Giants beat: Kapler says he still has “confidence” in Gott.
The morning after his second epic meltdown in two nights, Giants reliever Trevor Gott had a meeting with manager Gabe Kapler, who called it a “really good conversation.”
Gott was used in the ninth inning Friday and Saturday and faced 12 batters. He gave up nine runs, including four homers.
The A’s were down 72 and 63, respectively, and took advantage of the ineffectiveness of Gott and the Giants’ defense to stunningly win 87 and 76.
Asked on Sunday how Gott is handling the failures, based on their conversation, Kapler said, “I think he’s doing fine. It’s clear the last couple of nights have been difficult. They’ve been difficult for our club and not easy for Trevor as well, but he’s handling it like a professional and really wants the opportunity to get back out there and perform for our club.”
In seven innings, Gott has given up more homers (five) than all of last season in 522⁄3 innings (four). In a small sample size, his strikeout-pernineinnings rate is 3.9. It was 9.7 last year.
The manager hasn’t lost faith in the reliever despite his 12.86 ERA.
“I have plenty of confidence in Trevor Gott. … His stuff is there. He’s performed in the past,” Kapler said. “I have a lot of confidence in Trevor Gott.”
Gott was considered unavailable for Sunday’s series finale after appearing in backtoback games, as were Tyler Rogers and Tony Watson.
When Gott is available, Kapler said, he’d still be open to using him in highleverage situations. Asked whether he’d put the righthander in lesser roles to give him a mental break, Kapler said, “Not necessarily.”
Briefly: Jeff Samardzija hasn’t started throwing since he was placed on the injured list with a shoulder impingement Aug. 8 . ... Drew Smyly (sprained index finger) threw from 120 feet with his regular grip. Previously, he had been using a modified grip to protect the finger . ... Austin Slater (elbow sprain) was available to hit off the bench but hasn’t started a throwing program . ... Outfielder Jaylin Davis remains at the Sacramento site, and Kapler called him a “work in progress.” “For Jaylin, the key is more contact. It’s more connecting with the baseball in the zone. When he does that, he’s going to be a majorleaguer. He just hasn’t demonstrated to date the ability to consistently put the ball in play. When he puts it in play, it’s with authority. But there’s still a lot of swing and miss in his game.” ... The Giants acknowledged the 100year anniversary of the Negro Leagues. “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black national anthem, was performed before the game, and six cutouts of Negro League legends were placed in the dugout and extended dugout: Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Martin Dihigo, Biz Mackey, Wilber Rogan and Rube Foster. Also: cutouts of Willie Mays, Monte Irvin and Toni Stone appeared in frontrow VIP seats.