The Giants shuffled around their roster with three moves — each involving left-handed relief pitchers.
San Francisco added lefty Scott Alexander to the big-league roster and optioned lefty Thomas Szapucki. To create a roster spot, SF placed Sam Long on the 60-day injured list with an oblique strain. Long posted a 3.61 ERA in 28 games with the Giants this year.
Alexander, the newest Giant, has a career 3.16 ERA across seven MLB seasons with the Royals and Dodgers.
The Giants signed Alexander to a minor-league deal in May, hoping to get the 32-year-old back to the bigs. Injuries limited the ground-ball pitcher in each of the last three seasons.
After working his way up from the Arizona Complex League and high-A San Jose, Alexander pitched 7.2 scoreless innings — with eight strikeouts and four walks — for the River Cats.
Alexander’s selection comes as the Giants are desperate for left-handed bullpen options. Szapucki, acquired in the Darin Ruf trade, holds a 16.88 ERA on the season. Long, before the oblique injury that will end his 2022 season, was being stretched out to starter’s length in Sacramento.
The bullpen depth was already thin as José Álvarez recently suffered a setback and is likely to undergo Tommy John surgery. Jake McGee, viewed preseason as a key cog, is on his third team of the season.
That leaves Jarlin García, Alex Young and now Alexander as the southpaws in San Francisco’s bullpen. As a whole, Giants relievers have a 4.30 ERA on the season, down from their MLB-best 2.99 mark last year.