first pitch at

Recreation Park scheduled for 7:00 PM. Conner Menez (5-3, 3.99 ERA) is slated to start on the mound

for San Jose while Visalia is expected to counter with Bo Takahashi (5-2, 2.36 ERA). The game can be

heard live on sjgiants.com with coverage beginning at 6:40 PM.

Salem-Keizer Volcanoes

Emeralds extinguish the Volcanoes fire

EUGENE, Ore. -- The defending Northwest League Champion Eugene Emeralds overpowered the Salem-

Keizer Volcanoes to take game one of the series on a picturesque evening at PK Park with a 15 to 5 win

off of 16 hits for the home side.

Emeralds starting pitcher Bailey Clark had a rocky start to his night when he drilled leadoff hitter

Malique Ziegler with his first pitch. Second baseman Kevin Rivera followed with a Texas leaguer to

shallow left field, which put two aboard with nobody out. With right fielder Juan Rodriguez at the dish,

the Volcanoes executed a double steal to put runners on second and third with no outs. Rodriguez

would strike out swinging, but first baseman Ryan Kirby would pick up his teammate by hitting a sac fly

to left to drive in the game's first run.

Volcanoes starting southpaw Sidney Duprey sailed through the first two batters of the game before the

wheels fell off. After allowing back-to-back singles by designated hitter Miguel Amaya and Northwest

League hitting leader Gustavo Polanco, Duprey pegged left fielder Joe Martarano, then walked third

baseman Jhonny Bethencourt and catcher Tyler Payne before manager Jolbert Cabrera had seen

enough. Right handed reliever Hengerber Medina couldn't squelch the fervor of the sold out crowd as

right fielder Jose Gonzalez tagged him for a three run double, widening the Emerald lead to 5 to 1.

The Volcanoes would add one run in the second before bashing a barrage of base hits that plated four in

the top half of the third. The hit parade started with Malique Ziegler, who legged out an infield single to

start the frame. Following Ziegler was the switch hitting second baseman Kevin Rivera, who laced a liner

to center just out of the reach of outstretched Emeralds center fielder Zach Davis, scoring Ziegler.

Rodriguez and shortstop Manuel Geraldo would also join the hit party leading to two more runs for the

Volcanoes. Before the inning was over, the Volcanoes would even the score at five.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the fourth when center fielder Zach Davis yanked a

moonshot down the right field line to put Eugene on top 6 to 5. The Emeralds would tack on another in

the inning when second baseman Rafael Narea dashed home on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Miguel

Amaya.

The relentless Eugene offense busted the game wide open when they put three more runs on the board

in the fifth, making the score 10 to 5.

The five run lead wasn't enough for the Emeralds as catcher Tyler Payne mashed a three run homer

down the left field line to give Eugene a convincing 13-5 advantage.

Volcanoes manager Jolbert Cabrera officially waved the white flag in the seventh when he put in utility

infielder AJ Ramirez to pitch. Ramirez struggled to find the strike zone early by walking the first two

batters, but eventually settled in and managed to give up just one run. Catcher Rene Melendez also tried

his hand on the mound in the barnburner, issuing three free passes, but also giving up just one run.

On a night where the Emeralds donned gold lettering to pay homage to their 2016 title, they reminded

the Volcanoes about what made them champions. By the time the game mercifully came to an end the

Emeralds had pounded out 16 hits, to beat the Volcanoes by a score of 15 to 5.

Ziegler was once again the star for the Volcanoes, going two for three with two stolen bases and two

runs scored.

While both Thomas Payne and Jose Gonzalez had 4 RBIs, the Emeralds offensive onslaught can't be

attributed to any one batter as six different batters put together multi-hit games for the Emeralds.

The series will head back to Keizer for games two and three starting Saturday night at 6:35 p.m.,

highlighted by the Bark in Park promotion, as the Volcanoes will look to put tonight's blowout loss in the

rearview.