How SF Giants enjoyed unintended benefit from Friday’s rain-shortened win
NEW YORK — The Giants’ six-inning, 9-1 win over the New York Yankees on Friday night wasn’t a pleasant experience for any parties involved — fans, players or otherwise. But there was an unintended benefit to the rain-shortened game: fresh arms.
Following Thursday’s off-day, manager Bob Melvin only had to use starter Robbie Ray and reliever Spencer Bivens on Friday, the latter throwing just one inning. With San Francisco just beginning a stretch of 17 games in 17 days, Melvin said it was “huge” for his bullpen to get a blow.
“Bivens was the only guy that was up one time before that, too,” Melvin said. “In what looked like a game where we’d have to go through quite a few guys, it was very beneficial.”
Aside from Bivens, every other reliever in the Giants’ bullpen enters the second game of their series against the Yankees on multiple days of rest. Ryan Walker, Tyler Rogers, Erik Miller, Randy Rodríguez and Lou Trivino haven’t pitched since Wednesday. Hayden Birdsong hasn’t pitched since Tuesday, while Camilo Doval hasn’t pitched since Monday.
The Giants, in all likelihood, won’t often be afforded a fresh bullpen over the next two weeks. Melvin can enjoy this luxury now, but one wonky game can completely change this dynamic.
On Friday, for example, the Yankees’ Marcus Stroman recorded just two outs and couldn’t finish the first inning, forcing manager Aaron Boone to dip deep into his bullpen as New York starts its own streak of 13 straight games. The Giants and Yankees didn’t complete six full innings, but Boone was forced to use five total pitchers.
San Francisco has yet to make a roster move since the season started, but it is a very realistic possibility that they call up a fresh arm from Triple-A Sacramento in the next two weeks if their bullpen gets taxed. The Giants have plenty of pitchers with major-league experience awaiting with Triple-A Sacramento, but it will be interesting to see how long the team can go without making a move.
Harrison scratched, but no call-up yet
Left-hander Kyle Harrison was scratched from his start on Friday with Triple-A Sacramento just in case the Giants had to play a doubleheader in New York. With the Giants and Yankees managing to complete five full innings on Friday, enough for an official game, Harrison will remain with the River Cats.
“If we had a doubleheader, you have the 27th guy and we would’ve needed another pitcher,” Melvin said. “So, we had to be proactive on that.”
Harrison has made two starts with Sacramento this year, allowing one earned run over eight innings with 11 strikeouts to four walks. The left-hander averaged 93.5 mph on his four-seam fastball in his last start, an encouraging uptick from the 92.5 mph he averaged last year with the Giants.
Melvin shares coldest ballgame experience
Friday night at Yankee Stadium was not for the faint of heart, but Melvin recalled an even chillier experience.
“I remember in 2000, Opening Day in Detroit was about as cold as I’ve ever been. Probably the coldest,” Melvin said. “It was the first game in that park, and Opening Day there, you can’t wear your jackets out on the line,” Melvin said. “I think it was in the teens at the highest. It was pretty cold.”
The windy nature of Friday’s game also evoked memories of Candlestick Park, Melvin’s home ballpark from 1986-88. Melvin noted that many balls in the air were impacted by the wind, pointing out a pop up to Matt Chapman that started fair but flew foul.
“Our guys figured that out pretty quickly when the ball was in the air, which way it was going to go,” Melvin said.