A day Zach Green and Conner Menez will never forget.

#SFGiants pic.twitter.com/3gMB41sm6z — San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) July 22, 2019

On Sunday, Conner Menez and Zach Green became the 19,588 and 19.589 players in MLB history. To put that in perspective, those fans lucky enough to be in attendance at the game could have looked around Oracle Park and, at a glance, seen more human beings — nearly twice as many in fact — as have ever taken a field of play for a major league game. From the long, illustrious newly enshrined HOF careers like Mariano Rivera and Lee Smith, to the Gary Browns and Moonlight Grahams of the sport, over 150 years of major league history, less than 20,000 people have ever done what Conner and Zach did this weekend. It is a huge, huge accomplishment. Congratulations to two guys who didn’t have the easy path laid out for them, but arrived at their destination anyway.

HIGHLIGHTS: Heliot Ramos had 2 hits and a walk; Alexander Canario had 4 hits with 2 doubles; Luis Matos had two doubles.

Sacramento was OFF

The RiverCats currently hold a 2.0 game lead over Fresno in the Pacific Northern division of the PCL.

Richmond lost to Bowie BaySox (Orioles), 5-0 in Gm 1 (7 inn)

Richmond lost to Bowie BaySox (Orioles), 2-0 in Gm 2 (7 inn)

The bats were not exactly pounding out a lively tune in Richmond last night. For the second time in a week they went down to their final at bat before breaking up a no hitter. Jacob Heyward’s two out double in the bottom of the 7th was the team’s only knock of the nightcap. And that was AFTER they’d been shutout in the opener of this double header.

All told, the grizzly numbers added up to:

14 innings, 6 hits, 0 runs.

The theme of the night was “What If”.... as in “What If” the franchise had chosen an alternate proposed name for the team, the Richmond Hush Puppies:

Your Richmond Hushpuppies pic.twitter.com/hbtjk3hmUw — Richmond Flying Squirrels (@GoSquirrels) July 22, 2019

Unfortunately, it seems like the theme really should have been “What If ... we scored some runs.”

That’s now an all-time franchise low of 27 games below .500 for the Squirrels who need a shot of life (maybe a 19 year old with some energy? Hmmmm?).

San Jose lost to Lancaster JetHawks (Rockies), 7-2

winning their series, 2-1

Another bumpy outing for Jake Wong helped break the Giants four-game winning streak, but they still completed a successful 4-2 homestand with two series victories. And there were still pleasures to behold:

Heliot Ramos is 2-for-2 with a double and a walk so far today. Extends his hit streak to nine games. Ramos now leads the California League with a .317 AVG. — Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) July 22, 2019

The 19 year old OF leads the Cal League in hitting, is second in OPS and third in both SLG and OBP. No wonder he’s rising up those rankings!

Admittedly, Heliot didn’t have the greatest game on the bases as he was picked off following a walk in addition to getting thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. But he’s on quite a tear at the plate. With a nine-game hitting streak intact Ramos is now hitting .373 in the month of July with a 1.029 OPS. He’s kept up a 10% BB rate throughout the year. With just over a month to go in the season it’s hard to imagine the 19 year old having a better 2019 season than the one he’s posted.

San Jose also got two more hits from Sandro Fabian who is now 22 for 56 since rejoining San Jose and has even managed to draw 5 walks! The 21 year old is killing it!

#SJGiants RF Sandro Fabian has been named California League Player of the Week. Was 9-for-19 with two home runs in five games last week. First SJ hitter to win weekly league award this season.



Fabian hitting .393 overall with 4 HR in 56 AB's for #SJGiants. — Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) July 23, 2019

The 15-17 Giants now head to 1st place Visalia to try to make up a little ground between here and there. If Ramos can help San Jose actually win a series in Visalia it may be his greatest achievement yet!

Augusta was OFF

They currently hold a 1.0 game lead in the Sally Southern Division. Oh and they want to draw your attention to the wonder of Diego Rincones!

Can we talk about the month of July Diego Rincones is having?!



17 Games: .354/.386/.508, 1 HR, 7 RBI



His .301 BA this year is 7th best in the SAL.



Oh yeah, did we mention he’s only 20 years old? pic.twitter.com/k3RS8E9nLj — Augusta GreenJackets (@GreenJackets) July 22, 2019

Salem-Keizer won at Boise Hawks (Rockies), 6-5

The Volcanoes capped their first half title run with a roaring 5-run rally in the 7th inning that pushed them to a 6-5 win. An RBI triple from Tyler Fitzgerald and Alexander Canario’s second double of the night plated all the runs the big inning.

For Canario, that was the end of a huge night in which he collected four hits including two doubles. Alexander is starting to take to the NWL — he’s gone 8 for his last 17 now with two doubles and a triple. Over that stretch he’s struck out just 4 times total — and never more than once in a game — while walking three times. His line in the NWL is up to .273/.375/.439.

The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes won the 1st Half Championship and will be in the post-season playoffs for the first time since 2015. This marks the first time ever the Volcanoes have won the 1st half championship since the NWL adopted the split season schedule. Go Volcanoes ⚾ pic.twitter.com/maeZIMovCN — S-K Volcanoes ⚾ (@SKVolcanoes) July 22, 2019

Stepping back a night to their title clinching victory on Sunday — huge props need to go to reliever Ben Madison, the Giants 9th round pick in 2018. Madison saved the Volcanoes night and perhaps their season. Boise had already scored the tying run in the bottom of the 8th and had runners on 2b and 3b with just one out when Madison was called in to clean up the mess. The former NAIA strikeout leader got out of the jam without the go ahead run scoring and went on to provide 3.2 of perfect relief, retiring all 11 batters he faced and holding the fort long enough for SK to pick up the 12th inning victory and clinch their path to the playoffs (and a home field advantage in the mini-series that starts the NWL playoffs). The 21 year old Madison took some lumps in the Sally this year, but he’s been dominant in the NWL, posting a 1.98 ERA with 16 Ks in 13.2 IP.

Now it’s back to 0-0. Unlike full season clubs, the All Star Break doesn’t split the halves at this level. They plunge right back into the 2nd half tonight starting with another trip to HIllsboro (where we can watch them on MiLBtv!). The NWL-Pioneer League All Star game will be played next month and should feature a nice contingent of Volcanoes.

AZL Giants Orange lost to AZL Athletics Gold, 2-0

AZL Giants Black lost to AZL Cubs2, 7-3

The AZL Giants teams also completed their first halves last night, with somewhat desultory efforts. Team Orange’s normally profuse offense took the night off as they went Richmond one better and actually DID get no-hit last night. Interestingly, this was one of two no-hitters thrown by A’s affiliates last night.

Lefty Jesus Gomez had another solid effort last night. His 32 Ks (in 28 IP) on the season are tied for fourth in the AZL with campmate Jasier Herrera of Team Black (Herrera has pitched about 10 more innings). The run prevention hasn’t been too notable for Gomez, but following a 2019 debut in which he allowed 5 runs, he’s mostly been in the 0-2 run range in all of his starts.

Orange Reliever Julio Rodriguez made his second appearance for the year — and it was nearly as fantastic as his first. Rodriguez is thoroughly overpowering AZL hitters so far. He’s faced 7 batters since getting back into action and he has struck out 6 of them. The league has yet to put a ball in play against him.

As with the NWL, it’s back to 0-0 records and a new half for the AZL starting tonight. But Team Orange has assured its presence in the very short AZL post-season next month, though they want to keep up their winning ways to get the first round bye that goes to the league’s best records.

DSL Giants lost to DSL Royals2, 6-5

Luis Matos had two hits yesterday.

And of course they were both doubles. His .373 average is fourth in the league! As is his .620 SLG!

Just kidding, Luis! Feel free to bore us to tears with your daily 2-4 hits. You do you! We’ll enjoy.

Rafael Martinez returned for his first appearance since July 1. The right-hander, who missed nearly all of 2017 and 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery had a solid first month of the season, with a 3.42 ERA, 24 Ks and 7 BBs in 23.2 IP

Today’s Scheduled Starters:

Sacramento (Andrew Suarez) @ Fresno (Logan Ondrusek)

Richmond (Keyvius Sampson) vs. Bowie (Dean Kremer)

San Jose (Jose Marte) @ Visalia (TBD)

Augusta (Logan Webb) @ Columbia (Simeon Woods Richardson)

Salem-Keizer (Luis Moreno) @ Hillsboro (Tommy Henry)

AZL Giants Orange (Nick Avila) vs. AZL Angels (TBD)

AZL Giants Black (Chris Wright) @ AZL Diamondbacks (TBD)

DSL Giants (Jose Mullings) @ DSL Royals2 (TBD)

Plenty of excitement going on tonight including a tremendous pitching matchup in Columbia where Logan Webb makes his second “rehab” appearance with Augusta against 18 year old Simeon Woods Richardson. Sacramento tries to solidify its first place lead when they head into 2nd place Fresno. San Jose tries to escape the basement by collecting some wins in their own personal horror chamber. And the Volcanoes get a nice challenge when they take on the 74th overall pick of this year’s draft, the D’Backs Tommy Henry who is making his pro debut after a successful college career at Michigan.

So get out to the park and take in a game — it’s what all the cool kids are doing!