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Starters who finish demonstrate the Grizzlies pitching richness
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Tim Lincecum and Matt Kinney, at first blush, would appear to have very little in common, other than the fact that they are both starting pitchers and their affiliation with the Fresno Grizzlies and the parent organization, the San Francisco Giants. However, Lincecum is the stud pitcher of the organization whose stay with the Grizzlies was all too brief purely from the standpoint of Grizzlies baseball and whose brilliant performance in the major leagues as a Giant has marked him as “The Franchise”.
Nevertheless, Kinney is a journeyman minor league pitcher, who has not had any impact on the major league level and at the advanced age of 32 has very little upside. In all probability, when Kinney retires, he will retire as a Fresno Grizzlie or on some other minor league team.
But on Monday, June 29, they both brought glory to the organization by accomplishing one of the rarest of feats in the age of pitching specialization: a complete game.
While Lincecum – pitching in St. Louis -- was mixing his two-seam and four-seam fastball, his change-up and his slider to baffle the St. Louis Cardinals 10-0, the unheralded Matt Kinney matched him by going the distance at Chukchansi Park in beating the Salt Lake Bees (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, AAA) 7-1.
Remarkably enough, both pitches had no-hitters going into the middle innings, but Lincecum lost his in the bottom of the fifth on a bloop single by Rick Ankiel, and Kinney pitched five perfect innings before surrendering a double to Ben Johnson in the top of the sixth.
However, the “Grizzlie of the hour” right now is not Kinney but the scatter-armed Ryan Sadowski. Sadowski was called up by the Giants on June 28 to replace Jonathan Sanchez in the rotation. Sanchez, another ex-Grizzlie, whom the Giants had been very high on at the start of the season has failed to live up to expectations and has been demoted to the bullpen for additional work.
Sadowski was assigned to pitch the Sunday game against the Milwaukee Brewers, and while he did not complete the game, he dominated a heavy-hitting Brewers team by pitching six strong innings. With the help of a strong defense and timely hitting, the Giants beat the Brewers 7-0.
Giants and Grizzlies fans pulling for Sadowski to make good in his major league debut had no reason or right to expect that he would be as dominating as he was. Sadowski has suffered control problems throughout his professional career, and these continued on Sunday as he walked three batters in the six innings that he pitched – but as they say, he was “effectively wild” – keeping the Brewers just off-balance enough to get them out when he needed to. The Giants defense helped out by turning two double-plays behind him.
You’re only as good as your last start in this profession, and as the Giants and Sadowski return home to face the Houston Astros, all eyes will be eagerly turned towards San Francisco on Friday to see if Sadowski can give a repeat performance.
It should be noted that Sadowski is far from the highest-ranked pitcher in the Giants minor league organization. By all rights, that honor would go to the Grizzlies Kevin Pucetas. Pucetas is the only Grizzlie pitcher who has been chosen to pitch in the AAA All-Star Game. He and John Bowker are the two Grizzlies representatives.
On merit, it should have been Pucetas who got the call-up. Pucetas is tied for the Pacific Coast League lead in wins with 8 and has a gaudy 3.17 ERA, no small accomplishment in the hitters league that is the PCL. However, he had pitched seven innings on Thursday, June 25 and would have had to have pitched on Sunday on three days rest.
Essentially, Sadowski got the call-up simply because he was the best-rested of all those who might have been expected to get it and it’s just one more reminder that history – baseball history, in this case – is often a matter of happenstance as much as it is a matter of planning.
Game Notes: The Grizzlies continued their slide in Sacramento last night, losing to the River Cats 5-1. Their lone run scored on successive doubles by Steve Holm and Brian Horwitz as Garrett Broshuis took the loss. The loss dropped the Grizzlies to eight games behind the division-leading River Cats and to just one and one-half games ahead of the third-place Reno Aces.
Note: Photo of Tim Lincecum used with the kind permission of Dave Nelson.
For more info:
Kevin Pucetas - Baseball Reference
Baseball Cube - Matt Kinney
"Long slow arrival of Ryan Sadowski" - San Francisco Chronicle
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