Jake McGee trotted out of the bullpen for one of the least pressurized ninth innings he’ll have all year.
The 2021 Giants’ saves leader entered into an 8-2 ballgame, at home in Oracle Park, with the bottom half of Colorado’s lineup due up.
But the stakes turned from low to real in a blink. Three doubles and a single later and the Rockies hung three runs on McGee. Pitching coach Andrew Bailey walked out for a mound visit. Closer Camilo Doval got up and started getting loose as the game-tying run stepped to the plate.
Then McGee struck out Yonathan Daza on a slider in the dirt. The Giants left with their third straight victory, and McGee — despite the ERA-expanding three runs allowed— took a huge moral victory with him.
“Yeah, I felt like my stuff was really good today,” McGee told KNBR postgame. “It’s kind of like, you’ve got to trust the process. If your stuff’s good and your carry’s good, you’re throwing strikes and you’re getting ahead, things are going to go your way more often than not.”
Curt Casali, who caught McGee Monday and in previous outings, told KNBR that the lefty’s arm has looked better the more he pitches since the first week of the season.
Still, McGee has allowed 11 earned runs in 9.1 innings for an alarming 9.64 ERA. McGee’s fastball hasn’t been fast enough, or located in the zone high enough, to be effective.
In his previous two outings heading into Monday specifically, McGee was laboring. He allowed three earned runs on two hits and two walks against Washington on May 1. Then on May 4, he recorded just two outs, allowing three more runs on three hits to St. Louis.
The lefty’s patented four-seam fastball just wasn’t playing. He was getting hit hard and often.
McGee’s fastball — which he threw about 90% of the time last year — averaged 93.8 mph prior to Monday. That’s an entire tick below where it was in 2021. Against the Rockies, McGee sat at 95.3 mph and touched 97.3.
The heater was back. And his slider, which he used to put away Díaz and Ryan McMahon, was a weapon.
“It was definitely a good step in the right direction,” McGee said of Monday’s outing. “In the game against the Cardinals, the velo was good, but I was still pulling too many fastballs down. Tonight, I was staying on the outside corner, getting my fastballs up and throwing my slider over the plate.”
To get the fastball back to where he needs it to be, McGee has been working with special training balls called Clean Fuegos. The balls are essentially rubber baseballs with the sides cut off, leaving just the core.
In the four days between his May 5 blow-up against the Cardinals and his May 9 appearance, he threw extra sessions with the weighted, contorted balls. They help McGee keep his hand higher and behind the ball more, increasing velocity and allowing him to elevate with more consistency.
If McGee’s hand drops below a certain grip and release point, his fastball flattens out. Repeating the motion with those Clean Fuegos prevents that. Before Monday’s game, he threw about 10 Clean Fuegos off the mound in the bullpen. It’s a big part of his routine, when he’s rested enough to incorporate it.
McGee started using Clean Fuegos in 2020 when was with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Working with LAD assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness — a co-founder of Clean Fuego — McGee revitalized his career.
Now, whenever McGee’s pitches aren’t moving right or feel out of whack, the funky balls help him find his form again. The reliever thinks he’s made a breakthrough, even if the results didn’t match the process on Monday.
“I feel like I’m in a good spot now going forward,” McGee said.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler — and the TrackMan data that the team collects — concurs.
“This is going to sound crazy, and I understand why but bear with me: it was the best fastball he’s had in some time,” Kapler said. “He was in the zone with it and it had good carry and life to it. They just were on it. Sometimes that happens. But the Jake before tonight was not as good as this Jake. And so we walked out of the dugout feeling encouraged.”