Cody Glenn-USA TODAY Sports
It was Tyler Beede’s roller-coaster season encapsulated in one start.
The highs of the beginnings of a perfect game. And then the depths of walking off the mound with the team trainer clutching at his side.
Beede lasted 3 1/3 spotless innings, striking out seven in 53 pitches, before his season was abruptly ended by his left oblique. A game that may have started with ERA concerns — could he drop below 5? — ended with MRI concerns. The Giants did not yet have the results after their 8-3 victory over the Rockies at Oracle Park on Thursday.
“What a bad break,” Bruce Bochy said after Beede finished with a 5.08 ERA. “That’s as good as stuff he’s thrown all year. Was really locked in with all his pitches.”
Bochy asked Beede if he knew he was perfect before he lifted him — “I’m sure he was disappointed.”
It ends a somewhat promising if wholly unfulfilling season for Beede, a former top prospect whose stuff always teases but results fluctuate.
His ERA dropped precipitously from May to June to July before exploding in August (7.25), helping nosedive a team that had been on the upswing a month prior. He closed strong, posting a 3.28 ERA in five September starts.
It’s an encouraging finish for a pitcher whom the Giants believe in. They gave him every chance to prove himself at the major league level, and if he hasn’t quite done that, he has shown flashes of the ability to one day do that consistently.
Of course, that’s assuming he can have a productive offseason and his oblique is OK
“I thought he was great,” fellow rookie — and former Vanderbilt teammate — Mike Yastrzemski said. “He got put in a lot of situations that I’m not so sure he’s been in before. He figured out a way to dig down deep for some really big starts for us. … Hopefully he’s going to be fine.
“Watching him throw that well for his last outing was promising.”
Bochy summed up Mauricio Dubon well after the rookie’s 3-for-4 day.
“This kid, he’s just refreshing,” Bochy said of Dubon, who homered and scored two runs. “Watching him play, you can tell he loves to play.”
Asked if he’s been pleased with what he’s shown the Giants, Dubon said no: “Every day try to get better and try to get better every day and get better every day. It doesn’t stay the same. You just gotta get better. There’s room for improvement, and I want to just keep getting better.”
"I'm trying to… every day trying to get better. Try to get better every day. Get better every day. It doesn't stay the same. You just gotta get better."
-Mauricio Dubon, after maybe his best game as a major leaguer #SFGiants pic.twitter.com/LCe1rwTE2M
— KNBR (@KNBR) September 27, 2019
Kevin Pillar (2-for-4 with a triple, run and RBI) reiterated he wants to return to the Giants next season. But he knows that’s not guaranteed.
“Until I get tendered a contract, my future is kind of up in the air,” the center fielder said.
He will be an interesting offseason case for Farhan Zaidi, due in the $8-10 million range in his final year of arbitration. Yastrzemski praised his fellow outfielder and said learning from veterans like Pillar has been “one of the biggest things I’ve taken from this year.”
Pillar, who has set several career highs, still lags far behind in reaching base. He’s walked just 17 times this season, a stat he said he would try to improve on next season
“I know the game, statistically, is getting younger,” said the 30-year-old, who has played 158 games this year, the fifth straight year he’s played at least 140. “But to me, age is just a number. I take care of myself, I eat the right foods, I believe in nutrition, I believe in stretching, I believe in working hard and working out. And I think it’s no coincidence that, at age 30, I’m having my best year.”