Monthly Archives: September 2021

2022 SCHEDULE

Almost all of the Low-A West teams have posted their 2022 schedules, which reveal a 132-game season (66 home games) and the return of the six-game series format. From Ballpark Digest:

“The Low-A schedule framework is the same as the High-A schedule framework: a 132-game season with 66 home games, representing an addition of 12 games over the 120-game 2021 season. The season begins April 8 and ends Sept. 11, with the playoffs afterwards; there is a break for All-Star Games. Also on tap: a wider range of league opponents, versus the limited slate of opponents this season as part of baseball’s COVID strategies. The six-game series with Mondays off will continue, with the exceptions being July 4 (which falls on a Monday) and a July 18-21 All-Star break.”

If you visit the various team websites, most of them have their 2022 schedules linked, such as Lake Elsinore:

 

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

SAN JOSE SWEEPS, 2021 CHAMPS

Game 3

FRESNO – 2
SAN JOSE – 7

Box

SAN JOSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIP 3 GAMES TO 0

Grant McCray (SJ) 2-for-4, 2B, HR (1), 3 Runs scored
Luis Matos (SJ) 1-for-2, HR (1), BB
Yorlis Rodriguez (SJ) 2-for-4, 2B
Nick Swiney (SJ) 4IP, 4H, 2R, 2BB, 6K
Tristan Beck (SJ) W, 2 1/3IP, 3H, oR, oBB, 2K
Mateo Gil (FRE) 2-for-4
AJ Lewis (FRE) 2-for-4
Robby Martin Jr. (FRE) 2-RBI single
Anderson Pilar (FRE) 2 1/3IP, 0R, 0H, 2BB, 4K

GAME 2

SAN JOSE – 4
FRESNO – 2

Box

Patrick Bailey (SJ) 3-for-4, 2 HR (2), 2B, 1 runner CS
Carson Ragsdale (SJ) 6IP, 3H, 2R, 3BB, 5K
Clay Helvey (SJ) 2IP, 0R, 0H, 0BB, 1K
Jimmy Glowenke (SJ) 2-for-4, HR (1)
Yorlis Rodriguez (SJ) HR (1)
Tony Locey (FRE) 6IP, 4H, 3R, 0BB, 6K

GAME 1

SAN JOSE – 3
FRESNO – 1

San Jose leads 1-0

Box

Kyle Harrison (SJ) 6 1/3 IP, 1R, 4H, 1BB, 6K
Luis Toribio (SJ) 2-for-3, HR (1)
Aeverson Arteaga (SJ), 2-for-4, 3B
Ghordy Santos (SJ) 2-for-3, BB
Zac Veen (FRE) 2-for-3, BB
Warming Bernabel (FRE) 2-for-3

SATURDAY 9/18 SCORES

VISALIA – 6
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 7

Box

INLAND EMPIRE – 0
LAKE ELSINORE – 7

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SAN JOSE – 5
FRESNO -2

Box

MODESTO – 6
STOCKTON – 1

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MODESTO’S KINGSBURY, NUNEZ COMBINE TO NO-HIT STOCKTON

Jimmy Kingsbury

Modesto’s Jimmy Kingsbury and  Kelvin Nunez combined to throw a no-hitter in the Nuts 7-0 win over Stockton on Friday night, the first no hitter in the Cal League since 2019. Kingsbury went the first seven innings and walked one batter while striking out 10. Nunez handled the 8th and 9th with no walks and three strikeouts. This was the third no-no in Modesto Nuts history, the last one coming in 2013.

Corey Rosier hit his third homer of the season and Trent Tinglestad had four hits to lead the Modesto offense. Rosier is now slashing .417/.489/.620 in 29 games for the Nuts.

Kingsbury was perfect in five of his seven innings. Junior Perez stuck out with one out in the third but reached first when the third strike got away from C Eric Jones. Perez stole second and when Jack Winkler reached on an error, Kingsbury was faced with a two-out, first-and-third jam. The righty out of Villanova induced a groundout to end the inning.

Kevin Richards drew a one-out walk in the fifth and was replaced on base when Perez followed with a FC grounder. Perez stole second again, but Kingsbury got another groundout to end the threat. He yielded to Nunez after seven innings having thrown 87 pitches, 64 for strikes.

Kelvin Nunez

Nunez went six up/six down over the final two innings on 18 pitches, 15 of them strikes. Together, Kingsbury and Nunez walked one and struck out 13. With business being handled quickly most of the night, the time of the game was 2:06.

Tinglestad led Modesto’s 14-hit attack with 4, while Rosier, Spencer Packard and Cesar Izturis Jr. had two hits apiece.

 

BLISS CYCLES in visalia’s 7-3 win

Visalia SS Ryan Bliss hit for the cycle, including his 6th homer of the season, in Visalia’s 7-3 win over Rancho Cucamonga. Avery Short (W, 2-5) gave up two runs over five innings and John Carver earned his first save as he allowed one run over four innings of relief.

Bliss homered in the first, doubled in the third, tripled in the sixth and then got a single in the ninth to complete his rare feat. He had a 10-game win streak snapped on Thursday night but got back into the hit column in a big way on Friday.

Deyvison De Los Santos hit his third homer of the year for Visalia and Shane Muntz blasted his second.

Yeiner Fernandez belted his first homer of the year for the Quakes.

 

SAN JOSE – 6
FRESNO – 5

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The top two teams in the league continued to size each other up for next week’s championship series and the Giants have had the better of it so far. Luis Matos and Jimmy Glowenke each had two hits as San Jose won for the third time in four games in this season-ending series. Pitcher of the Week/Month honoree Randy Rodriguez (W, 6-3) went 3 1/3 innings and allowed one hit with no runs or walks while striking out six.

INLAND EMPIRE – 1
LAKE ELSINORE – 0

Box

Jack Kochanowicz and Nick Mondak combined for the Cal League pitching effort of the night any other time, but their 1-0 shutout of Lake Elsinore happened to fall on a night when there was a no-hitter elsewhere. Jose Reyes doubled in a run in the fourth inning for the 66ers and that was it for both sides. Kochanowicz gave up three hits and didn’t walk anybody while striking out five over four innings. Mondak (W, 2-0) gave up one hit and no walks while striking out five. This game did edge out the Modesto no-hitter with a time of 2:03.

THURSDAY 9/16 SCORES

VISALIA – 6
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 8

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SAN JOSE – 6
FRESNO – 7

10 Innings

Box

MODESTO – 9
STOCKTON – 10

10 Innings

Box

INLAND EMPIRE – 3
LAKE ELSINORE – 5

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WEDNESDAY 9/15 SCORES

SAN JOSE – 12
FRESNO – 8

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San Jose (74-42) wins its 7th straight, closes in on Fresno (72-39) for the division lead, just 1/2 game back. Luis Matos went 2-for-4 with a walk and a HR (15). Harrison Freed with his 8th HR, a grand slam in the ninth to provide the winning margin. Jimmy Glowenke 1-for-3 with three walks. Fresno’s Mateo Gil went 3-for-5 and knocked in five runs.

VISALIA – 4
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 5

Box

Walk-off win for Rancho on a Yeiner Fernandez RBI single. RHP Kyle Hurt threw 3 1/3 scoreless innings in relief with no hits, one walk and three Ks. Four Quakes pitchers held the Rawhide to just two hits. RHP Reinaldo De Paula (W, 2-1) finished the game, going 1 2/3 innings and allowing no runs on one hit, no walks and three Ks. Ryan Bliss hit his fifth homer of the year for Visalia.

INLAND EMPIRE – 3
LAKE ELSINORE – 17

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The Storm scored their 17 runs on 13 hits and 14 walks. Cole Cummings went 2-for-3 with a double, three RBIs and three runs scored and walked three times. Five Lake Elsinore batters had two hits apiece. RHP Ruben Galindo (W, 5-4) allowed five hits over four innings, one run, and struck out six. All seven of Inland Empire’s hits were singles and the 66ers batters walked once with 13 strikeouts.

MODESTO – 6
STOCKTON – 5

10 Innings

Box

Modesto scored the winning run on a GIDP in the 10th. James Parker went 3-for-5 with a double. Robert Perez was 2-for-4 with a walk and hit his 15th homer. LHP Brayan Perez pitched four shutout innings in relief, allowing no hits and two walks with seven Ks.

GIANTS SCORE 10 ON FRESNO, TOSS 2-HITTER

The San Jose Giants and Fresno Grizzlies will be seeing quite a lot of each other this week and next, and Tuesday night’s matchup was a dominant 10-0 win for the visiting Giants. Starter Kyle Harrison (W, 4-3) allowed two hits and three walks over five shutout innings and leadoff man Najee Gaskins had three hits and scored two runs in the rout.

Scoreless after three innings, the Giants got five runs (2ER) off of Fresno starter Anderson Amarista, who made a throwing error to complicate matters for himself. JImmy Glowenke singled in a pair of runs, part of a 3-for-4 night for the San Jose second baseman.

Luis Matos and Ghordy Santos each had two hits for the Giants.

Three relievers came out of the San Jose bullpen to combine for four hitless innings, striking out six without any walks. Harrison’s eight strikeouts brought his total to 162, second in the league behind teammate Carson Ragsdale (162).

Julio Carreras was 1-for-3 with a walk for Fresno.

The season-ending six-game series continues tonight, followed by the Low-A West championship series between these two teams. Tuesday night’s win pulled San Jose (73-42) to within 1 1/2 game of first-place Fresno (72-38).

 

SCOREBOARD

 

INLAND EMPIRE – 4
LAKE ELSINORE – 6

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VISALIA – 3
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 5

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MODESTO – 16
STOCKTON – 14

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RAMOS, RODRIGUEZ NAMED PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OF Jose Ramos of Rancho Cucamonga and RHP Randy Rodriguez of San Jose have been named Low-A West Player and Pitcher of the Week for September 6 – 12.

JOSE RAMOS – In six games at Inland Empire, Ramos went 11-for-27 with two doubles, a triple, three homers and 10 RBIs and four walks. The 20-year old from Panama joined the Quakes on July 22nd. In September Ramos is slashing .367/.446/.755.

 

RANDY RODRIGUEZ – Over two outings against Stockton, Rodriguez pitched five innings without allowing a run, giving up just one hit and no walks with seven strikeouts. This is the second time that the righty out of the Dominican Republic has been named Pitcher of the Week. On the season, Rodriguez has thrown 58 2/3 innings and struck out 95 batters against 23 walks.

SUNDAY 9/12 SCORES

Visalia earned a split with Lake Elsinore with a 4-2 win with RHP Scott Randall going four strong innings in his first start. Alek Jacob continues to be brilliant out of the Lake Elsinore bullpen: 15 2/3IP, 11 hits, 0BB, 23K.

San Jose caught idle Fresno in the win column at 72 with an 11-6 win over Stockton.

Rancho Cucamonga wrapped up the South division title, though they won’t be playing in the post-season with #1 and #2 overall playing a five-game championship series. That will be Fresno and San Jose.

 

LAKE ELSINORE – 2
VISALIA – 4

Box

Ryan Bliss (VIS) HR (4)
Tim Tawa (VIS) 3-for-4, 2B
Scott Randall 4IP, 0R, 2H, 0BB, 5K
Adrian Del Moral (VIS) @ (1-10), 3IP, 1R, 4H, 0BB, 3K
Lucas Dunn (LE) 2-for-3, BB
Alek Jacob (LE) 2IP, 0R, 1H, 0BB, 5K

 

STOCKTON – 6
SAN JOSE – 11

Box

Luis Matos (SJ) 4-for-4, 2B, HR (14), 3 RBIs
Patrick Bailey (SJ) 3-for-5, 2B
Brooks Crawford (SJ) 2IP, 0R, 1H, 0BB, 3K
Kevin Richards (STK) 3-for-5, HR (2), 2 RBIs
T.J. Schofield-Sam (STK) 3 hits, BB

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 10
INLAND EMPIRE – 0

Box

Yeiner Fernandez (RC), 3 hits
Jose Ramos (RC) 2-for-5, Triple, 2 RBIs
Marco Hernandez (RC) 2-for-3, 2 BBs
Nick Nastrini (RC) 3IP, 0R, 0H, 2BB 6K
Emmet Sheehan (RC) W (3-0), 3 2/3IP, 0R, 2H, 1BB 8K

FRESNO
MODESTO

Cancelled

RAGSDALE SHARP IN GIANTS’ CLINCHER

The San Jose Giants clinched a playoff spot on Friday night with Carson Ragsdale throwing five shutout innings and adding six more strikeouts to his Low-A West leading total, now 162. The Giants beat the Stockton Ports 6-0 and locked up a post-season matchup with the Fresno Grizzlies.

Ragsdale (W, 8-6) allowed three hits and a walk while striking out six in his five innings. Juan Sanchez and Clay Helvey each threw two scoreless innings in relief, combining to allow just one Stockton hit and no walks with five strikeouts.

Jimmy Glowenke had three hits for San Jose and Abdiel Layer was 2-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs. Stockton’s Junior Perez had two of his club’s four hits.

Ragsdale leads the league in strikeouts (162), IP (108 2/3) and is tied for the league lead in wins (8). He’s fourth in the league in opponents’ batting average (.244). The Giants have the top four strikeout pitchers in the league and five of the top six.

San Jose had 12 hits, with all but one batter hitting safely.

The teams are set for the best-of-five championship series which starts on Tuesday, September 21st. The Fresno Grizzlies already clinched the other spot. Details on game times and locations to come.

 

SCOREBOARD

 

LAKE ELSINORE – 9
VISALIA – 6

10 Innings
Box

The Rawhide forced extras with two runs in the bottom of the ninth but Lake Elsinore put four runs across in the 10th. Gilberto Vizcarra was 3-for-5 with a HR (4) for the Storm and Cole Cummings had three hits. Visalia’s Deyvison De Los Santos was 3-for-5 with a double and starter Avery Short struck out 10 in five innings.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 5
INLAND EMPIRE – 6

Box

The 66ers walked it of with a wild pitch. Edwin Yon had three hits, including the ninth-inning triple that allowed him to score the game-winner on a pitch that got away. SS Arol Vera had a four-hit night and has hit in seven straight and 10 of 11 games he’s played with Inland Empire. Nathan Burns pitched two innings out of the 66ers bullpen and gave up one hit and no walks while striking out five. Rancho Cucamonga’s Luis Yanel Diaz hit his fourth homer of the season.

FRESNO
MODESTO

Cancelled