Three games for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates on Wednesday, as the season is rapidly winding down. Here’s everything that happened.
Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
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All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.
AAA Sacramento (77-60)
Sacramento River Cats lost to the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 1-0
Box score
For the 2nd game in a row, the River Cats held the Aviators to just 1 run, despite playing the game in Las Vegas. That is tremendously impressive, even if in this particular case it resulted in a loss.
Despite that, it wasn’t an overpowering pitching performance, but it was a mighty fine one nonetheless, courtesy of a pair of pitchers who were recently optioned following their MLB debuts. Kicking things off was the starter, LHP Seth Lonsway, who took down 6 scoreless frames. It was a little bit of a funny outing for Lonsway, who, per the usual, wasn’t getting swing-throughs (he had just 3 strikeouts). Despite the 6 shutout innings, he couldn’t find the strike zone, as he threw just 47 of 90 pitches for strikes, and walked 3 batters. But he kept hitters off balance, as Vegas had just 3 hits against him all night.
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That goes down as the best start of the year for the 2021 6th-rounder, who has a 5.49 ERA in Sacramento. Lonsway, who turns 28 next month, will almost certainly be designated for assignment this offseason, as the Giants will need to clear more than 20 roster spots over the winter. But he’ll likely clear waivers and be outrighted, and can be a valuable depth piece in AAA again next year.
After Lonsway it was RHP Braxton Roxby, who was optioned after 2 MLB appearances. Roxby, who had been on quite a AAA tear at the time of getting called up, continued that success in this game, as he tossed 2 scoreless innings with 2 hits and 2 strikeouts. I suppose Roxby has a chance of being DFA’d this offseason as well, given that he’s 27 and only just made the Majors with decent-not-great AAA numbers (3.97 ERA, with 55 strikeouts and 26 walks in 59 innings), but the Giants will be wanting to hang on to him so he can be a depth bullpen piece next year, in both AAA and the Majors.
Unfortunately, the shutout ended in dramatic fashion, as RHP Eric Cerantola allowed a walk-off solo home run with 1 out in the 9th inning.
The offense, meanwhile, did complete their shutout, which obviously is not a good thing. Needless to say, it was a bad day with the bats, with the River Cats securing just 7 hits on the day, and drawing 0 walks. Nobody had multiple hits, and left fielder/right fielder Will Brennan, a day after smacking 3 home runs, had the only extra-base knock of the day, as he went 1-4 with a triple and a strikeout. Center fielder Scott Bandura was the only Sacramento player to reach base twice, with the lefty going 1-3 with a hit by pitch, but he also struck out once and was caught stealing.
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The big news was, unfortunately bad: right fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) left the game with an injury. Davidson, who went 0-1, fouled a ball off his foot in the 3rd inning, and it certainly didn’t seem good. He was on the ground in very visible pain with the trainers for over a minute, before needing help off the field. It wouldn’t be surprising if his season is over, especially since Sacramento only has 10 more games.
AA Richmond (73-59)
Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Chesapeake Baysox (Orioles) 8-7
Box score
Well, a more interesting game for the Squirrels, but they sure are slumping to end the year. Richmond has lost 7 games in a row, and they’ve gone 6 consecutive contests without hitting a home run.
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There hasn’t been a lot of offense for the Squirrels lately, but they finally broke through in this game, and it was all at the top of the lineup, where the 1st 3 hitters accounted for 8 of the team’s 11 hits. That was especially true for the top 2 in the lineup, center fielder Trevor Cohen (No. 15 CPL) and designated hitter Dayson Croes. Both Cohen and Croes have been struggling a bit at the plate lately, but they sure didn’t in this game, with the former hitting 2-5 with 2 doubles and a strikeout, and the latter going a blistering 4-5 with with 3 doubles, while knocking in 4 of the team’s 7 runs.
Cohen, a 22-year old who was taken in the 3rd round last year, has had a fairly average year since getting promoted to AA, but that counts as a big win given how early he is in his career, and how strong his defense is. Croes, a 26-year old who signed from an indy league last year, has been scuffling a bit in both AA and AAA, and his spot on the domestic reserve is probably in peril.
The 3rd player in the top of the order trio wasn’t quite as dynamic, but still had a good game, as right fielder Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL) hit 2-5 with an RBI and a strikeout. It’s good seeing Jordan end the year healthy, after he was sidelined for about a month.
Richmond spent the whole game trying to erase a deficit, after LHP Charlie McDaniel got positively destroyed in his 16th start at the level. McDaniel only lasted 2.1 innings and gave up 8 hits (including 2 home runs), as well as 3 walks, 8 runs, and 7 earned runs, while striking out 3. The 25-year old undrafted free agent was struggling to find the zone, and when he did find it he struggled to miss bats. Just a game to forget for him.
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This game notwithstanding, McDaniel has done a tremendous job avoiding free passes in his 2nd pro season. Unfortunately, that’s come with quite an expense: he’s far too hittable. In 119 innings this year, split between High-A and AA, the 6’3 Presbyterian alum has allowed 139 hits and 19 home runs.
The bullpen pitched a shutout the rest of the way, though they played with fire. RHP Shane Rademacher had one of his best outings of the year, giving up just 1 hit in 3.2 scoreless frames, while striking out 4. But RHPs Dale Stanavich and Mitch White combined to walk 5 batters in 3 innings … but didn’t allow any hits or runs.
High-A Eugene (0-2)
Eugene Emeralds lost to the Vancouver Canadians (Blue Jays) 5-4 (10 innings)
Box score
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And just like that, the Emeralds are on the brink of elimination. Their goal is simple: win the next 3 games (all of which are at home), and the season is over, with a championship in hand. Lose any of the next 3 games, and the season is over, without a championship in hand.
They just didn’t have quite enough offense to overcome a rough start from LHP Jordan Gottesman, who really struggled with the strike zone in his 2nd High-A appearance. Gottesman, who was a 6th-round pick last year, had a decent, but not electric year in Low-A this season, posting a 3.96 ERA and a 4.91 FIP in his debut season, with 9.8 strikeouts to 3.0 walks per 9 innings.
His debut in High-A went pretty well last week, but his playoff start was a different story. The just-turned 24-year old from Northeastern pitched 4.1 innings and gave up both 4 hits and 4 walks, with just 46 of his 86 pitches going for strikes. Impressively, those 8 baserunners only resulted in 2 runs (he also had 2 strikeouts), with RHP Mauricio Estrella replacing him and promptly giving up 2 more runs. RHPs Alix Hernandez and Gerelmi Maldonado (No. 21 CPL) followed up with quality, scoreless outings, before RHP Ryan Slater became the unlucky extra-innings loser: Slater retired all 5 batters he faced, but a pair of productive outs in the 10th inning scored the Manfred Man and ended the game.
As for that offense, the star was once again right fielder Cam Maldonado (No. 34 CPL), who has looked like a different player entirely since getting promoted to High-A. Maldonado, a 7th-round pick a year ago, had a fine season in San Jose, but ended the season with a 22-game stint in Eugene in which he posted a 1.023 OPS and a 154 wRC+, with 8 home runs. That continued on Wednesday, as the righty only hit 1-5 with a strikeout, but bashed a 2-run home run to get the scoring started for the Emeralds.
Maldonado will almost certainly resume his time in Eugene when the 2027 season kicks off, but if he keeps hitting like this, it won’t be long before he’s sent across the country to try his trade in AA.
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No other offensive performances of note.
Home run tracker
23 — Cam Maldonado — [9 in High-A; 14 in Low-A]
Thursday schedule
Sacramento: 7:05 p.m. PT at Las Vegas (SP: TBD)
Richmond: 4:05 p.m. PT vs. Chesapeake (SP: Niko Mazza)
Eugene: Off day
San Jose: 6:30 p.m. Pt vs. Stockton (SP: Jackson Flora)
Reminder that almost all MiLB games can be watched on MLB TV
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