CalL Fresno Grizzlies

Fresno Grizzlies Game Notes vs San Jose

Published on July 5, 2023 under California League (CalL)
Fresno Grizzlies News Release


The Grizzlies and Giants continue their six-game series tonight. First pitch is scheduled for 6:50 pm PT from Chukchansi Park. Grizzlies LHP Albert Pacheco and Giants RHP Manuel Mercedes are the probable starters. I have attached the roster/game notes. The link below has everything needed for tonight.

To listen to tonight's game: https://www.milb.com/fresno/fans/audio-listen-live

Tonight's Promotion:

7/5 (Wednesday, July 5th) - What A Deal Wednesday, presented by Island Waterpark

First Pitch: 6:50pm

Opponent: San Jose Giants

Promotion: 2 reserve tickets, 2 Island Water Park Tickets (valid Mon-Thurs), 2 hot dogs, and 2 sodas - over a $120 value all for JUST $34!

Other Details: Fresno Social Bar Open, Splash Park Open, Bounce Houses, EVERYONE runs the bases post-game & More!

Fres-Notes:

GRIZZ ARE HOT: In front of a July 4th sellout crowd of 11,076, the Fresno Grizzlies (45-31, 9-1) walked-off on the San Jose Giants (43-33, 3-7) 5-4 in 10 innings Tuesday night at Chukchansi Park. The red-hot Grizzlies improved to 12-2 in their last 14 games and 22-5 in their last 27 contests. Fresno enjoyed their sixth walk-off win of the year, which came on a balk in the bottom of the 10th. Parker Kelly scored the winning run, moving Fresno to 6-1 in extras (4-0 at home). The Grizzlies evened up the season-series with the Giants at eight games apiece and have won three in a row against their division foe. Since 2005, Fresno is now 9-9 on the Fourth of July. Skyler Messinger finished a triple shy of the cycle, the only Grizzlies player to relish a multi-hit and RBI game.

SECOND HALF SUCCESS: The Grizzlies have the second best record in Minor League Baseball during the second half (9-1), trailing the Hickory Crawdads (High-A Texas Rangers), who are 10-0. Hickory has won 12 straight games, tying their franchise record.

GIANT AMOUNT OF MATCHUPS: The Fresno Grizzlies and San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants Single-A affiliate) continue their six-game series tonight at Chukchansi Park. This is the fourth of five series between the clubs in 2023 and the last set in Fresno. Last season, the Grizzlies won 17 of the 30 meetings between the clubs and swept the Giants in the Divisional Series 2-0. Overall, Fresno is 41-35 (8-8 in 2023) in the regular season and 2-3 in the playoffs against San Jose since the Grizzlies joined the California League.

FROM FRIEND TO FOE: The San Jose Giants have a few names on their coaching staff that the Central Valley may recognize. Giants pitching coach Dan Runzler was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 9th round of the 2007 MLB Draft. He played for the Grizzlies from 2009-14, appearing in 144 games. Runzler pitched in the majors for parts of five seasons (Giants 2009-12, Pirates 2017) before playing overseas and independent ball. Over 97 big league games, he logged a 4-2 record with a 3.89 ERA over 76.1 innings. Another staff member fans may remember is Giants hitting coach Travis Ishikawa. The Giants selected Ishikawa in the 21st round of the 2002 MLB Draft out of Federal Way HS in Washington. Ishikawa played eight MLB seasons starting in 2006 and ending in 2015 with time spent in San Francisco (2006, 2008-10, 2014-15), Milwaukee (2012), Baltimore (2013), New York AL (2013) and Pittsburgh (2014-15). Ishikawa wore a Grizzlies uniform in 2008, 2011 and 2014, playing in 175 games. The final coach fans may remember is Giants Fundamental Coach Ydwin Villegas. The always smiling infielder played for the Grizzlies from 2011-14, appearing in 95 games. Villegas batted .208 and had a .962 fielding percentage.

RITTER COOKS UP PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Grizzlies INF Ryan Ritter was named by Minor League Baseball as the California League Player of the Week for June 26 - July 2. Ritter's impressive series at Stockton helped the Grizzlies earn a series win against the Ports. In five games last week, Ritter went 12-for-20 (.600) with four homers, one double, seven RBI, 11 runs, five walks, one HBP and two stolen bases. The University of Kentucky product reached base 21 total times in the series. The Rockies 2022 4th-round draft pick homered twice on Thursday, again on Friday (back-to-back games), and for good measure, added another longball on Sunday. Ritter finished among the Top 10 of the California League Hitting Leaderboard in 10 categories. He leaves the league ranked first in homers (18), first in total bases (149), first in extra-base hits (35), first in slugging percentage (.606), first in OPS (1.011), tied for first in RBI (58), third in runs (53), fourth in hits (75), fifth in OBP (.405) and ninth in batting average (.305) (as of July 3rd transaction). Ritter had reached base successfully in his final 23 Fresno games and smacked a hit in 20 of his last 25 games. Ritter gives the 2023 Grizzlies their seventh California League award this season (Jamari Baylor, Connor Staine, Blake Adams, twice and Ritter, three times). Last year, Fresno won 14 California League honors (Weekly and Monthly), a franchise record.

ON THE MOVE: The Grizzlies made a trio of roster transactions on Monday. INF Ryan Ritter and LHP Felix Ramires were promoted to High-A Spokane while Fresno added INF Dyan Jorge from the ACL Rockies. Jorge is listed as the Rockies #16 overall prospect on MLB.com. He becomes the fourth Cuban prospect to suit up with the Grizzlies since 2021 (Eddy Diaz, Yanquiel Fernandez and Andy Perez). You can read more about Jorge on Page 37 of the Media Guide.

BUGARIN IS ON FIRE: Grizzlies outfielder Jesus Bugarin is currently riding a team-long 10-game hitting streak. Bugarin is 15-for-46 (.326) with three homers, one triple, three doubles, 19 RBI, eight runs and one walk in that span. This is the second longest hitting streak for Bugarin this year, as he had a 12-game hitting streak from May 10-25.

PACHECO PITCHES: Tonight, the Grizzlies hand the ball to lefty Albert Pacheco for the fifth time. The 20-year-old signed as an international free agent by the Rockies in 2019. You can read more about Pacheco on Page 2 of the Game Notes and Page 47 of the Media Guide.

SINGLE-SEASON SAVES RECORD WATCH: Grizzlies closer Zach Agnos has a California League-leading 13 saves this season, two shy of joining the franchise's Top 10 in single-season saves. Jean Machi (2012) and Heath Hembree (2012) each recorded 15 saves that season for 10th all-time.

COMEBACK CLAWS: This season, the Grizzlies have scored 37% of their runs in innings 7-9 (164 runs of 442 total runs). The seventh inning has been the most productive for Fresno with 68 runs scoring.

CARDIAC BEARS: This season, 37 of the Grizzlies 76 games have ended in one or two-run affairs (49%). Fresno is 16-9 (11-4 at home) in one-run games and 7-5 (5-2 at home) in two-run contests. Overall, the Grizzlies are 23-14 in those games with a 16-6 record at home.

MAYBE WE DON'T WANT THE PITCH CLOCK: The Grizzlies are 15-3 this season when a game lasts longer than 2 hours and 40 minutes.

SUNDAY FUNDAY: The Grizzlies have won nine consecutive Sunday games dating back to April 30. Righty Gabriel Barbosa is 5-0 with one save and a 2.67 ERA since joining the bullpen on Sundays (30.1 IP, 3 BB, 30 K).

FERNANDEZ FLEXING TO THE FUTURES GAME: On June 26, the rosters for the 2023 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game were announced and former Fresno Grizzlies OF Yanquiel Fernandez (2022-23) will represent the Rockies. Yanquiel Fernandez is ranked as the Rockies #3 overall prospect and made quite an impression while donning a Grizzlies uniform. In 2022, Fernandez was named as the best designated hitter in the California League. The Cuban native finished the regular season as the all-time leader in Grizzlies franchise single-season RBI. On September 8th at San Jose, Fernandez crushed a clout, giving him 109 RBI on the season. He passed Scott McClain (2008) and A.J. Reed (2018) with that honor. Fernandez also ended the regular season ranked in the Top 10 in franchise single-season doubles (33, T-6th) and total bases (241, 10th). The then 19-year-old was awarded Player of the Week honors twice, one from June 6-12 and another from August 8-14. He concluded his season with a .284 batting average, .507 slugging percentage, .847 OPS, 21 homers, five triples and 76 runs scored. He played with Fresno for 3 games to open the 2023 season and is now in Double-A Hartford. Make sure to watch the 2023 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game on Saturday, July 8, at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) from Seattle's T-Mobile Park. It will air exclusively on Peacock and SiriusXM. MLB Network will co-produce the telecast as well.

WEAR THE BEAR: Beige (7-5), Red (21-10), Black & Gold (3-5), Gray (9-8), Fresno Tacos (0-2), Lowriders de Fresno (Copa de la Diversion, 1-1), Fresno Growers (1-0), Fresno Tigers (1-0), Specialty Promo (2-0), Red Pants (2-0).

Upcoming Probable Pitchers:

JULY 6, 2023 VS. SAN JOSE GIANTS (SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS): CHUKCHANSI PARK - 6:50 PM PT

San Jose LHP Nomar Medina (3-4, 6.02) vs. Fresno LHP Michael Prosecky (5-5, 4.01)

JULY 7, 2023 VS. SAN JOSE GIANTS (SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS): CHUKCHANSI PARK - 6:50 PM PT

San Jose LHP Reggie Crawford (0-0, 4.50) vs. Fresno RHP Jordy Vargas (6-3, 4.22)

JULY 8, 2023 VS. SAN JOSE GIANTS (SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS): CHUKCHANSI PARK - 6:50 PM PT

San Jose LHP Seth Corry (0-0, 3.68) vs. Fresno RHP Connor Staine (5-4, 5.52)

JULY 9, 2023 VS. SAN JOSE GIANTS (SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS): CHUKCHANSI PARK - 5:05 PM PT

San Jose LHP Hayden Wynja (4-1, 4.11) vs. Fresno RHP Jackson Cox (1-0, 8.33)

Transactions:

7/3: INF Dyan Jorge: Assigned to Fresno from ACL Rockies

7/3: INF Ryan Ritter: Assigned to High-A Spokane from Fresno

7/3: LHP Felix Ramires: Assigned to High-A Spokane from Fresno

Upcoming Promotions:

7/6 (Thursday, July 6th) - Tioga Thursdays and FresBrolympics

First Pitch: 6:50pm

Opponent: San Jose Giants

Promotion: Two 19.2oz Tioga Beers for just $10!

Promotion: A collaboration between the Grizzlies, Fresno Social Sports, and FresBro. It will feature a tournament of games coordinated by Fresno Social Sports and FresBro with the likes of giant beer pong, corn hole and more. 3 medal winners will be awarded prior to the end of the baseball game and honored on the dugout top. There will be other in-game skits throughout the game based around the FresBrolympics theme. Fans who attend the game can compete. The Grizzlies and @FresBro on Instagram will post more info on the competition side of things as the event gets closer. Most competitions will take place in the Cantina inside the ballpark

Other Details: Fresno Social Bar Open, Splash Park Open, Bounce Houses, EVERYONE runs the bases post-game & More!

7/7 (Friday, July 7th) - Health Care & First Responders Night, Presented by Central California Faculty and Medical Group, Friday Night Fireworks, and Community Outreach Night, Presented by Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino!

First Pitch: 6:50pm

Opponent: San Jose Giants

Promotion: Health Care & First Responders Night, Presented by Central California Faculty and Medical Group! $10 Field Box Tickets for ALL Health Care Workers & First Responders!

Promotion: Friday Night Fireworks

Promotion: Community Outreach Night, Presented by Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino!

Taco Trucks: Patron Tacos

Other Details: Fresno Social Bar Open, Splash Park open, Water Slides, Bounce Houses, EVERYONE runs the bases post-game & More!

7/8 (Saturday, July 8th) - Military Appreciation Night

First Pitch: 6:50pm

Opponent: San Jose Giants

Promotion: Military Appreciation Night! $10 Field Box Tickets for ALL Active and Former Military!

Taco Trucks: Patron Tacos

Other Details: Fresno Social Bar Open, Splash Park open, Water Slides, Bounce Houses, EVERYONE runs the bases post-game & More!

7/9 (Sunday, July 9th) - Save Mart Sundays & Kids Run The Bases w/FREE Ice Cream from Producers Dairy!!

First Pitch: 5:05pm

Opponent: San Jose Giants

Promotion: Pregame Catch on the Field! Come join us for some catch before the game starts- From 4:05pm to 4:35pm!

Promotion: Save Mart Sundays, EVERYONE runs the bases post-game w/FREE Ice Cream from Producers Dairy!

Other Details: Fresno Social Bar Open, Splash Park open, Water Slides, Bounce Houses, EVERYONE runs the bases post-game & More!

Check out the Fresno Grizzlies Statistics

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California League Stories from July 5, 2023


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