SAN FRANCISCO — When the Giants added to their rotation this past offseason, the hope was that bullpen games would become a rarity. Injuries have necessitated going back to that well more often than desired. Over the last two nights, San Francisco’s relievers have met the challenge.
Led by an electrifying outing from Randy Rodríguez, six relievers covered nine innings as the Giants defeated the Cubs, 5-1, on Tuesday night at Oracle Park.
“I think as a collective unit, it’s been really fun to be a part of this year and be down there,” said Sean Hjelle, who tossed two scoreless innings. “I feel like guys are ready all the time in any situation. Nobody’s really shying away from innings. It’s pretty fun to be a part of right now.”
All six of San Francisco’s pitchers pitched well on a night where Chicago mustered just one run on four hits, but it was Rodríguez who especially tantalized. Making his first career start, Rodríguez allowed one run across 2 2/3 innings as the opener, matching his career-high five strikeouts.
“We’ve seen (him) this year go from basically a fastball guy to a guy who is now throwing off-count sliders,” said manager Bob Melvin. “He’s throwing some changeups, too, which makes him a little more unpredictable. It’s the fact that he can throw it in all counts. Earlier in the season, especially in spring, he wasn’t able to do that.”
Rodríguez’s evening began on a dubious note. The right-hander’s first pitch of the game, a 96.7 mph sinker, nearly hit Nico Hoerner in the head, forcing the second baseman to stumble backwards. Rodríguez ran the count to 3-0 against Hoerner, but battled back to record the strikeout and begin his night strong. He wasn’t able to finish the third, allowing an RBI single to Michael Busch, but Hjelle entered to record the inning’s final out to limit the damage.
While Rodríguez has turned heads with his heat, his best pitch against the Cubs was his slider. Rodríguez generated seven whiffs with his breaking ball, the most he’s had in a single game in his young career.
“Randy went out there and set the tone for the game,” Hjelle said. “You see a guy go out there and he did his job — and then some. You don’t want to be the guy that kind of stops that train rolling.”
From there, the Cubs were unable to muster a single run. Hjelle tossed two scoreless innings. Taylor Rogers didn’t allow a run in his one inning of work. Ryan Walker recorded the final out of the sixth, then retired the side in the seventh. Tyler Rogers handled the eighth, and Camilo Doval shut the door in the ninth.
“It feel like it happens every year for every team where you run through a stretch like that,” Hjelle said. “You come to find out it always finds a way to work itself out. You just take that and, like I said, everybody’s been ready in any situation down there.”
Hjelle has been making his own case to potentially step in as a starter while the likes of Blake Snell, Robbie Ray, Alex Cobb, Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn recover from their respective ailments.
While Hjelle, who has a 2.39 ERA over 37 2/3 innings, rose through the Giants’ system as a starter, he has yet to start at the major-league level in his career. This season, his longest outing is 2 2/3 innings. When asked if he would like to be stretched out and pitch longer, Hjelle took the diplomatic route.
“When my name is called, then my name is called,” Hjelle said. “I’ll grab the ball and gladly accept it is how I look at it. If something changes in terms of my role — whether it be BoMel or (pitching coach Bryan Price) or Farhan (Zaidi) or whoever wants to have that conversation and talk about it — obviously, it’s part of my job responsibility is to be able to do what the team needs me to do.
“But at the end of the day, when my name’s called, I’ll grab the ball and get it to the next guy. Hopefully, quickly.”
While the Giants needed an army of arms, the Cubs, for the most part, only needed Kyle Hendricks. Despite entering play with a 7.46 ERA, the 34-year-old turned in a vintage outing, tossing seven innings of two-run ball. Once Hendricks departed, the Giants landed their haymaker, scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Following back-to-back bullpen games, the Giants plan to have a more traditional game on Wednesday as pitching prospect Hayden Birdsong makes his major-league debut.