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Pitching has not been the Giants’ problem this year, but it eventually will be. After a 60-game season, the amount that pitching arms can endure through the rigors of a 162-game schedule is the great unknown in 2021, with San Francisco responding by stockpiling depth throughout the offseason.
They added enough potential starters that if everyone is healthy, Logan Webb can be shuffled to the bullpen. Their bullpen ranks are deep enough that intriguing prospects such as Camilo Doval opened the year in Sacramento and not San Francisco.
When Alex Wood debuts after a back scare with excellence and Doval is called up with dominance, the Giants’ strategy makes a lot of sense.
Wood’s Giants debut was short but solid, Doval’s major league debut was perfect and the Giants only needed the ounce they wrung from their bats in a 1-0, series-closing win at LoanDepot Park on Sunday, averting the sweep in Miami.
The Giants’ bats remain an issue, and apart from one five-run explosion Saturday, they scored three runs in 27 innings in Miami. They could do nothing off Sandy Alcantara on Saturday and then did little off righty Pablo Lopez on Sunday, whose only run was unearned and who struck out nine in six innings. And yet, the biggest uncertainty with the club entering the season, its pitching, continues to stand out, holding Miami to three hits.
The Giants’ (9-6) only run occurred with Jesus Aguilar’s help. The Miami first baseman let a Brandon Belt ground ball go through his legs in the third inning, which put two on with two out for Alex Dickerson. The outfielder grounded an RBI single to right, one of six Giants hits on the day.
Because of their hollow bats, Gabe Kapler made a bold decision in the sixth. The Giants loaded the bases with two outs and had Wood, who was rolling and at 61 pitches, due up. Weighing that it was Wood’s first start of the season — he was believed to be built up to 80-90 pitches — and that runs have been a struggle, the manager pinch-hit Wilmer Flores. The move did not pan out, with Flores flying out.
But the bullpen, which was lacking Jake McGee (who was used heavily Saturday and then put on the COVID IL Sunday), was shutdown. Jose Alvarez, Doval, Caleb Baragar and Tyler Rogers combined for four scoreless and hitless innings.
The 23-year-old Doval was electric in the seventh, his first look coming in the late innings of a one-run game. He struck out Aguilar on three pitches, which led to a stream of angry words from the slugger’s mouth after he swung through a nasty changeup. After a Garrett Cooper groundout, Doval caught Adam Duvall looking with the slider again. His fastball touched 98.3 mph, and he allowed himself a grin once he got to the dugout.
Big league debut? No problem.
Camilo Doval showed off some nasty stuff with a pair of strikeouts in a 1-2-3 frame for the @SFGiants. pic.twitter.com/dCuY4fI9ee
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) April 18, 2021
In Wood’s first look wearing orange and black, the lefty was efficient and barely touched. He allowed no runs or walks while surrendering three hits — one an infield grounder — in five strong innings of work. His slider missed Marlins bats all day, drawing 18 swings and eights whiffs, including three swinging for his three strikeouts. He relied on his fastball earlier in the counts, getting 10 strikes looking on the pitch.
Wood looked good and looked healthy after the back ablation procedure that held up the start to his season. He also had some help in keeping Miami off the scoreboard.
He didn’t even need to pitch to help his own cause in the first, when Miami put two on and the double steal on. Wood never delivered, picking off Miguel Rojas as he dashed toward third.
Two innings later, Wood was aided by Austin Slater. Lopez, the opposing starter, lined one to left-center that Slater tracked down with a smooth dive. A night after his bat woke up with a three-run homer, Slater’s glove and quick legs showed plenty of ability, too.
SUPER SLATER pic.twitter.com/rEKYVY380a
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) April 18, 2021
Wood’s fifth inning was a strange one. Adam Duvall smoked a grounder to third and Tommy La Stella, who backhanded, bobbled and rushed a throw to Belt just in time to get the leadoff batter. After Brian Anderson got on with an infield hit that forced Belt to range far to his right and then throw away the throw to first, Jazz Chisholm slapped what looked to be a double to left. Dickerson threw in to second, and Donovan Solano kept his glove on Chisholm, who briefly came up off the bag after his slide. The first outfield assist by the Giants this year helped Wood escape the frame.
Every out mattered in the one-run game.