It was a weird Strange day in Sacramento, promo-wise. But, hey, waffles! Yay for waffles!

Highlights: Caleb Kilian made a big impression in his NWL debut; Johnny Cueto went six shutout innings in his apparent final rehab appearance.

Johnny Cueto had a great rehab start, but the rest of the team struggled.

Cueto went six innings with no runs, just allowing four hits and striking out six, easily the best rehab start he’s had. He’d allowed three runs in 4.1 innings in his last Triple-A rehab start, and four runs in his previous rehab start in High-A. Word is that Cueto will be leaving with the Giants on Monday as they go on the road, so this is likely to be the last we see of Cueto in Sacramento.

The rest of the pitching staff was a bit disappointing, which is worth noting in the light of Reyes Moronta’s injury. Sam Wolff gave up a run in two innings, though he struck out three. Wolff has given up four runs in his last two appearances, boosting his Triple-A ERA to 6.00 in five games, with a .318 batting average allowed. Williams Jerez couldn’t get through a full inning, giving up a pair of runs. Jerez now has a 4.00 ERA in Sacramento with 61 strikeouts and 16 walks in 54 innings. Dan Winkler did add a final out, bringing his Sacramento ERA down to a nice 0.69 in 13 appearances.

There were no extra-base hits for the River Cats, but three of their most notable hitters did pick up singles. Jaylin Davis is 5-for-17 (.294) over his last four games, and his power has slipped away, but he’s still getting hits and batting .336/.413/.708 for Sacramento. Catcher Francisco Pena is 5-for-15 (.333) with a home run and a walk over the same span. First baseman Chris Shaw also got a single, as his four-game streak is 6-for-13 (.462) with two walks, and those three home runs from Thursday.

Playoff Position: In (finally!) as division champions.

It was a nice day for the top prospects.

Joey Bart was 2-for-5 with his third double of the season, and his Double-A batting line is beginning to look like a top prospect’s. The double was a 10th inning, game winning double that knocked in two runs. Over 21 games, he’s batting .307/.361/.507 with three doubles and four home runs, with 20 strikeouts and seven walks. His strikeout in today’s game was his first in the last three.

Send us home, Joey Bart pic.twitter.com/8DI5dsYh97 — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) September 1, 2019

Meanwhile, Heliot Ramos picked up a single and a walk. Ramos is batting .230/.316/.391 in 23 games, with six doubles, a triple and a home run. He’s struggled with strikeouts, 31 to just ten walks, but he’s still been able to barrel the ball a fair amount as he gets hits.

On the mound, Sean Hjelle had his best start in Double-A, allowing just one run in five innings. He’s still struggling with allowing hits, seven in this game, but only one for extra bases, a double. He has a .355 batting average allowed in 25.1 innings at Double-A, and a 1.86 WHIP./

The 10th inning did start out scary for the Giants as Johneshwy Fargas was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the 10th. There was an injury delay, but ultimately he stayed in the game, and he scored the game-winning run. He was 1-for-4 on the day, but no more stolen bases.

Playoff Position: Out.

San Jose lost to Stockton (Athletics), 12-5

With the wild card still up in the air, San Jose could not keep the momentum and lost ground.

The pitching was the culprit, with each of the team’s four pitchers giving up at least two runs. Jose Marte. Marte fell off after he had a shutout start in his last start. The four walks are a total he’s matched five times, once giving up five walks. In 74 innings this season, he’s walked 44 with 80 strikeouts. Solomon Bates was the last pitcher in the game, giving up three runs, two earned, in his first game back from rehab. He had allowed no runs in two appearances in the AZL. He hadn’t been in San Jose since June 23rd.

Diego Rincones picked up a pair of hits and walks, pushing his SJ batting line to .262/.392/.269. With his two walks, he now has 10 in San Jose against eight strikeouts in 65 at-bats. Manuel Geraldo is batting .357 over his last ten games as he has come alive as of late. He’s batting .324/.358/.529 in August, but it’s only upped his batting average to .248 on the season.

Playoff Position: Leading the wild card race, 1.0 games ahead of Modesto with two games to play.

A win by Augusta, a loss by Asheville, and the playoffs are very much in reach for Augusta as soon as Sunday.

Kai-Wei Teng allowed some runs, but found himself dominating in a different way. Teng struck out a career-high 11, and picked up his third win in his last four appearances. With the GreenJackets, Teng has 39 strikeouts and seven walks in 29 innings. On the season, Teng has a 1.58 ERA with 88 strikeouts and 21 walks in 79.2 innings across two different Low-A teams. Him and Seth Corry would pack quite the 1-2 punch for a possible playoff rotation.

Roger got Augusta’s local newspaper man, Will Cheney, to give us a scouting report.

Right now his fastball is sitting 90-92, change 78-80. He's showing a low-80s breaking ball, but not using it much. He's really just been fastball-change so far. He's beginning to find barrels. — Will Cheney (@CheneyAUG) August 31, 2019

It’s worth noting that this came as Teng came into trouble in the second innings. He gave up two runs, but then dominated after the barrels began to find his pitches.

Tyler Fitzgerald had another nice day offensively. With a pair of hits, he raised his batting average back to .258, and also stole a pair of bases to give him four in as many attempts at Augusta. Between three levels, Fitzgerald is batting .274/.356/.397. Leadoff man Simon Whiteman added a single and his 16th stolen base with Augusta. On the season, Whiteman now has 31 in 42 attempts in 67 games between Augusta and Salem-Keizer.

Logan Wyatt has quietly achieved a 6-game hitting streak, picking up his third double in 17 games with Augusta, and just sixth in the season in 42 games. He’s still got an OBP (.377) that is higher than his slugging percentage (.364) in 17 games at Augusta.

Playoff Position: First Place, 2.0 games ahead of Asheville, with a Magic Number of 1.

Caleb Kilian made his first appearance in the Northwest League, and it was even better than what he’d been doing in the AZL. This year’s top drafted pitcher (in the 8th round) went four shutout innings, allowing one hit, no walks and six strikeouts. Including his AZL stats, Kilian has 17 strikeouts in 16 innings, with just two walks and seven hits allowed, and just one unearned run with none earned on his record.

In the bullpen, Conner Nurse made his first appearance in relief, giving up a pair of runs. Nurse has struggled as late, giving up 11 earned runs in his last three starts, a span on 17 innings. Nurse has a 5.26 ERA in Salem-Keizer.

Jairo Pomares picked up his first multi-hit game in Salem Keizer, where he’s batting .185/.241/.222 over 13 games. The 19-year old hit .368/.401/.542 in the AZL. Alexander Canario had a rough game, striking out three times but walking once. Canario has 71 strikeouts against 18 walks in 49 games at Salem-Keizer.

Playoff Position: In as first-half division champions, and will face rival Hillsboro in the first round.

Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento (Carlos Navas) vs. El Paso (Dietrich Enns), 5:05 pm PDT

Richmond (TBA) vs. Bowie (Cody Sedlock), 7:05 pm EDT

San Jose (Casey Meisner) vs. Stockton (TBA), 1:00 pm PDT

Augusta (Seth Corry) vs. Columbia (Alec Kisena), 6:35 pm EDT

Salem-Keizer (TBA) vs. Eugene (TBA), 5:05 pm PDT

I’ll leave you with this…are you a big enough fan to put something like this in your front yard?

Hangin' with our gnomies.



Get ready for tonight because this LIFESIZE Nutzy Gnome could be yours!



️ https://t.co/4dDLrm2zo6 pic.twitter.com/EOPKTbBWbZ — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) August 31, 2019

If you did, which team would you want it to be for?