Both the Giants fans and their manager can breathe a sigh of relief after Friday night.
Bob Melvin and his pitching coach Bryan Price had no intention of repeating last 12 months's starting lineup, or the shortage thereof, but given the cards they were dealt, with a complete host of pitchers on the injured list, they used a bullpen game for the twelfth time Friday night and asked Erik Miller to take over opening duties for the ninth time this season, which is a team record.
After a 25-minute rain stoppage, the big-framed left-hander shut down the team 1-2-3, and 6 other relievers followed because the Giants' latest – and hopefully last – piecemeal pitching performance went easily, starting a difficult series against the American League-leading Cleveland Guardians with a 4-2 win.
After winning two of three games in Atlanta in the primary leg of the road trip, the Giants have to win just one among their final two games in Cleveland to secure their fourth straight series. However, no task has been harder this season than defeating the Guardians at Progressive Field, where they’re still an MLB-best 28-11 and have lost only one series all 12 months.
Returning from a two-week absence with a sprained ankle, Kyle Harrison could have his first likelihood to win the series on Saturday and is the primary of a number of reinforcements to return. Blake Snell, Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb are only across the corner.
In the series opener, the Giants needed to give up nine innings to Miller, Spencer Bivens, Taylor Rogers, Randy Rodríguez, Ryan Walker, Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval, who allowed 11 hits and five more walks and limited the Guardians' damage to a solo shot by Josh Naylor within the fourth inning and a run within the sixth inning that would have been higher.
In the sixth inning, after allowing runners to achieve second and third base with no outs, Rodríguez provokes a sacrifice fly that ultimately brought within the only run in a seemingly troubled inning after Melvin Walker called, bringing in Bo Naylor for the third out after Matt Chapman got the second out on the plate by catching a chopper from Bryan Rocchio and catching David Fry in a rundown.
Doval and Tyler Rogers needed to work around the possibly tying run on base within the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.
The first two batters of the ninth inning reached base when Doval didn’t cover first base after which walked the subsequent batter after 4 pitches. Six pitches later, nevertheless, the sport was over after Doval got Jose Ramirez to hit a slider within the dirt for strike three and got Josh Naylor to bounce a first-pitch cutter right into a game-ending double play.
Rocchio's double against Rogers with two outs put the potential tying point at second base after Andrés Giménez reached base on a comebacker that the reliever couldn't catch. Rogers, nevertheless, left the inning with a 4-2 lead after getting Bo Naylor to finish the inning again by hitting a groundout to Brett Wisely at second base.
The Giants capitalized on their strengths and took an early lead by running over the Guardians' starter, the unusually inconsistent Tanner Bibee, and scoring three runs before Miller stepped onto the mound and eventually took a 4-0 lead.
Bibee entered the evening with a 3.47 ERA and had walked 4 batters in five starts in June. It had been nearly two months, since May 13, since he last issued two free runs in a start. However, he got LaMonte Wade Jr. and Matt Chapman on base in the primary inning and missed his position with the bases loaded by a large margin for Michael Conforto, who hit a two-RBI double to make it 3-0.
Conforto hit a curveball high into right field to attain Wade and Heliot Ramos, and on his next attempt within the fourth inning, he hit a two-strike swing for a second double, scoring when Bibee botched a bunt attempt by Nick Ahmed.
The two doubles marked only the second time Conforto has had a multiple hit in 27 games since getting back from a hamstring strain. He had a .280 batting average and .821 OPS when he went on the injured list, but each numbers dropped to .227 and .688 before he has recently come back into gear, hitting seven extra-base hits in his last 11 games, improving his average to .239 and his OPS to .743.
Miller has pitched a whole game in his nine openers this season, allowing only one run. The Giants improved their record to 5-4 in those games – 7-5 in all bullpen games. Their relievers have pitched probably the most innings of any team within the majors.
Just before the All-Star break, nevertheless, an actual rotation is taking shape. After Harrison, rookie Hayden Birdsong will make his third start on Sunday to shut out the series, and after an off day on Monday, the Giants will start Blake Snell, Logan Webb and Jordan Hicks against the Blue Jays; Harrison, Birdsong and Snell will face the Twins of their final series before the break.
Remarkable: FROM Mike Yastrzemski returned to the lineup a day after being hit within the elbow by a pitch. He was initially out of the order, but was inserted about two and a half hours before the primary pitch and began in right field, suffering strikeouts in all 4 of his attempts to the plate.
Next: LHP Kyle Harrison (4-3, 3.96) returns to the starting lineup against LHP Logan Allen (8-4, 5.75) within the second game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. PT.
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