Box score<\/a><\/p>\nDespite the lopsided score, the River Cats were in this game for most of it. In fact, they held a 5-3 lead at stretch time, but then gave up 10 runs between the 7th and 8th innings.<\/p>\n
It was a trio of rough performances that doomed the bullpen, starting with RHP Trent Harris (No. 29 CPL). Harris was tasked with opening the 7th inning, and it started off well. He retired the first batter and third batters that he faced, with a single sandwiched between them. But then the wheels fell off, against an Angels\u2019 affiliate that admittedly has a fair amount of ex-MLB talent on it.<\/p>\n
The results were bad, but the talent doing it was good. That first single came off the bat of Christian Moore, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2024 draft (after a very nice career with Tony Vitello at Tennessee). A 2-out single by Trey Mancini, a 7-year MLB veteran, scored a run. But the big hit came from Denzer Guzman, one of LA\u2019s top prospects, who made his MLB debut last year. In a 2-2 count, Harris tried a slider, but Guzman fouled it off. Harris tried it again, and Guzman fouled it off again. Unrelenting, Harris tried it a 3rd time, and this time Guzman put it over the fence for a 2-run home run.<\/p>\n
Then Matthew Lugo, who also debuted in the Majors last year, singled. And Niko Kavadas, who spent time in the Majors in each of the last 2 years, walked. And Jose Siri, who has more than 1,000 MLB plate appearances to his name, singled home a 4th run, ending Harris\u2019 night.<\/p>\n
Harris remains one of the top relief prospects in the organization, but the question of \u201ccan you get advanced hitters out\u201d stymies a lot of pitchers, and he is very much one of them. The undrafted curveball artist, who recently turned 27, dominated the lower and mid-Minors, which was emphasized by a showing with AA Richmond last year in which he posted a 1.69 ERA, a 1.73 FIP, and 14.1 strikeouts per 9 innings. But advanced hitters have gotten the best of him: Harris made 30 appearances for Sacramento last year, but the ERA rose to 5.44, the FIP leaped to 4.69, and the strikeouts per 9 plummeted to 8.7. Still, he very deservedly was given an invite to Major League camp this year, and while he showed some impressive things, the same concerns persisted: in 4 Cactus League games, he had a 9.64 ERA and an 8.80 FIP, with 7.7 strikeouts per 9 innings.<\/p>\n
So far, that\u2019s carrying into the 2026 season. Harris only gave up 1 baserunner in his season debut, though it was a home run, and now this outing has left him with an ERA (16.88) that will require many outings to get back into respectable territory.<\/p>\n
Siri\u2019s RBI single ended Harris\u2019 night, and brought in a slightly less-heralded, but still very intriguing arm: LHP Nick Zwack. The southpaw was part of the J.D. Davis\/Darin Ruf swap of \u2026 \/gestures vaguely at some year in the past \u2026 as was Carson Seymour. Injuries have slowed him down \u2014 he lost the entirety of the 2024 season \u2014 but he\u2019s back, healthy, and certainly has some serious life in his arm. He also appears to be a reliever at long last, after working as a starter to this point in his career.<\/p>\n
Zwack had a strong return from injury a year ago, posting a 2.53 ERA and a 2.92 FIP in 7 AA starts, while having 9.0 strikeouts against just 2.5 walks per 9 innings. Like Harris, though, he struggled in his (admittedly brief) introduction to AAA late last year. And unfortunately, those struggles have carried over into the 2026 season. Zwack got off to a very rough start to the year on Sunday, in which he gave up 4 baserunners and 2 runs, while recording just 1 out. Sadly, Tuesday\u2019s outing was fairly similar.<\/p>\n
He did get out of the pickle that Harris created, ending the inning as soon as he entered the game. But things went very poorly in the 8th, as Zwack just couldn\u2019t find the zone. He walked 3 batters in the frame, while also allowing 2 hits. That, combined with a catcher\u2019s interference, 1 of 2 errors on the day by Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez (No. 16 CPL), tagged Zwack for 6 runs in the inning, 5 of which were earned. If Harris thinks he has work to salvage his ERA, it\u2019s nothing compared to Zwack\u2019s unsightly 47.25 mark.<\/p>\n
Like Harris, Zwack left the game with just 2 outs in the inning, and his ERA would have looked a lot better were it not for a 3rd miserable bullpen outing, this time from LHP Juan S\u00e1nchez (No. 41 CPL). S\u00e1nchez is still trying to find his command after losing the 2025 season to Tommy John surgery and, well \u2026 he didn\u2019t find it in this game, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n
The southpaw, who should figure into the MLB bullpen plans this year if he can find his command, entered with 2 outs and the bases loaded. He walked a run home, then walked a 2nd run home, and then walked a 3rd run home. Finally, after 3 straight walks (the 1st of which was on 5 pitches, and the 2nd on 4), and after falling behind a 4th batter 3-0, S\u00e1nchez found the strike zone and recovered to strike out Nelson Rada. Technically it was a performance that held S\u00e1nchez\u2019s ERA at 0.00, since the 3 runs scored while he was on the mound were charged to Zwack. But needless to say, the ERA very much does not tell the story here.<\/p>\n
All of that ruined a really nice start from LHP Seth Lonsway, who, it turns out, is in Sacramento\u2019s rotation. Lonsway only pitched 3 innings as he gets stretched out to start the year, but he gave up just a single and a walk in those 3 frames, with no runs (though he also didn\u2019t have any strikeouts). For now, at least, it appears that Lonsway \u2014 who made 19 starts for Richmond last year, and another 9 for Sacramento \u2014 will join a rotation headlined by Seymour, Carson Whisenhunt (No. 8 CPL), Blade Tidwell (No. 9 CPL), and Trevor McDonald (No. 12 CPL). Quite a nice opportunity for him.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the bullpen foibles didn\u2019t begin with Harris, as RHP Spencer Bivens \u2014 perhaps the most surprising omission from San Francisco\u2019s Opening Day roster \u2014 had a rough go of it in the 4th inning, ceding back-to-back 2-out solo home runs to Kavadas and Siri. He\u2019ll surely be back on the big league roster at some point this year, but he\u2019ll have to show some stuff in Sacramento first.<\/p>\n
On offense, it was a quiet day for most of the players, as the River Cats are still looking for their 1st home run of the season. Third baseman Buddy Kennedy continued his torrid start to the year, hitting a perfect 4-4 with a double and a walk. The bats have yet to wake up for Sacramento, but Kennedy hasn\u2019t gotten that message.<\/p>\n
It seems that Kennedy, who was an offseason Minor League signing with an invite to camp, is more emergency depth than anything else. The Giants have everyday players across the infield in San Francisco, with a pair of backups that they feel strongly about. But Kennedy is certainly a quality emergency depth piece to have: he has MLB experience, and is hitting 6-12 with 3 doubles, 2 walks, and just 1 strikeout to start the AAA season.<\/p>\n
The other nice hitting day belonged to second baseman Nate Furman (No. 39 CPL), who singled in his only official at-bat, while also drawing 2 walks and hitting a sacrifice fly. The on-base percentage and the contact skills to succeed in a situational appearance are why the Giants are so high on Furman, who was an NRI this spring, and who came over in the Alex Cobb trade. But there are questions remaining, including on defense, where Furman committed his 1st error of the season on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
First baseman Bryce Eldridge (No. 1 CPL) hasn\u2019t been forcing the issue since getting optioned, and that was again the case on Tuesday, as he went 0-4 with a strikeout, though he reached base by getting hit by a pitch. His contact wasn\u2019t especially hard in this game, either.<\/p>\n
Center fielder Grant McCray came back to earth a little bit after a nice start to the year, as he went 1-5 with 3 strikeouts. The other 40-man hitters didn\u2019t do too well, either, as Rodr\u00edguez and left fielder Will Brennan also went 1-5, with the latter striking out twice.<\/p>\n
With Fitzgerald DFA\u2019d, the River Cats have a hole at shortstop. For now, AAA repairman Thomas Gavello is tasked with that duty. Gavello, a 2022 13th-round pick who filled in in Sacramento last year and impressed the coaching staff enough that he stuck around, was drafted as a catcher, but didn\u2019t play the position in 2025, instead primarily focusing on second base, third base, and left field, with a few starts at shortstop. It will be interesting to see if the Giants let Gavello, who hit 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, stay at shortstop until Osleivis Basabe is healthy, or if they bring up someone like Aeverson Arteaga to fill in for a while.<\/p>\n
The River Cats continue their series against the Bees tonight at 5:35 p.m. PT, while the Low-A San Jose Giants join them tomorrow. High-A Eugene and AA Richmond kick off the season on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco Giants still have just one Minor League Baseball team in action, but that\u2019s changing oh-so…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,162,4,378,66,81426,4343,4340,4344,4341,4342],"class_list":{"0":"post-657126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-giants","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-giants","13":"tag-san-francisco-giants-prospects","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","16":"tag-sf","17":"tag-sf-giants","18":"tag-sfgiants"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116330763880697953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}