© Joe Camporeale | 2021 Aug 4
José Álvarez saw five Mets batters in the last three days. Each of them retreated back to their home dugout. In 1.2 innings of work, Álvarez was flawless, striking out two and throwing 13 of his 14 pitches for strikes.
HIs last two appearances were especially crucial. In both, he came into tight games with the bases loaded to face Mets infielder Jeff McNeil. He discarded him with ease both times, coming up as big as anyone in the three-game series.
“I think we’re leaving this series with a sweep in large part because of the work he did over the last couple of days,” Kapler said.
Álvarez’s efficiency in pressure-packed situations isn’t a new development. San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler has trusted him with traffic all year. With good reason.
Álvarez hasn’t allowed a single hit in his last eight appearances and his last earned run came on July 9, more than 20 innings pitched ago. According to Baseball Savant, Álvarez is in the 98th percentile in barrel rate, 92nd in average exit velocity and 86th in hard hit rate — all while having a below average fastball in terms of spin rate. He’s not often going to blow gas past hitters, and he knows that.
“Throw your stuff,” Álvarez said of advice he’d give to pitchers entering tense game situations. “Don’t think much, just make quality pitches. Obviously I’m not a strikeout guy. Everybody knows. I just try to make the pitch in the best location you can, and you’re going to get good results.”
Kapler said postgame Thursday that Álvarez, who also pitched a season for Kapler in Philadelphia, didn’t start off 2021 off on the right foot. On May 20, after consecutive appearances allowing two earned runs, his earned run average ballooned to 5.56.
He’s since found his stride. His ERA has been under 3.00 since July 29 and is now nearing 2.00. This Mets series is just further evidence of Álvarez finding his rhythm and confidence.
“Maybe I got a slower start in the beginning,” Álvarez said. “But it’s a six-month season. Getting hot, pitching in more games, that’s the reason that I get better and better.”
The symmetry of Álvarez’s last two tasks was unmistakable. There was no margin for error either time against McNeil; one bad pitch could’ve turned a Giants victory into a defeat.
It took Álvarez one pitch to get McNeil to pop out in the fifth inning of Game 2. That contest was tied at the time, and the Giants ended up outlasting New York after Brandon Crawford’s two-RBI double in the seventh inning. On Thursday, Álvarez needed three pitches to draw a groundout in the eighth and hold onto a one-run lead. He gave McNeil all strikes in the two matchups — two sinkers and two sliders.
“For more than several months, he’s been attacking the strike zone,” Kapler said. “Had command of his slider, changeup, fastball combination. Has been fearless and confident on the mound. He’s sort of the pitcher we all have gotten to know well. Andrew Bailey has a history with Alvarez, you guys know I have some history with Jose Alvarez as well. He’s as tough as they come. As prepared, as durable.”
Without Álvarez, the Giants likely wouldn’t have left New York with a sweep. But the rest of the relievers also executed, and Álvarez’s excellence in middle relief is just a part of SF’s 3.10 bullpen ERA, the second-best mark in MLB.
That doesn’t go unnoticed.
“I’m just super impressed with all the relievers,” third baseman Kris Bryant said. “I feel like they just take the ball and they don’t know how long they’re going to pitch for, but they’re willing to go as long as the team needs, as long as Kap needs them to. I can honestly say I’ve ever been on a team where we’ve had a bullpen like this, that kind of goes out, pitches more than one inning here and there, pitches one out, pitches from the second inning all the way through the ninth.”
Bryant continued: “That says a lot about the egos of the guys down there. They don’t care. They just want to help the team any way possible. That type of attitude is very contagious. It spreads to us as position players, as hitters. There’s zero selfishness here.”