Amid the terrible, several bright spots
One of the Giants’ many disappointments in an 11-16 May was their inability to take full advantage of terrific individual performances.
No National Leaguer with at least 50 at-bats beat Brandon Crawford’s .412 batting average. Only the Reds’ Scooter Gennett bested Crawford’s 1.064 OPS.
Brandon Belt hit .314 with a .394 on-base percentage, seven doubles and 12 home runs. Gorkys Hernandez had the most surprising month at the plate. He hit .325 with a .953 OPS and five home runs as he forced manager Bruce Bochy to make him the everyday center fielder.
One reliever also stood out. Sam Dyson rediscovered his heavy sinker and proved to be a valuable option in the seventh or eighth inning. He threw the same number of innings in May as in March and April combined. His ERA and WHIP declined from 3.55 and 1.18, respectively, to 1.42 and 1.02 in May.
Crawford could win his first Player of the Month award. Ballots will be passed around big-league press boxes Friday.
“He’s been playing great ball on both sides,” Bochy said. “It’s been fun to watch.”
A team does not go 11-16 without a lot of poor performances, too, and the Giants’ started with the injury-depleted rotation.
With a day left in May, the Giants’ starters had the league’s second-worst ERA at 5.77. Only the Reds (6.05) were worse.
Bumgarner strong: Madison Bumgarner threw 74 pitches and struck out seven in a rehab start for Class A San Jose. He is expected to make his 2018 bigleague debut against the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.
Bumgarner faced Arizona’s Visalia team Thursday and allowed a run in 42⁄3 innings on a homer by Pavin Smith, the Diamondbacks’ top draft pick last year. Smith was the “beer batter” in the fifth, so the crowd at San Jose Municipal Stadium got half-price beers when Bumgarner struck him out.
Bumgarner totaled 81⁄3 innings in his two minor-league games at Sacramento and San Jose, allowing two hits and striking out 15.
San Jose won 5-2 as Alen Hanson, who played second base, hit a two-run homer in three at-bats. Joe Panik went 2-for-4 with a double as the designated hitter.
Beede’s future: Tyler Beede, the 2014 first-rounder, could be used as a reliever for the Giants this season.
“No question it could come into play,” Bochy said on a whirlwind Wednesday for Beede, who was promoted to the majors to fortify a fatigued relief corps then optioned back to Triple-A Sacramento after the Giants’ 7-4 victory.
Beede made his first career relief appearance for Sacramento on Saturday night and contributed an outstanding four innings to finish a 2-0 victory against Albuquerque that began with Bumgarner pitching 32⁄3 innings in his first rehab start.
Bumgarner, Tyler Rogers and Mark Melancon combined for five no-hit innings, which Beede did not know when he entered the game.
“After I got through my first inning, I was like, ‘Oh gosh, we’ve got a no-hitter going.’ After that, I reacted like I had a no-hitter the whole game.”
Indeed, Beede was fired up when he ended a hitless seventh inning before allowing a bloop hit with one out in the eighth. He said the key was using his “quickness and athleticism” to speed his tempo on the mound, which resulted in more strikes and a 96-mph fastball.
The Giants have not said they plan to move Beede to relief long term, but there’s a chance he could follow the path of another first-rounder. Kyle Crick (drafted in 2011) became a strike-thrower with greater velocity when he moved to the bullpen, simplified his repertoire and let his fastball loose without having to keep his reservoir full for later innings.
Control has been Beede’s most significant issue. Over his first two big-league starts, in April, he walked eight in 72⁄3 innings.