Brad Martens / SF Giants
SCOTTSDALE — The Giants were careful in unrolling Kevin Gausman, not pitching their ace until the 12th game of the Cactus League season.
In his debut, he said he wasn’t his sharpest — and considering his stuff and the results, it only underscores how much the Giants value him.
Gausman allowed just a hit in his two innings and reached back for a 97-mph fastball that struck out Ryan McMahon, looking like a front-of-the-line starter worth the $18.9 million qualifying offer in the Giants’ 9-8, eight-inning win over the Rockies at Scottsdale Stadium on Friday.
He threw 18 pitches — nine in each frame — and benefited from Brendan Rodgers lining a second-inning changeup to Brandon Crawford, who caught it and flipped to second for an outing- and inning-ending double play.
Gausman struck out just the one, but also only used his go-to splitter twice. The pitch is tough on his fingers, so he’s picky with it in spring. He also was facing a divisional opponent and probably wanted to limit Colorado’s exposure to his best pitch.
“He threw a few splits, he also threw his changeup, which he’s been featuring, and dropped in a couple of sliders as well,” Gabe Kapler said over Zoom. “Fastball had good life to it and located it well. Really clean outing for Gaus.”
Gausman separated himself last year, when the Giants believed in the stuff and then watched the stuff translate to results, the 2012 fourth-overall selection finishing the campaign with a 3.62 ERA.
He broke through while missing a main reason that he wanted to pitch in San Francisco: to throw to Buster Posey. Posey was behind the plate Friday, and the rapport is being built.
“It was nice to have him back there, and we kind of joked earlier in the morning — I said, ‘Hey, you’re finally catching me.’ He’s like, ‘Well, you’re finally in a game,’” Gausman said. “It’s always good to have him back there.”
Gausman, viewed as his team’s fairly undisputed ace for the first time in his career, said he doesn’t approach this camp differently than any other and is just progressing his arm to be ready for the opening week. It’s possible the Giants will turn to him Opening Day, and if not it will be out of deference to Johnny Cueto’s veteran status. Gausman’s start Friday followed Thursday’s Cueto start, which makes for interesting tea-leaf reading.
Gausman, though, is the arm the Giants view as the highest-octane. Even without his splitter, his stuff looked as appealing as it did a season ago.