Openers may become more common for S.F.

Sacramento was playing at El Paso late last month in a ballpark that was known for crazy offensive numbers even before the new juiced ball was introduced, so the River Cats tried something different. They used Ray Black as an opener in one game, and Sam Coonrod two days later.

Neither had a good inning, and the pitchers who followed them, Ty Blach and Andrew Suarez, each gave up eight runs.

Experiment over? Not necessarily.

“I think you’re going to see that more often after the TripleA AllStar break,” Black said upon his promotion in San Diego. “A couple of guys have been told they’re going to be opening.”

It’s not clear whether the TripleA relievers are being prepped to open with the Giants in the second half or if the River Cats just wanted to try a strategy that has gained a foothold in the majors.

A lot of what happens in the minors is done just in case.

“If moves are made and it ever happens up here, hopefully they’ll bring up the same guys who’ve done it down there and they’re comfortable

doing it,” said Black, who admitted it was a little “nerveracking” to start. He tried to treat it like a midgame relief outing as best he could.

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi made a lot of news at the winter meetings when he said the Giants might use openers. He said the next day that reporters made too much of those comments, and that he was just tossing it out as a possibility.

True to his intent, the Giants have used an opener just once. That did not end well either. Nick Vincent allowed three runs in the first inning of a 73 loss to the Blue Jays on May 14.

Blach rebounded with a decent outing (two runs, 61⁄3 innings) in his next start at home against Albuquerque. Suarez followed with a terrific start against the Isotopes, holding the Rockies’ top farm club to one hit in eight innings.

Black, who can throw 100 mph, allowed a homer to Dexter Fowler on his seventh bigleague pitch this season Friday night — on a breaking pitch — after surrendering three in 19 innings for Sacramento, a tremendous feat after Major League Baseball introduced the juiced bigleague balls at TripleA.

“The way the balls are flying out of that league, you’ve got to try to induce groundballs,” Black said. The Pacific Coast League “got its reputation for a reason. It does teach you a little adversity and how to battle back. It prepares you that way.”

It also reminds everyone not to treat PCL ERAs as gospel.

Rotation plans: Dereck Rodriguez, who has not started a majorleague game since May 10, is a candidate to pitch one of two games in Denver on

May 15.

The Giants optioned Rodriguez to TripleA to stretch him out as a starter again after he went to the bullpen. He threw 58 pitches over four innings at Reno on Friday night, which keeps him in line for July 15. The Giants are playing a doubleheader to make up a May 8 rainout.

Rodriguez will throw again Wednesday, although it’s not clear where. The PCL has its AllStar break. Class A San Jose wlll be in Rancho Cucamonga.

Manager Bruce Bochy was not ready to announce his secondhalf rotation but suggested Madison Bumgarner will throw the opener at Milwaukee on Friday.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle. com Twitter: @hankschulman