Gregory Santos. D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports
Gabe Kapler’s Friday decisions may have hurt the Giants a night later.
The manager asked Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee to get six outs in an eighth and ninth inning that each started as a four-run game (the two-run shot McGee surrendered changed that). They closed Friday’s win, but then were not available for Saturday, which was a 1-1 game entering the bottom of the eighth.
Kevin Gausman was rolling but at 101 pitches, with his spot in the order due up.
“We’re running out of opportunities to score,” Kapler said, and so he pinch-hit Jason Vosler for the infielder’s major league debut with the bases empty. Vosler fouled out.
McGee and Rogers could not go a third straight day, so Kapler asked Gregory Santos to shut down Miami in the 21-year-old’s second ever appearance.
Did he have any regrets about using his big arms a night prior?
“I think we have to trust our other bullpen arms to get big outs for us,” said Kapler, who wanted a righty for the lefty-righty-righty portion of the Marlins order. “Now, you can say we could have trusted those arms last night, and it’d be a fair criticism. But I feel good about the decision.”
He was OK with the process, but the results went south quickly. Santos dug himself in a 3-0 hole to Magneuris Sierra before fighting back, but lost him to a walk.
The second pitch Jesus Aguilar saw he deposited into the left-field seats, a bomb of a shot that deflated the crowd and the rookie in his introduction to San Francisco.
“Santos was so lights-out against this team last time out, felt good about using him,” said Kapler, who pointed at the Sierra at-bat and wished Santos would have trusted his stuff in the zone more.
Garrett Cooper then singled, ending Santos’ night without having recorded an out in a game the Giants would lose, 5-2.
Santos will have these outings, as will Camilo Doval; Vosler (should he stay up) will struggle, and Heliot Ramos will, too, if he arises. This is part of the drawback to trusting young players who represent the future but do not have the past to lean upon.
Santos and Doval debuted in high-leverage situations with excellence, but the Giants will hope they can dip their feet more behind diving in.
Kapler took a chance Friday, which brought a sink-or-swim moment Saturday. The whole club sunk.
The most notable tweak from Gausman was he scrapped his slider and only threw fastballs and splitters. His slider is his third and worst pitch, but typically starters need a third offering to be successful. Gausman didn’t.
“My split was so good tonight. It almost felt like we were never in a situation where we felt like, ‘Hey, let’s throw a slider right here,’” Gausman said after eight strong innings, in which he allowed one run on two hits and a walk with 11 strikeouts. “To be honest I was locked in and we had something going, and Buster [Posey] never put it down.”
It will be interesting to see if this is a trend or a blip.
