Last offseason, the San Francisco Giants set out to make the ninth inning boring.
Over the past decade, Giants’ closers like Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla all enjoyed various stretches of dominance in their role, but for the most part, late-inning situations have been an adventure for San Francisco.
There’s a reason San Francisco’s broadcasters coined the phrase: “Giants baseball: Torture,” and one of the contributing factors to that reason was the ninth-inning theatrics fans were often subjected to.
That’s why general manager Bobby Evans broke the bank this offseason, as he signed Mark Melancon to a four-year, $62 million deal to keep runners off the base paths, preserve ninth inning leads, and slam the door shut on Giants’ victories.
A year after the Giants blew an unfathomable 32 saves, including one in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs that cost the team a shot at squaring up the series, San Francisco’s management felt it had to make a move to solidify the bullpen.
And finally, as the All-Star break approaches, Evans looks like a smart man. Just not for the reason you’d guess.
With Melancon on the disabled list for the second time this season, his fill-in, former Texas Rangers’ closer Sam Dyson, picked up his third save in the last four games on Wednesday evening, throwing a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning that made the ninth inning of the Giants’ 5-4 victory decidedly –yes– boring.
Dyson has now pitched in five of the Giants’ last eight games, and the team has captured wins in all five of those contests. Since arriving in San Francisco at the beginning of June, Dyson has entered into 11 different games with the Giants and recorded nine scoreless outings.
A little over a month ago, Dyson was considered damaged goods, a reliever who lost his way with a dreadful start to the season for the Rangers. Over 17 games with Texas, Dyson blew all four of his save opportunities, and posted a 10.80 earned run average, by far the worst mark of his professional career.
Just a season after finishing third in the American League with 38 saves in 43 opportunities, and weeks after throwing six shutout innings for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, Dyson imploded like fireworks on the Fourth of July, except no one actually wanted to watch Dyson’s explosion.
Dyson’s collapse was catastrophic, and led the Rangers to designate him for assignment. Plenty of contending teams had the opportunity to trade for Dyson and give him a second chance, but it was the last-place Giants who wound up acquiring a pitcher no one wanted.
On June 11, Dyson entered his first game donning the orange and black, and sure enough, his monumental struggles continued. Facing the Minnesota Twins, Dyson failed to record an out, as he gave up two hits, a walk and three runs in garbage time duty. After Dyson’s first outing, the only logical question fans could ask was when this experiment would end?
Fast forward into the month of July, and the experiment has helped Evans and Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy look like baseball savants.
With Melancon on the shelf, Dyson has dominated opposing hitters, using a devastating sinker to induce groundballs and lazy contact that have helped make his saves easy to stomach for the Giants. Even in a pair of one-run ballgames this week, Dyson has yet to look truly vulnerable while stepping in for Melancon, who has yet to display the type of consistency this season the Giants are currently receiving from a man who was considered a lost cause.
While Evans’ plan for the ninth inning, much like Giants’ ninth innings of the past, hasn’t gone as planned this season, in the past week, San Francisco has discovered a new weapon.
No, the ninth inning hasn’t been exiting with Dyson on the mound this week, but for a player and a team in search of a resurgence, that was the plan all along.
Pregame notes
- Jae-gyun Hwang will start at third base and hit sixth for the Giants on Thursday, a day after he turned in one of the best individual defensive performances by a San Francisco player this season. Hwang made a series of challenging plays in defense of starting pitcher Ty Blach on Wednesday, including a diving stop that forced Hwang to raise his glove high above his head after a ball took a wild hop off the infield dirt at Comerica Park. Hwang arrived in San Francisco with a touted approach at the plate and with questions about his glove, but so far, he’s answered all of those questions.
- Gorkys Hernandez will start in right field in place of Hunter Pence on Thursday, who will serve as the Giants’ designated hitter. Hernandez recorded another multi-hit game on Wednesday, and is now hitting .371 in his last 14 games.
- Madison Bumgarner made his fourth rehab start on Wednesday evening, as he pitched for the Giants’ A affiliate in San Jose. Bumgarner lasted three innings and gave up one hit before imploding in an eight-hit, eight-run fourth inning in which he gave up four home runs and five extra base hits. The Giants are hopeful Bumgarner will return after the All-Star break, but it’s unclear if he suffered any setbacks in Wednesday’s outing.
