Anthony DeSclafani has pitched at least six innings in every start but one to begin the season.
No performance, so far, was more impressive than the one he put together Tuesday.
In peak 2021 form, DeSclafani tossed seven eight innings, limiting the potent Astros lineup to three hits and handing a 2-0 lead to the Giants’ bullpen.
Giants relievers have allowed the third-most runs in the seventh inning or later so far this season. DeSclafani removed almost all of that variability.
DeSclafani’s gem came when the Giants needed it, with the team having lost its past four contests. He didn’t walk a single batter in his eight shutout innings, spotting 70 of his 109 pitches for strikes in a 2-0 Giants (12-17) win.
DeSclafani worked with a one-run lead for the entire game, as Thairo Estrada singled, stole second and scored on a bloop in the top of the first inning.
Then Blake Sabol, playing left field with Mike Yastrzemski on the injured list and Mitch Haniger scratched, drove a two-out RBI double off the left field wall in the fourth.
Sabol’s hit displayed impressive opposite field pop. Earlier in the game, he grounded out on a ball he hit 107.5 mph; as he gets more MLB experience, his at-bats are becoming increasingly dangerous. The double increased the Rule 5 pick’s OPS to .781 — more than 200 points higher than it was two weeks ago.
Brown stranded the bases loaded to end the fourth, but command issues drove up his pitch count and made it his last full inning.
DeSclafani kept pumping. He needed just 11 pitches in the bottom of the fourth to get through Houston’s 3-4-5 hitters. At that point, he allowed only one hit — a Yainer Diaz double — and needed 57 pitches for four innings.
But the Giants again left the bases jammed in the fifth. During that rally, the Giants kept Joc Pederson in the game against a left-handed reliever despite having Austin Slater available off the bench. Elbow tenderness delayed Slater’s return from the IL, but pinching him would have put him in the designated hitter spot, making the inaction questionable.
Leaving so many runners on base usually isn’t the tastiest recipe for success, especially against the defending World Series champions. But DeSclafani tossed another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, preserving SF’s 2-0 lead.
DeSclafani has said this year that his pitch shapes have felt like they did in 2021, when he registered a 3.17 ERA. His sinker and slider tunnel, fanning off in opposite directions and fooling hitters. As he sat down the Astros again in order in the sixth — part of an 11-straight retired batters stretch — his rhythm was never more apparent.
The veteran righty surged past 90 pitches while working around a Yordan Álvarez double, getting through the Astros’ most powerful bats for a third time. It earned him another trip to the mound in the eighth.
Then, he got two quick outs before Diaz ripped a comebacker that hit DeSclafani’s surgically repaired right ankle. DeSclafani’s throw to first sailed, but he retired the next batter to hand off SF’s lead to Camilo Doval for a 1-2-3 ninth.
DeSclafani stepped off the mound with a 2-0 lead and a season ERA of 2.13. Amid the Giants’ disappointing start, he’s one of the many green arrows pointing up that predict a possible turnaround.