SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants are hoping right-handed reliever Cory Gearrin can recapture the form he had from the first half of 2016 when he held down the middle innings with a 3.00 ERA over his first 38 appearances. Gearrin had his first strong outing of 2017 Wednesday night when he relieved starter Matt Cain and struck out the side with the tying runs on base.
Gearrin struck out Chris Owings on a sinker and both Brandon Drury and Jeff Mathis on sliders. All three batters went down swinging. After the game Gearrin said several people told him his slider looked a lot like former Giants reliever Sergio Romo’s, “It’s a huge compliment after getting to play with Sergio and see what he’s done here, to be mentioned in the same sentence with him is awesome.”
The Giants are counting on Gearrin to be somewhat of a veteran presence in an otherwise young bullpen, though he himself has only thrown 124 innings over six big league seasons. Gearrin joined KNBR’s Tolbert & Lund show to talk about the influence the ‘Core Four’ had on him, “Being able to be around Jeremy, and Sergio, and Javy, and Casilla, knowing what they did, and just the vibe they bring not only to the clubhouse and the bullpen, but a game, when they come in you kind of know what you’re gonna get,” he said.
The bullpen woes have been well documented over the last season in San Francisco and Gearrin knows how important it is to build on the Giants bullpen’s successes during the three World Series runs from 2010-2014. “I really took a lot from that. Being able to be around that and watch them and know what they mean to the city and to this team, and I think everyone else has too,” Gearrin said. “If we don’t continue to build on what they did we know we’re going to hear about it.”
Listen to full interview below.
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