Hinch admits he can improve on Giles’ use out of pen
Amid questions of whether Ken Giles will separate himself as the Astros’ closer and end the season with more save opportunities and conversions than his bullpen mates, manager A.J. Hinch acknowledged Saturday he had not “done a good enough job” of incorporating Giles across the team’s first 14 games.
Giles met with Hinch last week regarding his irregular usage, Hinch said. Before he threw an inning in Saturday’s 6-5, 10-inning loss to the Texas Rangers, Giles hadn’t pitched since Monday, his one-out save at Minnesota requiring five pitches.
After the game Monday, Hinch called the outing a “confidence builder,” but Gilessaid he did not believe he needed one.
Saturday, Hinch shouldered the blame for Giles’ scarce use since.
“(Giles) understands what we’re doing (and) he wants to pitch a little more regularly, and I don’t blame him,” Hinch said. “I haven’t done a good enough job incorporating him into the mix if I’m not going to close him. I’ll do a better job of that.” Clean inning Saturday
Hinch summoned Giles for the ninth of a tie game Saturday. He tossed a clean inning against the bottom of the Rangers’ order. He yielded little hard contact while commanding his slider.
Alex Bregman aided him with a charging pick of Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s one-out bouncing grounder. Jose Altuve, too, when he ranged deep into the hole and robbed Drew Robinson of a two-out hit.
It was Giles’ fourth appearance this season that lasted an inning. He has allowed an extra-base hit in two of those.
“I think sometimes he’s caught in between using his best stuff versus pitching to a game plan,” Hinch said. “I think that really bases on his mechanics. When his mechanics line up and he’s really attacking a game plan, he can be really good.”
Entering Saturday’s game, Giles had pitched four innings, tied with Joe Smith for the fewest among Astros relievers who’ve been active all season. Smith, though, battled the sickness that went around the clubhouse this season, rendering him unavailable for a stretch.
Hinch’s bullpen management across his team’s first 14 games has demonstrated an emphasis on matchups. Three pitchers — Giles, Brad Peacock and Chris Devenski — have saves.
“Any given day I feel the liberty to use any one of our guys, and I think our guys are on board,” Hinch said. “I think it’s unfairly pointed the finger at Ken GIles as ‘not being the closer’ which is not necessarily the case. I just think there’s been some extreme examples of matchups we liked and some rest periods for guys like Peacock and Devenski particularly that I really liked.”
Devenski closed the ninth inning of Friday’s 3-2 win over the Rangers. Lefthanders hit .111 against Devenski last season, the second-lowest single-season mark by a major league pitcher since splits began tracking in 1974. It’s all about matchups
Two of the three Rangers hitters due up in Friday’s ninth inning hit lefthanded. One — Ronald Guzman — reached. Behind him was another lefthander, Drew Robinson, whom Devenski fanned.
Hinch’s reliance on such matchups is a byproduct of the schedule, too. The Rangers, whom the Astros have played in two series, employ lefthanded threats Shin-Soo Choo and Joey Gallo toward the top of their order.
Joe Mauer, Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario dotted the Minnesota Twins’ lineup, too, in a series Devenski was used for two outs in the ninth inning of a win. Giles came in for the third.
“For this particular stretch, it’s been the case, I don’t know if it’s going to be that way moving forward,” Hinch said. “Because I also remember when Ken Giles was extremely effective for a three- or four-month period in the middle of the season to the tail end of the season last year. Where it didn’t matter who was coming up, where we were in the order or what rest he had — he was the guy to go to. That can easily develop over the course of the season.”