Giants v. Nationals: a story told in relief
The goal for the San Francisco Giants offense going into Friday’s series opener against the Nationals was to try and get to the bullpen. By hook, or by crook — just get there, because an evening facing the left-rifle of MacKenzie Gore was going to be unpleasant.
There’s a reason the 26 year old spells his name with a capital-K smack-dab-in-the-middle of it. On his current pace, he’ll top 250+ Ks by season’s end. Coming into tenth start, Gore’s 34.7% Whiff rate was in the league’s 94th percentile, his 35.6% K-rate is in the 97th, while his 32.2% Chase is in the 83rd. He throws two breaking ball types (catering to the batter’s handedness) off his high-velocity four seam with opponents hitting just .178 against them. The slider, which he throws exclusively to lefties, has them hitting just .125 (4 for 32).
The performance by Washington’s starter went as advertised. He struck out 4 his first time through the Giants lineup, 5 over the first three frames, and 9 thru six. 14 swings-and-misses were aided by 11 called strikes. San Francisco’s known struggles against lefties were compounded by their struggles against the straight fastball, Gore relied on his four-seam 53% of the time, and against the righty-heavy line-up, leaned on the curve.
The Giants offense managed just two scratch singles a couple innings apart off of him. Their low hit totals and two double-plays in the 4th and 5th kept Gore’s pitch count manageable.
Things appeared helpless, and the only reason things weren’t completely so was Landen Roupp’s parallel scoreless performance.
It felt like both starters, nursing shutouts and low pitch counts, were in it for the long haul. They had rolled through the first six frames of Friday’s contest…but then they both abruptly left the game: Gore, with some physical discomfort after throwing six of his 7 pitches of the inning to start the inning; and Roupp, after being iced in the dugout by a long top of the frame, gave up a lead-off double and walked the next batter on 8 pitches.
Neither recorded an out in the 7th, and both were forced to put their hard-fought, well-earned shutouts in the care of interlopers.
Well, for Gore, at least. Interlopers is an apt description of the Washington Nationals bullpen, who’ve made an early case for the worst in the National League. Opponent’s are hitting .282 against their relievers, their 4.6 BB/9 is the high mark in the league. Lotta knocks, lotta walks good for a rough 1.62 WHIP. With them on the mound, innings tend to snowball. Batters turn into runners turn into runs — their 6.22 ERA is nearly a run more than the next highest ERA in the NL.
The numbers don’t lie. Gore reluctantly handed the wheel over to the relief corps, who promptly steered the car off a cliff. After managing just 2 hits and a walk against Gore through 6 complete, the Giants worked 4 walks, 5 hits and plated 4 runs in three innings while facing three Nats relievers.
Jackson Rutledge tag-teamed a walk to Chapman with Gore (officially, the BB goes to the starter) to give the Giants their first at-bat with a runner in scoring position. Wilmer Flores nearly murdered the rally by rolling into a 5-4-3 double play, but Willy Adames revived the frame with his RBI single up the middle.
The run in, the lead gained, the rally rescued, the order went on to work three more walks against Rutledge and score another run.
In the 8th, three consecutive singles from Jung Hoo Lee, Chapman and RBI man Flores brought in another; and later, with the bases loaded, their fourth and final run came in on a wild pitch from Andrew Chafin.
San Francisco’s relievers, in the meantime, lived up to their no nonsense billing.
The Giants bullpen is pretty much the statistical opposite of the Nationals’ in every meaningful category. Opponent’s were hitting just .202 against them going into this series, their 1.06 WHIP and 2.66 ERA is not only the best in the National League but best in the Majors.
Washington’s Rutledge took over the 7th and fanned the embers into flame. Randy Rodríguez saw embers and came down hard with his heel. With a 2-on, no-out situation and slim lead to protect, the righty struck out Robert Hassell III on four pitches. Four pitches later, a handsy 98 MPH fastball got José Tena to bounce into an inning-ending double play. In the 8th, Erik Miller got the red-hot James Wood to ground into another inning-ending two-fer, before Camilo Doval breezed through a clean 9th.
But the bullpen has nothing to preserve if not for another solid start by Landen Roupp.
Davey Martinez inked 7 lefties and 2 switch hitters into his lineup to face the righty Roupp. Lefties had slashed .267/ .337/ .382 (86 TBF) so far in the season, and the ploy forced him to rely less on his signature curveball, and ultimately worked in his favor.
Putting his main weapon on the back-burner, Roupp controlled the game rhythm with his tailing sinker and change-up. Both offerings moved away from left-handed swings and helped dictate weak, and often early-count, contact. He needed just 67 pitches to throw 6 complete innings while producing 10 ground ball outs (and just 2 strikeouts). Though he got tagged for a trio of doubles and five hits in total, Roupp kept the lead-off batter from reaching base in six of the seven innings he started.
This was Roupp’s second consecutive scoreless outing and fourth quality start in 10 games. Over 22 innings (4 GS) in the month of May, he’s now posted a 1.64 ERA.
A four-pitcher shutout to cool down a Washington squad who had scored 37 runs in five straight wins. And on top of all that…a win against a lefty??
Not a shabby start to the road trip.