It would be too easy to say “the Giants have been there before.”
Because with the bases loaded and the game on the line in the bottom of the ninth inning on Friday evening, the Giants were staring down a situation they’ve faced far too often over the past two seasons.
The Giants haven’t just been to the brink, since the start of the 2016 season, their closers have lived on it.
After blowing an unfathomable 32 saves last year, San Francisco’s front office set out to rectify the issue this offseason, and inked closer Mark Melancon –one of the premier stoppers in baseball– to a four-year, $62 million contract that set a league record (soon to be surpassed) for the most money ever awarded to a relief pitcher.
Yes, the Giants’ late-inning issues were that serious, and anything short of signing Melancon would have been viewed as one of the greatest shortcomings of a front office in franchise history.
So when Opening Day rolled around in 2017, and Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy had the ability to call on Melancon to shut the door on the Arizona Diamondbacks, the era of “torture” that has existed in San Francisco for years now was supposed to come to a swift ending.
And it looked like it would.
After retiring the first two hitters, Melancon needed just one more out to set down the D’Backs, and meet the expectations he and the Giants had for Opening Day. Four batters and two runs later, the walls came crumbling down.
A season after converting 47-of-51 save opportunities, the 32-year-old right-hander blew his first save opportunity in the orange and black, and his team has never looked back. Over the first half of the season, Melancon blew as many saves as he did last year with just 14 opportunities, the Giants floundered to a 34-56 record and their prized closer was placed on the disabled list on two separate occasions.
So when the Giants began the second half of the season on Friday evening in San Diego, perhaps it was fitting that San Francisco encountered a save opportunity. After all, this is the franchise that made “torture” enjoyable for its fan base during three World Series runs, and if it wants to seriously compete in the near future, there will undoubtedly by torturous moments –in the ninth inning or elsewhere– along the way.
Last year, the Giants’ second half collapse actually began in San Diego, and a blown save during the series provided some additional lighter fluid for a fire that’s still burning.
In San Francisco’s second game after the All-Star break, then-closer Santiago Casilla gave up a pair of 10th inning runs as the Padres walked off in a 7-6 victory. The Giants were never the same.
On Friday night, interim closer Sam Dyson appeared destined to meet the same fate Casilla did last year, and Melancon did on Opening Day.
After entering with a 5-3 lead, Dyson allowed a pair of hard-hit singles followed by an infield hit to let the Padres pull within a run. Then, with the tying run on second base, the former Rangers’ closer pegged Cory Spangenberg with a pitch to load the bases.
To compound matters, Dyson fell behind Padres’ outfielder Jabari Blash 2-0, and then worked the count to 3-2. Had Dyson been unable to throw a strike, he would have walked in the tying run and caused members of the Giants’ brass to lose their appetites for the next month. Instead, Dyson induced a long flyout to right fielder Hunter Pence, and the Giants’ rejoiced with a 5-4 win.
It wasn’t easy –and was certainly tortuous– but Dyson locked down his fourth save in four chances for a Giants team that will take the final three outs any way it can get them at this point.
After falling apart in San Diego to start the second half of last season, and melting down on Opening Day in Arizona, the Giants needed to begin a half of baseball with some confidence. While it was shaky at best, the Giants won, and now they’ll turn to Madison Bumgarner.
