Should the Giants call up Mason Black to fill their troubled rotation hole? originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
As Blake Snell threw a bullpen on Wednesday at Fenway Park, Giants manager Bob Melvin must have been crossing his fingers and looking for four-leaf clovers in the outfield grass, looking for the luck he needed to get a win into his pitching plan. improvised.
The Giants instead they lost 6-2 to the Boston Red Sox, falling to 14-17 on the season and 5-10 on the road.
Melvin turned to his bullpen to start the game. His hope was that lefty Erik Miller could force his way to the top of the Red Sox order, as his first two hitters are also lefties, before giving the ball to righty Daulton Jefferies. Miller made things difficult early, walking both lefties, but quickly escaped – producing a strikeout and a double play on the next five pitches.
Jefferies had an excellent opportunity for redemption after its ugly start in San Diego a month ago. This time, he returned to the dugout in the fourth inning with outside observers wondering if Jefferies would get another chance in a Giants jersey.
“He’s normally a strike thrower. He walked a little and gave up some hits, but he fell behind in some spots and missed low on some shots,” Melvin told reporters after the loss. “It took him a while to find the strike zone and when he did, he was behind and they got some good hits from him.”
Like Miller, Jefferies walked the first batter he faced. He then fell behind pitching 3-1 to the next batter he faced before striking him out. Jefferies’ first inning was scoreless, but starting with a Green Monster misfortune in the third inning, the wheels came off quickly. Melvin’s assessment was spot on.
The first three batters Jefferies faced started with one ball. Six of the first eight batters did so, and seven of the 15 total batters who reached base against him. In just 2 2/3 innings, Jefferies gave up four earned runs on five hits and two walks, striking out three.
Once again, even though Jefferies wasn’t a starter in Boston, the fifth spot in the rotation ended up being a black hole for the Giants.
“This particular corner, yeah, it wasn’t good,” Melvin said. “We’ve won half of those games, it’s a little different at this point.”
Jordan Hicks has a 1.59 ERA in six starts as one of the best offseason additions in all of baseball. Logan Webb, in addition to Tuesday Night’s Rough Ride, had the lights off in seven matches. Keaton Winn in his last four starts has allowed just five earned runs in 23 innings, and 22-year-old Kyle Harrison (4.09 ERA) is coming off his best start of the season after throwing six scoreless innings last Friday , where he struck out seven.
The signing of the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner resulted in Snell going 0-3 with an 11.57 ERA in five starts before landing on the 15-day IL due to a strained adductor muscle. Melvin started twice this season and was rewarded with two scoreless innings. But the bullpen in those two losses allowed 14 earned runs in 15 innings.
The Giants really liked Jefferies coming out of spring training. He overcame a mountain of adversity with injuries. Jefferies also gave up 14 hits and 13 earned runs in 4 2/3 innings this season.
Is the answer to the Giants’ problem, which they believe is short-term, in Sacramento?
On the same day Melvin watched Jefferies struggle, Mason Black pitched four scoreless innings where he didn’t allow a hit in Sacramento. Black’s season ERA at Triple-A dropped to 1.01. He started six games this season and only allowed a run to score in one of them.
Snell threw about 20 pitches out of his bullpen and “felt good” afterward, according to Melvin. The hope is that he only misses two more games, which means there is a possibility the Giants can string together two more games like they did on Wednesday. They also can’t waste any more time. Or, as former Giants pitcher and NBC Sports Bay Area analyst Shawn Estes said on the postgame show: “Strike while the iron is hot.”
Who will be eliminated from the 40-man roster when Alex Cobb returns from 60-day IL? The same goes for when Robbie Ray returns. These are questions the Giants front office will have to face. Black isn’t among the 40 players right now, but he is 24 years old and has now started 19 career games at Triple-A.
The last thing the Giants want is a Wade Meckler situation where he was rushed last year, now has to be on a 40-man roster and may not even see Oracle Park this season. The Giants should already know that thinking small will get them nowhere.
No one took firm control of the NL West early this season. The Los Angeles Dodgers are simultaneously heating up and could bury their nemesis in no time. Even if Black only started one or two games, there is no doubt that he could be very useful in a thin bullpen as the season progresses.
There is an empty spot in the Giants’ rotation that will need to be filled next Monday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Who better to fill it than the black Pennsylvania native, sparking a wave of urgency that this club should not resist.
