Lead lost, and chance for a sweep
PHILADELPHIA — Deciding when to pull a starting pitcher can be the most grueling move for a manager, and Gabe Kapler had some compelling ones each of the past three days at Citizens Bank Park.
On Monday, the San Francisco Giants’ manager shook Logan Webb’s hand as if the assignment had ended after eight solid innings, only to be convinced by Webb that he should remain for the ninth. Kapler, appreciating Webb’s efficiency, obliged.
On Tuesday, Kapler pulled Jakob Junis with one out in the fifth. Junis had given up one run on three hits but didn’t appear to be at his best. The Giants won both games in extra innings.
In Wednesday’s 6-5 loss to the Phillies, the longer Carlos Rodón lasted, the better he pitched. He struck out four of his final five batters and was registering high 90s on the radar gun after his fastball was in the mid-90s in the early innings.
“The most important thing we can do is protect our starters because they’re so critical to our success,” said Kapler, who dealt with different variables all three days. “They’ve been really good for us and kept us in a lot of games and given us a chance to win games.”
Rodón threw 98 pitches, roughly his average this season, through five innings, and when the Giants scored five runs in the top of the sixth for a 5-2 lead, he was in position for the win. But Kapler took out Rodón and summoned Jarlín García, who gave up the decisive four runs.
“One of the easier decisions of the year, frankly,” Kapler said. “It’s not that we think Rodón can’t go out there and get more outs for us, but the two things combined, Carlos at (98) pitches, we’re not going to let him throw 115 pitches when he’s not efficient, and he wasn’t efficient tonight.
“And, second, we have a guy who hasn’t given up a run all year long, and we have two left-handed relievers in the bullpen ( Jake McGee and Jose Alvarez) to handle left-handed pockets of their lineup, so plenty of pitching to get through the game.”
In half of Rodón’s 10 starts, he pitched at least six innings, and Kapler said if the lefthander is at 85 or 90 pitches in the sixth or seventh inning, he’d be more willing to let him keep pitching.
On Wednesday, the third and fourth innings were strenuous. Rodón struck out his final batter in the fourth and three of the four batters in the fifth.
“The competitor in me would like to have the ball, but I understand the decision there,” Rodón said. “We might as well go to the lefty with all those lefties coming up. It’s a long season, and we’ve got to stay fresh throughout.”
García’s first failure: García seemed the perfect man to inherit a three-run lead in the sixth inning, especially with several Philadelphia lefties due up.
No reliever had been more successful than García, who had an 0.00 ERA through 17 appearances and had matched Joe Nathan’s franchise record for consecutive scoreless outings to open a season.
One more and the record was exclusively his.
However, García faced five batters and retired one. That 5-2 lead quickly turned into a 6-5 deficit because García coughed up two-run homers to Nick Maton and Kyle Schwarber, both of whom swing lefthanded.
“Today was not one of my good days,” García said, “but I guess overall what I’ve been doing is having a good work routine and I want to make sure I stay in that routine and make sure everything works.”
Before Tuesday, García limited lefties to one hit in 19 atbats. He finally has an ERA, 2.08. Both pitches, a fastball to Maton and changeup to Schwarber, were thrown across the heart of the plate.
Preceding each homer, the Phillies got infield hits, a soft roller up the middle to shortstop Brandon Crawford and a liner off the glove of second baseman Donovan Walton, who probably should have caught the ball.
Flores’ comeback: Wilmer Flores did not have a clean defensive game at first base and was especially sloppy in the fourth inning when he made a throwing error and mishandled a bunt.
Flores, the Giants’ No. 3 hitter, made up for the miscues with a three-run homer that capped a five-run rally in the sixth.
It was the first inning the Giants put any pressure on starter Aaron Nola, who gave up a Tommy La Stella double to open the game and then retired 15 straight batters.
Then came a barrage of baserunners. Four straight lefthanded batters reached to open the sixth — Walton double, Jason Vosler double, La Stella single, Mike Yastrzemski hit by pitch — before Flores crushed his sixth homer of the year.
Rodón seemed to have Odubel Herrera picked off first base and threw to Flores, but Flores’ throw to second sailed into the outfield, allowing Herrera to take third. Herrera scored on a Maton bunt that Flores tried to flip to the plate but fumbled.