Dominic Leone didn’t get much sleep Wednesday night.
After giving up two runs in the eighth inning to turn a 2-1 Giants lead into a 3-2 deficit, Leone went home and pored through film on his phone. Old videos, mechanics, stats — anything he could find to try to figure out what’s going wrong on the mound. Could be timing, could be feel, could be his shoulder or his stride, could be his routine.
With a 4.50 ERA on the season, there’s much for Leone to solve.
Directly following Wednesday’s loss, Leone declined to take questions from reporters. But Thursday morning, on his second cup of coffee, he chatted with the media for almost 20 minutes, candidly describing his frustrations.
“I’m diving into every resource and outlet I can just to minimize the time it takes to make that adjustment, make that change,” Leone told reporters Thursday morning. “It’s something that maybe I see it and it flips, and I never look back. I’d be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t try to dive into every aspect to right the ship as fast as possible. Because these guys need me, and I need them.”
The Diamondbacks outing was just Leone’s most recent disappointment. Since July, Leone has allowed 13 earned runs in 13.2 innings — an 8.56 ERA. He said he’s felt good physically, but just needs to execute better.
Leone posted a 1.51 ERA in 57 high-leverage games last season. The talent hasn’t just vanished. But as the Giants vie for a wild card spot, Leone feels pressure to harness it.
Manager Gabe Kapler said that Leone didn’t have his best slider Wednesday. Leone concurred, saying he left it up too often and it didn’t break enough to miss barrels.
Overall, though, his slider’s been “hit or miss,” he said.
“I feel really really good with it most of the days,” Leone said. “I’d be lying if I said I felt completely lost. What’s most frustrating to me is it’s like a sliver away.”
As a reliever, especially in August, Leone doesn’t have the chance to work on his craft very frequently in side sessions or otherwise. The only option is to fix things on the mound, in front of everyone.
That means if Leone and his coaches identify something mechanical they can fix, he’ll need to implement it on the fly, in pregame throws in the outfield or just in his normal throwing regimen.
He’ll also have to mentally put poor performances behind him.
“I’ve unfortunately had a lot of these kind of days in my career,” Leone said. “I’ve done a pretty good job of putting them past me. Again, being a reliever is one of the hardest positions to man in the big leagues. You really just got to push it aside and go out and do your job. It’s not pretty. You hear a lot of the moans and groans sometimes when you have a bad outing and the next day you’re right back out there. But you’ve got a job to do.
“I think as a team, kind of getting over that hangover of a tough loss — we haven’t done a good job of that this year. I feel like we’ve kind of turned the page, gotten the ball rolling in the right direction. I feel like the vibe in there, even today, is better than it has been. Guys know that we’re just one out away, one game away, one series away. For me, I’m just trying to adapt that mindset as well. Like, ‘Hey, it’s been a brutal month for me, it’s been a brutal stretch for us, but I’ve got to get back on the horse and get back out there and give 110%.’”
Though he might feel like it, Leone is far from the only Giants reliever struggling.
When Leone put two runners on in the eighth, the Giants considered sending out closer Camilo Doval for a four-out save, Kapler said. Doval has looked untouchable recently, but he’s been about the only consistent performer out of the pen.
““We need to have confidence in everybody in our bullpen,” Kapler said Wednesday. “Camilo Doval cannot handle the load for the entire bullpen all the time. We have to have everybody contribute and we trust these guys to do so.”
Leone said there’s no additional pressure to get the ball to Doval. The focus for him, and the other relievers, is on performing; if they do, that will naturally put Doval and the Giants in a good spot.
The reality is that the Giants’ bullpen, compounded with a decline in fielding, has been the biggest thing holding San Francisco back this year. In 2021, SF relievers led MLB with a 2.99 ERA. This year, they rank 26th with a 4.42 mark.
“I just think we’ve unfortunately hit a stretch this year where some of that confidence, individually, has been lost in oneself,” Leone said. “Not as a group, because I think we all know everybody’s got the stuff to do it. It’s just on an individual basis that’s really kind of killed us. We all haven’t been in sync all at once.”
What makes things more frustrating, Leone said, is letting down a starting rotation that’s been elite all year. Coughing up leads after gems from Carlos Rodón, Logan Webb is a particular disappointing feeling.
In the last 11 games, Giants starters are 6-0 with a 2.77 ERA. The Giants are 8-3 in those games, with the defeats coming on the bullpen’s shoulders.
“That’s really kept us afloat,” Leone said of the rotation. “As a group, we’ve got to dial it in. It starts with me. And unfortunately, it’s got to happen out there. As much as people probably don’t want to see me out there again, it’s going to happen. Unfortunately, No. 52 ain’t going away. I’m here, hopefully for the rest of the season, and hopefully we can turn this thing around.”