Giants lineup blows most recent opportunity to clear the bench for injured pitchers

Bob Melvin’s starting rotation has been the focal point of his pregame media meetings for the majority of the last two weeks. Or, more precisely, his deficiency in a starting lineup.

Right now, the Giants only have three starters, one of whom is a rookie with just one Major League game under his belt. Every day, Melvin is concerned about the impact all of this is having on his bullpen, which has three pitchers who threw in their 40th game this past Saturday: Erik Miller, Ryan Walker, and Tyler Rogers, who are tied for the MLB lead in appearances.

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Kyle Harrison, Blake Snell, Alex Cobb, and Robbie Ray—all of whom are expected back within the next month—represent the bright end of the tunnel. The Giants are trying to win enough games in the second half to make the MLB playoffs, and they are counting down the innings until they return to full health.

However, there is an alternative. or it ought to be.

Farhan Zaidi invested the majority of his offseason funds in the lineup. Position players Brett Wisely and Henry Ramos, the team’s top young player, are the biggest surprises. Patrick Bailey and Ramos are two of Melvin’s top picks to play in the MLB All-Star Game the following month.

What would happen if the Giants were successful?

On Saturday, for three innings, it appeared as though they might. They surprised Los Angeles Dodgers ace Tyler Glasnow by putting five runs on his line overall and scoring four runs while he batted around in the third. After that, they closed it down.

Only two additional runs were scored in the remaining innings, one on a broken-bat single and the other on an automatic runner put on second base during extra innings. The Dodgers won 14–7 after scoring seven runs in the top of the eleventh inning.

Sean Hjelle, who had to contend with one of the wildest roller coaster performances in recent Giants history, gave up the seven runs. The right-hander, who started the day with a 2.33 ERA, has thrived in a brief relief job. In the tenth, he gave up a run to the automatic runner, but he stopped the bleeding, and if the Giants had scored another run in the bottom of the game, he would have been in the lead.

Hjelle chose to go back out for the eleventh instead. The only players still in the bullpen were Tyler Rogers, Luke Jackson, and Spencer Bivens. Due to his heavy usage, Rogers, the best option, was not available. Although Melvin thought he had no alternative, he had hoped to deploy Hjelle for just one inning. Hjelle was the best choice in the eleventh, but the big score was caused by a string of Dodger hits and errors by Giants outfielders.

At the end of the 10th inning, Hjelle’s ERA was 3.54, which didn’t seem feasible. After the Giants loaded the bases with one out and David Villar entered the game to tie it, Dave Roberts was forced to insert Chris Taylor, the center fielder, as a fifth infielder. However, Matt Chapman came up and Patrick Bailey struck out, extending the game to the eleventh inning.

Bailey summed up the at-bat by saying, “Not a very good one.”

“I was looking for a good pitch to hit up the middle,” he stated. “I didn’t do a good job of it.”

With runners in scoring position, the Giants were 5-for-23 and left 15 men on base.

Melvin remarked, “There are a lot of ways to analyze this game.” “But we had our opportunities to win.”

The lineup could have won the series and pulled within two games of.500 with one more well-placed hit. Before a second bullpen game on Sunday, the Giants pitchers might have saved a few shots, and perhaps the team could have begun to gain some serious momentum.

The Giants believe that eventually they will go on some kind of run and re-enter the race. They may have no other option than to wait for the starting pitching to come back and lead the way. The team was far too quiet following an early onslaught against Glasnow, which cost them the opportunity to surge ahead and lead a thrilling victory on Saturday.

Melvin was asked about his future plans as he was ready to return to a disgruntled clubhouse. Walker, Hjelle, Randy Rodriguez, and Spencer Howard all pitched multiple innings on Saturday. Seven pitchers were employed by Melvin, one of them a closer who was taking the mound for the fourth time in five days.

What’s the Sunday schedule?

“We’ll see,” he remarked.