Sacramento Rivercats Sacramento falls late to Fresno 7-6 Fresno, CA - The Sacramento River Cats (29-43) took a two-run lead into the eighth inning Friday night against the Fresno Grizzlies (36-38) but watched it slip away in their 7-6 defeat. Sacramento got on the board first thanks to a three-run first inning in which they sent eight men to the plate. Two of the runs came courtesy of Mac Williamson who singled home Jarrett Parker and Ryder Jones. Williamson came through again in the fifth after the Grizzlies tied things up, this time driving in Parker with a sacrifice fly for his third RBI on the night. Starter Michael Roth filled in admirably for scheduled starter Joan Gregorio, going a season-high 6.2 innings. The left-hander also threw a season-high 108 pitches during his outing while allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits. Fresno did their damage against the bullpen tonight however, pushing one across in the eighth off reliever Matt Reynolds and two more in the ninth with Derek Law on the mound. The River Cats and Grizzlies will wrap up their four-game series with a doubleheader Saturday. Fresno will send right-hander Casey Coleman (2-4, 6.27) to the hill for game one and righty Dean Deetz (0-2, 20.25) will pitch game two. Sacramento has yet to announce their starters. First pitch for game one is set for 5:05 p.m. (PT) and the game can be heard live online at rivercats.com and on the air on ESPN 1320. Postgame Notes Not over 'til it's over: The Sacramento bullpen blew their 13th save opportunity of the year and first by Derek Law…the River Cats are now 22-4 when leading after eight innings, the second worst mark in the league after New Orleans (21-4)…the club is 18-18 when scoring first. Williamson heating up: Mac Williamson registered his second three-RBI game of the season tonight…he's now hitting .363 (8-for-22) over his last six games with five runs and seven runs knocked in. Parker producing: Jarrett Parker scored three of the team's six runs tonight…he now has seven runs scored in his four starts with Sacramento…also walked twice tonight and now has five free passes…is hitting .273 with a .500 on base percentage. Hwang: Jae-Gyun Hwang knocked in his team-leading 43rd RBI of the season tonight…smacked his 19th double, most on the team. Richmond Flying Squirrels It's Me, Luigi! Rodriguez Leads Ducks In Opener RVA - Akron's Luigi Rodriguez homered twice to lead the RubberDucks in a 9-6 victory over Richmond on Friday night at The Diamond. Richmond (30-42) rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and were one batter shy of brining the tying run to the plate. The Squirrels collected nine hits, including three apiece for C.J. Hinojosa and Myles Schroder in the defeat. Akron lefty Matt Whitehouse tossed a season-high seven innings to earn the win. Richmond will attempt to get even in the middle game of the series on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Trailing 9-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, Richmond bull rushed Akron reliever Mitch Brown for four run to make things interesting Brown walked Brandon Bednar and hit Hunter Cole to begin the uprising. After Brown set down the next two batters, Jeff Arnold drilled a three-run homer over the left field fence to make it a 9-5 contest. Schroder kept it going with a walk and Hinojosa brought him home on a base hit, bringing the tying run into the on deck circle. Akron went back into the bullpen, bringing in closer Neil Holland. Holland finished off Daniel Carbonell to end the game and earn the save . Jordan Johnson stared the contest for Richmond, coming off his roughest outing of the season. Johnson retired all three batters with ease in the first inning, but encountered some control issues in the second. Johnson walked Bobby Bradley to begin the second and then walked Yu Chang with two outs. Dorssys Paulino provided the first runs of the game when he knocked a double off the right field wall to give Akron a 2-0 lead. Paulino was thrown out on the play attempting to take third base to end the inning. The Squirrels nibbled around the bases in the first three innings against Akron starting pitcher Matt Whitehouse. Richmond stranded a runner on third base in the first and a pair in the second. Schroder connected on his second hit of the game, a base hit to center field, but Whitehouse left him on by punching out Daniel Carbonell to end the inning. Whitehouse tallied 49 pitches over the first three innings in the game. Akron added two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. Eric Hasse lined a double with one out and Luigi Rodriguez launched a two-run homer that skimmed over the center field fence. Rodriguez' home run was his seventh of the year and gave Akron a 4-0 advantage. Johnson struck out the next batter to end the inning. He closed out the fourth frame on his 63rd pitch of the evening. Whitehouse managed to reach the sixth inning without allow a run, thanks in part to a pair of double plays. Richmond eventually dinged the lefty for a pair of runs to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. The Squirrels loaded the bases and pushed across the first run on a Jerry Sands ground out. Brandon Bednar followed with another RBI ground out for the second run. Johnson (4-5) lasted six innings in the defeat. The righty allowed four runs on six hits. He struck out five and walked three on 94 pitches. Ryan Halstead replaced Johnson to begin the seventh inning. Halstead was ambushed for three runs, including run-producing, extra-base hits from Tyler Krieger and Bobby Bradley. Whitehouse finished off a season-high seven innings to earn the win. The lefty allowed two runs on six hits, using 90 pitches in the outing. He walked one and struck out three. San Jose Giants Giants Lose Sixth Straight To Rawhide VISALIA, CA - Visalia's Justin Donatella fired seven scoreless innings as the Rawhide cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Giants on Friday evening at Recreation Park. The loss was San Jose's (30-42) second straight to begin the series and sixth in a row overall. All six losses during the current skid have come to Visalia. Heath Quinn (2-for-4, RBI) and Aramis Garcia (2-for-4) had two hits apiece to lead the Giants offensively in defeat. All eight of San Jose's hits in the contest were singles with their lone run coming on a Quinn RBI single in the top of the ninth. Jake McCasland started on the mound for the Giants and began his night with two scoreless innings before running into trouble in the bottom of the third. With one out, Galli Cribbs singled before stealing second. Following a Matt McPhearson strikeout, Sergio Alcantara stepped to the plate and grounded a double down the right field line that scored Cribbs for a 1-0 Rawhide advantage. Meanwhile, Gio Brusa's single in the top of the second was San Jose's only baserunner over the first three innings against Donatella. In the top of the fourth with Visalia ahead up by a run, Dillon Dobson delivered a one-out single. Garcia then hammered a line drive off the bottom of the fence in deep left. Dobson advanced to third, however Garcia was thrown out at second by the left fielder Cribbs attempting to stretch the hit into a double. Quinn then flied out to the warning track in left center to end the inning. In the top of the fifth, T.J. Bennett walked with two outs before John Polonius singled, but Donatella retired Jalen Miller on a come backer to keep the score at 1-0. The Rawhide then scored a pair of unearned runs against McCasland in the bottom of the fifth to stretch their lead to 3-0. A walk to Daniel Lockhart started the inning before McPhearson singled with one out to put runners on first and second. Alcantara followed with a grounder into the hole on the right side that deflected off the glove of the second baseman Bennett. The error allowed Lockhart to score from second base while McPhearson moved into third and Alcantara was safe at first. Austin Byler was up next and he lifted a sacrifice fly into center plating McPhearson to make the score 3-0. Donatella breezed through the sixth and seventh innings before a three-run bottom of the seventh for Visalia broke the game open. With reliever Connor Kaden on the mound, McPhearson and Alcantara drew back-to-back one-out walks. Byler then bounced an RBI single into left as McPhearson scored for a 4-0 cushion. Marty Herum followed with a line drive double into the left center field gap to bring home Alcantara and Byler extending the lead to 6-0. The Giants' only run of the night came in the top of the ninth. A Ronnie Jebavy leadoff single and a Garcia one-out single put runners on first and second. Quinn then lined a single into center to score Jebavy trimming the Rawhide lead to 6-1. Visalia reliever Nick Baker though prevented further damage as he set down the next two hitters, Brusa on a pop out and Jonah Arenado on a groundout, to end the game.