Starters provide the relief

Even before Santiago Casilla and Sergio Romo hurt their legs, the bullpen was worn after pitching 64 innings in a stretch of 20 games without a day off. After saving Monday’s 3-2 victory against the Cubs, Jeremy Affeldt said the starters did the relievers a huge favor during a 6-1 homestand by giving the members of the ’pen a near-vacation.

The bullpen totaled 102⁄ innings over the seven games. Each starter lasted at least seven innings and allowed two or fewer runs, a stretch that had occurred only once in San Francisco history when the 1988 team did it in nine consecutive games.

“The way these guys were stepping up for us, limiting how many times we got up and how many innings we threw, was great,” Affeldt said. “We can be pretty effective when we’re rested.”

Ryan Vogelsong allowed two second-inning runs amid a burst of singles, but that was all during his fourth straight win. He saw Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain and Barry Zito all pitch into the ninth the three previous games and got a bit jittery.

“You don’t want to be the weak link after three games like that,” Vogelsong said. “That was definitely on my mind this morning. It was a tough act to follow those three outings.”

Second baseman Ryan Theriot

might have saved Vogelsong’s win in the seventh inning. With two outs and a runner on third in a 2-2 game, Starlin Castro hit a smash off Theriot’s glove. Rather than deflect left, right or behind Theriot, the ball popped straight into the air. Theriot plucked it with his bare hand and threw to first for the out.

“I gave him a big hug after that one,” Vogelsong said.

The game ended with Theriot showing great vertical leap to snag a Steve Clevenger liner.