Giants: Bullpen melts down once again, but loss to the A’s in series finale is a different kind of sting
SAN FRANCISCO >> With a pair of dramatic, gut-wrenching ninthinning meltdowns to open the Bay Bridge series, the Giants’ bullpen had already taken two knockout punches.
In the midst of a nine-run fifth inning for the Oakland A’s in Sunday’s series finale, someone should have stepped in and called the fight.
In the ninth inning of a 15-3 loss, Giants manager Gabe Kapler finally did. He raised the white flag, sending starting catcher Tyler Heineman to the mound to give his bullpen a breather.
The A’s left no doubt in their quest to secure a series sweep as pinch-hitter Chad Pinder launched the first pitch thrown by a Giants reliever halfway up the left-field bleachers at Oracle Park. Pinder’s solo blast started an interminable parade around the basepaths for an Oakland lineup that exposed San Francisco’s bullpen all weekend.
“I think the name of the game when it comes to having a good bullpen is throwing strikes and limiting damage and the two things both have to happen simultaneously to have a really, really good bullpen,” Kapler said. “It’s throwing strikes and not putting runners on base via the walk and if you’re going to give up a home run every once in a while, make sure it’s a solo shot.”
With nine runs on eight hits,
including three home runs in the fifth against Giants pitchers Wandy Peralta and Dereck Rodríguez, the A’s made the Giants suffer through the franchise’s worst inning at Oracle Park since giving up 13 in a single frame on May 5, 2016, against the Colorado Rockies.
Giants relievers have now surrendered a major leagueworst 24 home runs in 24 games, seven of which came during this weekend’s threegame series.
“I just think we’re coming out and being aggressive with our pitches and some of them are missing in the middle of the plate,” Heineman said. “These guys are big league hitters, they’re making adjustments and they’re putting good swings on the ball.”
A Giants defense that leads the league in errors didn’t help its pitchers much on Sunday as center fielder Mauricio Dubón misjudged a long flyball from Saturday’s hero, Mark Canha, that was ruled a triple only a few innings after Dubón missed a cut-off man and was charged with a throwing error on a Matt Chapman double.
The only positive of the afternoon for the Giants came from their left-handed hitting veteran infielders, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt, each of whom broke out of slumps with strong days at the plate. Belt hit a solo home run in the second inning and finished the day with three hits while Crawford added a pair of hits, including a solo home run in the seventh inning that marked the 99th of his career.
Both homers were a glimmer of hope for a Giants offense that needs more production from its regulars, but it’s clear a team that’s lost eight of 11 needs a lot more to go right too.
Kapler and Giants president of baseball operations Farhan
Zaidi entered the 2020 season with the best intentions for the team’s bullpen but have clearly seen how much room is left for improvement in a year in which the club is determined to find contributors for the future.
The Giants understood that protecting late-inning leads would be a challenge considering the team entered the summer with only three healthy relievers with more than 100 games of major league experience, but they likely didn’t anticipate the trouble to be so severe.
A handful of relievers, including Peralta, closer Trevor Gott and rookie Tyler Rogers, have all had great moments that have given the organization reason to maintain optimism about their potential, but all have also endured serious struggles in crushing defeats like Sunday’s.
“What makes a consistent major league reliever is the ability to be dependable, do it day in and day out, and be able to bounce back from a one-plus, a back-to-back, three out of four, and there’s a lot you have to prove here,” Kapler said.
Kapler has shouldered a lot of criticism for the way he’s managed inexperienced relievers, but none of the young pitchers in his bullpen have made his job easier or pitched well enough to earn a clearlydefined role. It’s hard for the Giants to expect Kapler to pull all the right strings when he doesn’t have many reliable options to work with and it’s difficult for relievers to shine in high-leverage situations when most are still working to establish themselves as competent major leaguers.
“We knew that the early part of the season was going to be an exploration in learning about our relievers, particularly the ones that haven’t had much if any major league experience,” Kapler said. “We knew that was going to come with growing pains. That doesn’t take away the sting of not having success early in the season.”
The circumstances have led to widespread frustration from a fan base that’s watched the Giants stay relatively competitive with their opponents on a daily basis, only to see games unravel at the wire. Losses on Friday and Saturday against the first-place A’s hurt because the Giants were oh-so-close to stealing a series, but Sunday’s stings in a different way because it shows how far the franchise has to go to compete with a juggernaut like Oakland.
It’s likely the Giants’ bullpen will look much different the next time San Francisco fields a contender, but the team’s hope moving forward is that at least two or three of the pitchers auditioning for future jobs this season take advantage of the opportunity.
So far, that hasn’t happened.