Bullpen Collapses, Diamondbacks Mount Late Comeback in 6-5 Win

Justice delos Santos
Jul 3, 2016
5 min read

For the past month, the San Francisco Giants have consistently found a way hide the glaring holes in their roster, whether it be in the infield, the outfield, or in the bullpen.

Bruce Bochy's hands were tied with Matt Cain, Hunter Pence, Matt Duffy, Chris Heston, and Joe Panik landing on the disabled list, and a couple of Giants missing time due to minor injuries.

Despite being hit with the injury bug, the Giants fought through the adversity and finished the grind of a month with a 17-10 record.

Despite the winning record, there were more than a couple instances when the team was leaking oil, mainly due to the inconsistency of the bullpen.

As the trade deadline nears, the Bobby Evans will look to add depth and durability to a bullpen that desperately needs to be shaken up.

If there are more games like tonight's disappointing 6-5 loss, the San Francisco bullpen will look drastically different by the time, August rolls around.

Jeff Samardzija, who had one of his better starts since the month of June began, left the fate of what could have been his ninth win of the season in the hands of the bullpen, which with each passing day, is looking more like the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

With one out and a runner on base, Bruce Bochy took the ball from his starter and signaled for left-hander Josh Osich to set up the lefty-on-lefty matchup against Arizona's Jake Lamb.

Osich couldn't touch the strike zone and walked Lamb on four straight fastballs.

Bochy, sensing Osich just didn't have his shutdown stuff, relieved his reliever and brought in Hunter Strickland to set down Wellington Castillo and Chris Herrmann to get the Giants into the ninth with a lead.

Strickland tried to get ahead in the count with a first-pitch curveball but missed the zone, and the count leaned in Castillo's favor after Strickland tossed two straight fastballs for a ball and a strike.

With the 2-1 count, the right-hander missed his down-and-inside location, leaving a two-seam fastball right over the heart of the plate for Castillo to crush over the left-center field wall and give the Diamondbacks 6-5 lead, which would be the eventual final score.

Losing due to a poor bullpen performance every once in a while, while, of course, undesirable, is understandable. No bullpen is perfect, and even all-time greats are susceptible to a rough outing or two.

But for the Giants, losses like tonight's are becoming more and more habitual, and late-game heroics to bail out the bullpen, plain and simple, are not sustainable over the course of a 162 game season.

Tonight's loss doesn't come too long after the 13-11 slugfest against the Oakland A's, in which the Giants bullpen blew two leads and surrendered ten total runs.

With the bullpen meltdown tonight, the Giants have blown 15 leads after the sixth inning, and are only second to the tire fire that is the Cincinnati Reds bullpen.

Before the Giants even consider making a trade with other teams, they'll let Sergio Romo make his way back into the regular bullpen rotation and observe how the unit as a whole performs following his return.

Romo, currently rehabbing, is expected to return soon, and if he can look anything close to his All-Star form, the bullpen might be able to right the ship without having to gamble by dealing arms and bats with other teams.

If the bullpen still looks like shaky following Romo's return, the Giants may find themselves in rumors surrounding bullpen arms for the entirety of July.

____________________________________________________________________

After a shaky month of June in which he had a 6.83 ERA, Samardzija looked like he returned to his early season form.

The right-hander began the game by striking out the side, and throughout his start, he induced his fair share of grounders to set down Arizona's batters.

With the Castillo home run, Samardzija had an extra run charged to his name.

It is fairly unsettling that The Shark has allowed four or more runs in his past three starts, but Samardzija looked noticeably better in this outing. He will get another crack against Arizona at AT&T Park following a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies.

Samardzija did not allow a home run in his start, although just barely, as Herrmann hit a long double that landed on the in-play side of Arizona's strange right-center outfield wall.

The double was reviewed, and the replay review confirmed that the ball was, in fact, not a home run.

Samardzija snapped a streak of three straight games in which he allowed at least one long ball.

____________________________________________________________________

Lost in the bullpen mess was Mac Williamson's incredible swing of the bat in the fourth.

In his second plate at-bat of the day, the outfielder followed up a Brandon Crawford solo shot by launching a first-pitch Patrick Corbin fastball just under Arizona's scoreboard for his third home run of the season. MLB Statcast had the ball traveling an estimated 460 feet.

Williamson's success against left-handed pitching has been well documented, and all three of his home runs on the season have come against left-handed pitching.

His last home run was almost equally impressive, a 446-foot blast at a low launch angle but a high exit velocity.

Teammate Jarrett Parker is the opposite in that he feeds off of right-handed pitching.

After homering in last night's game, Parker had a pinch-hit single in the ninth.

On the season, Parker has a slash of .289/.398/.506 in 98 plate appearances, trumping Williamson in every category.

With Hunter Pence out, Bochy has see-sawed between the two based on matchups.

Williamson can earn more time by hitting right-handed pitching with consistency, and Parker can earn more time by hitting left-handed pitching with consistency.

____________________________________________________________________

With a double in two official at-bats, Buster Posey bumped his batting average on the season to .290, the first time it has been in the .290s since May 7th.

The All-Star catcher had two walks along with his double, bringing his on-base percentage up to .350 on the season, the first time it has been in the .350 range since May 8th.

____________________________________________________________________

Denard Span missed a second consecutive game due to neck stiffness and is going to receive an MRI.

The center fielder is not expected to play on Sunday.

The Giants are holding their breath, hoping he does not become the next player to land on the disabled list.

Another injury would force the Giants to play an already depleted hand.

If Span does end up on the disabled list, the Giants may be inclined to bring up Gorkys Hernandez, who currently has a slash line of .301/.378/.415 in 306 at-bats for the Sacramento River Cats.

____________________________________________________________________

Matt Cain, who has missed time due to a strained hamstring, struck out six while allowing two runs over 3.1 innings for the Giants rookie minor league affiliate.

The veteran's next rehab start will come for the River Cats and could return to the Giants when his turn in the rotation comes following the All-Star break.

Cain's temporary replacement, Albert Suarez, has done a fine job as the fourth starter in the rotation, allowing only two or three runs in each of his starts while averaging just around five innings per start.

With the way Suarez has pitched during his starts, he may have earned a spot as a long reliever or a possible sixth starter depending on Cain's performance when he returns from injury.

#recap

For the past month, the San Francisco Giants have consistently found a way hide the glaring holes in their roster, whether it be in the infield, the outfield, or in the bullpen.

Bruce Bochy's hands were tied with Matt Cain, Hunter Pence, Matt Duffy, Chris Heston, and Joe Panik landing on the disabled list, and a couple of Giants missing time due to minor injuries.

Despite being hit with the injury bug, the Giants fought through the adversity and finished the grind of a month with a 17-10 record.

Despite the winning record, there were more than a couple instances when the team was leaking oil, mainly due to the inconsistency of the bullpen.

As the trade deadline nears, the Bobby Evans will look to add depth and durability to a bullpen that desperately needs to be shaken up.

If there are more games like tonight's disappointing 6-5 loss, the San Francisco bullpen will look drastically different by the time, August rolls around.

Jeff Samardzija, who had one of his better starts since the month of June began, left the fate of what could have been his ninth win of the season in the hands of the bullpen, which with each passing day, is looking more like the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

With one out and a runner on base, Bruce Bochy took the ball from his starter and signaled for left-hander Josh Osich to set up the lefty-on-lefty matchup against Arizona's Jake Lamb.

Osich couldn't touch the strike zone and walked Lamb on four straight fastballs.

Bochy, sensing Osich just didn't have his shutdown stuff, relieved his reliever and brought in Hunter Strickland to set down Wellington Castillo and Chris Herrmann to get the Giants into the ninth with a lead.

Strickland tried to get ahead in the count with a first-pitch curveball but missed the zone, and the count leaned in Castillo's favor after Strickland tossed two straight fastballs for a ball and a strike.

With the 2-1 count, the right-hander missed his down-and-inside location, leaving a two-seam fastball right over the heart of the plate for Castillo to crush over the left-center field wall and give the Diamondbacks 6-5 lead, which would be the eventual final score.

Losing due to a poor bullpen performance every once in a while, while, of course, undesirable, is understandable. No bullpen is perfect, and even all-time greats are susceptible to a rough outing or two.

But for the Giants, losses like tonight's are becoming more and more habitual, and late-game heroics to bail out the bullpen, plain and simple, are not sustainable over the course of a 162 game season.

Tonight's loss doesn't come too long after the 13-11 slugfest against the Oakland A's, in which the Giants bullpen blew two leads and surrendered ten total runs.

With the bullpen meltdown tonight, the Giants have blown 15 leads after the sixth inning, and are only second to the tire fire that is the Cincinnati Reds bullpen.

Before the Giants even consider making a trade with other teams, they'll let Sergio Romo make his way back into the regular bullpen rotation and observe how the unit as a whole performs following his return.

Romo, currently rehabbing, is expected to return soon, and if he can look anything close to his All-Star form, the bullpen might be able to right the ship without having to gamble by dealing arms and bats with other teams.

If the bullpen still looks like shaky following Romo's return, the Giants may find themselves in rumors surrounding bullpen arms for the entirety of July.

____________________________________________________________________

After a shaky month of June in which he had a 6.83 ERA, Samardzija looked like he returned to his early season form.

The right-hander began the game by striking out the side, and throughout his start, he induced his fair share of grounders to set down Arizona's batters.

With the Castillo home run, Samardzija had an extra run charged to his name.

It is fairly unsettling that The Shark has allowed four or more runs in his past three starts, but Samardzija looked noticeably better in this outing. He will get another crack against Arizona at AT&T Park following a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies.

Samardzija did not allow a home run in his start, although just barely, as Herrmann hit a long double that landed on the in-play side of Arizona's strange right-center outfield wall.

The double was reviewed, and the replay review confirmed that the ball was, in fact, not a home run.

Samardzija snapped a streak of three straight games in which he allowed at least one long ball.

____________________________________________________________________

Lost in the bullpen mess was Mac Williamson's incredible swing of the bat in the fourth.

In his second plate at-bat of the day, the outfielder followed up a Brandon Crawford solo shot by launching a first-pitch Patrick Corbin fastball just under Arizona's scoreboard for his third home run of the season. MLB Statcast had the ball traveling an estimated 460 feet.

Williamson's success against left-handed pitching has been well documented, and all three of his home runs on the season have come against left-handed pitching.

His last home run was almost equally impressive, a 446-foot blast at a low launch angle but a high exit velocity.

Teammate Jarrett Parker is the opposite in that he feeds off of right-handed pitching.

After homering in last night's game, Parker had a pinch-hit single in the ninth.

On the season, Parker has a slash of .289/.398/.506 in 98 plate appearances, trumping Williamson in every category.

With Hunter Pence out, Bochy has see-sawed between the two based on matchups.

Williamson can earn more time by hitting right-handed pitching with consistency, and Parker can earn more time by hitting left-handed pitching with consistency.

____________________________________________________________________

With a double in two official at-bats, Buster Posey bumped his batting average on the season to .290, the first time it has been in the .290s since May 7th.

The All-Star catcher had two walks along with his double, bringing his on-base percentage up to .350 on the season, the first time it has been in the .350 range since May 8th.

____________________________________________________________________

Denard Span missed a second consecutive game due to neck stiffness and is going to receive an MRI.

The center fielder is not expected to play on Sunday.

The Giants are holding their breath, hoping he does not become the next player to land on the disabled list.

Another injury would force the Giants to play an already depleted hand.

If Span does end up on the disabled list, the Giants may be inclined to bring up Gorkys Hernandez, who currently has a slash line of .301/.378/.415 in 306 at-bats for the Sacramento River Cats.

____________________________________________________________________

Matt Cain, who has missed time due to a strained hamstring, struck out six while allowing two runs over 3.1 innings for the Giants rookie minor league affiliate.

The veteran's next rehab start will come for the River Cats and could return to the Giants when his turn in the rotation comes following the All-Star break.

Cain's temporary replacement, Albert Suarez, has done a fine job as the fourth starter in the rotation, allowing only two or three runs in each of his starts while averaging just around five innings per start.

With the way Suarez has pitched during his starts, he may have earned a spot as a long reliever or a possible sixth starter depending on Cain's performance when he returns from injury.

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