You know, why don’t they ever make a Hard Knocks about baseball? It’s not like the term “Knocks” doesn’t apply to baseball. Well, anyways, they were making a documentary about Maruicio Dubon, so did he have a Hard Knock Life? Check out this story for a little Sunday reading before going into these lines.

Before Mauricio Dubon was traded from the Brewers to the Giants, @missionsmilb made a Day in the Life documentary on the shortstop.



Here are three things we learned about the top prospect from the doc (via @DaltonJ_Johnson) https://t.co/52YZYGaOGR pic.twitter.com/ce4qe3Q6qU — SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 24, 2019

Highlights: Sean Roby hit his first two home runs with Augusta; Chris Shaw was 3-for-4 with a 3-run home run; Heath Quinn hit a game-winning home run for San Jose.

Chris Shaw led the way in a game where El Paso’s offense woke up and dominated, and Sacramento’s pitching struggled.

Shaw went 3-for-4 with a 3-run home run, his 18th of the season in Sacramento. With 18 in 69 games at Sacramento, and seven in 45 games at Richmond, he has 25 home runs, which ties his career high that he had in 2018, when he had 24 in Sacramento and one in SF. Mike Gerber contributed two hits of his own as well. He’s batting .319/.379/.589 with the River Cats this season.

But let’s look at that pitching. Chase Johnson walked six and gave up three hits, on the way to four runs. That boosted his Sacramento ERA up to 8.56 in six games, and a 4.70 ERA over three levels. But then Andrew Suarez came in. Suarez made his first appearance in Sacramento since July 28th, and gave up five runs in an inning. His ERA jumped from 5.46 to 5.93 in a single game. Later in the game, Melvin Adon came in and had one of his bad games, with seven runs allowed. In Sacramento, he now has 16 earned runs in 7.1 innings, and his ERA looks more like an NBA star’s points per game. Ouch.

Recent superstar Jaylin Davis had this game off, but he knows how we’re talking about him. (Stop talking about people behind their backs in the comments, willya???)

"I'm definitely aware."



Friends and family are letting Jaylin Davis know how much Giants fans want to see him while he keeps launching homers for the @RiverCats (via @DaltonJ_Johnson) https://t.co/sflnz8rSri pic.twitter.com/D3zn8UQw9f — SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) August 24, 2019

layoff Position: 1st place, 8.5 games ahead of Reno. Elimination Number of 2 with nine games left.

Richmond lost a pretty listless offensive game here as the season is winding down.

Ryan Halstead had a pretty decent start for the Squirrels all things considered. Halstead gave up two runs in five innings, although he was limited to just two strikeouts on the season. He has 50 strikeouts and 18 walks in 58.2 innings with Richmond. That was enough to keep the Squirrels potentially in the game, but in this start with this offense, it just sealed the loss.

Ryan Howard was the only batter for Richmond to get more than one hit, pausing his slow decline back to the Mendoza line. Howard has just a .216/.272/.282 batting line in Richmond this season.

Heliot Ramos picked up a hit in four at-bats, after going hitless on Friday. Joey Bart was hitless but did get a pair of walks (and a strikeout), giving him 16 Ks and 5 walks in 14 games with Richmond.

Playoff Position: Out.

The Giants came around with a big win to take the lead in the California League wild card position.

The winning runs came off the bat of Heath Quinn, hitting his third home run of the season in the eighth inning to take the Giants from one down to one up. Quinn has seven home runs total on the season, and just three in 43 games in San Jose. Quinn is batting .287/.365/.427 with San Jose this season, after hitting .300/.376/.485 last season with them.

Diego Rincones picked up two doubles, giving him four in San Jose in 11 games since his promotion. Rincones is batting .244 in San Jose, but with six walks, his OBP is an impressive .392.

Aaron Phillips came off of his 9-inning shutout and had a sub-par game for him. He struck out only three, one of his lowest totals of the season. Phillips has 98 strikeouts to 41 walks in 111.2 innings this season. Patrick Ruotolo had two scoreless innings, bouncing back from allowing two runs in his last inning.

Playoff Position: Leading the Wild Card race, 0.5 games ahead of Modesto and Stockton with nine games left.

Augusta’s offense came through in a tough game and a big win, moving Augusta into a tie for first place in the SAL South Division and a playoff spot.

Sean Roby led the way with two home runs. Both solo shots, they were his first home runs in Augusta in 10 games. With those two, he matched his total that he hit in Salem-Keizer in 37 games…if you don’t count the home run derby.

Behind him, Tyler Fitzgerald and Frankie Tostado had three hits each. Fitzgerald had his first breakout game in Augusta, where he’s now batting just .220/.304/.244 in 11 games, and a double for his first extra-base hit. He was batting .284/.381/.431 in Salem-Keizer before his promotion. Tostado had a qiet summer after his strong April, but in August he’s batting .278/.337/.456. Franklin Labour also picked up a pair of hits, raising his Augusta batting line to .247/.321/.356.

Keaton Winn struggled in his shortest start since his first game out. He gave up three runs in just three innings, boosting his ERA up to 3.32 from 3.18 with this start. JJ Santa Cruz had a great spot in relief, however. The hit was actually his first allowed in the last four games, a span in which he’s struck out 11 in seven innings. With Augusta, he now has 64 strikeouts and 13 walks in 46 innings.

Playoff Position: Tied for first place with Asheville. 9 games left to play.

The Volcanoes got by Vancouver on the road, surviving a ninth inning comeback attempt.

Alexander Canario got a pair of hits as he continues to surge with the Volcanoes. That gives him six multi-hit games over his last eight played, and his batting average is as high as it’s been in the NWL, batting .306. Harrison Freed picked up two hits of his own, and is batting .241/.301/.433 in the Northwest League.

Tyler Wyatt got two more hits in his second game in the NWL, and is batting .500 (3-for-6) after hitting .237 between the two AZL clubs before his promotion.

Norwith Gudino made his first start with Salem-Keizer, and his second start overall this season, and did well. Gudino has had a season interrupted, missing almost all of May, June and July, before coming back. On the season, he has a 0.64 ERA in ten games across three levels, mostly in relief.

We don’t have any highlights from tonight, but if you want a look at Alexander Canario from Friday, we can see that!

Playoff Position: In, after winning the 1st-half division championship.

Jairo Pomares returned to the AZL and picked up a hit in his first game back. In nine games at Salem-Keizer, the 19-year old Pomares was batting .171/.237/.200. He’s batting .371/.405/.550 with the AZL. Meanwhile, Yorlis Rodriguez also came back to the AZL, although it was his first game there this season. He was batting .275/.324/.363 in Keizer before being sent down. NE_SFG_fan in the comments made an interesting note in the comments yesterday, wondering if the demotions were because of Visa issues. Both Pomares and Rodriguez come from Cuba (although other demotions, like Prelander Berroa, are not).

Cole Waites had a season-high seven strikeouts across just three innings, and is putting up some impressive strikeout numbers in limited work in the AZL. He has 28 in 17.1 innings, but with 13 walks.

Playoff Position: Out.

Luis Matos continues to just hit, and obviously it just doesn’t matter where.

Matos got two more hits and has put his batting average back up to .500 (7-for-14) in his four games with the AZL. He only has one extra base hit at the new level, a double, plus a walk and a steal in two attempts. His teammate from DSL, Victor Bericoto, got one more hit, and is batting .333 (6-for-18) and has three steals in as many attempts in four games.

Nick Morreale had his best start of the season as the team coasts to the playoffs. He had a shutout four innings with just one hit allowed and no walks, and a season-high five strikeouts. On the season, he now has 24 strikeouts and eight walks in 23.2 innings. In relief, Prelander Berroa made his first appearance since moving down from Salem-Keizer. Although he’s struggled with the Volcanoes (11.32 ERA in three starts), he was dominant in his relief appearance, striking out seven in three innings, with a walk and hit allowed.

One more look from yesterday, a nice report on one of the Giants’ new acquisitions from the trade deadline.

The #Giants have added another interesting arm in RHP Prelander Berroa, acquired from Twins in Dyson trade. Pitched 3 scoreless in AZL debut, striking out the last 7 hitters he faced. FB 92-95, but was up to 98 in the pen. — Bill Mitchell (@billazbbphotog) August 25, 2019

Playoff Position: In, won both first and second half division titles.

The DSL Giants fell in a tough game, in an appropriate end to their season.

Rayner Santana did finish the season well, with another two hits in his final game. The 17-year old finished the DSL with a .294/.439/.553 batting line, and seems to have set himself up for a chance in the AZL next season. He had 14 doubles and 10 home runs in 48 games. Jose Peralta picked up a pair of hits and two walks, finishing a hot end to the season. He was 15-for-36 (.417) with three doubles and seven walks. He also stole two more bases, to give him 10 in 18 attempts.

Marvin Brown finished the season with one of his roughest starts. He gave up four runs, four walks, and five hits with four strikeouts. He has 46 strikeouts with 20 walks in 47.2 innings.

Playoff Position: Out.

Today’s Scheduled Starters

Sacramento (Burch Smith) at El Paso (Dillon Overton), 5:05 pm PDT

Richmond (Brandon Lawson) at Akron (Tanner Tully), 2:05 pm EDT

San Jose (Matt Frisbee) at Stockton (TBA), 6:10 pm PDT

Augusta (Adam Oller) vs. Lexington (Bryce Hensley), 5:05 pm EDT

Salem-Keizer (TBA) at Vancouver (TBA), 1:05 pm PDT

We start whittling things down this week. The DSL has come to an end. The Arizona League plays its last regular season games on Monday. And a week later, everything else comes to a close.

Are you ready for baseball to be ending for the year? Enjoy it while it lasts.