SAN FRANCISCO — When he’s right, Giants closer Ryan Walker is one of the best baseball players in the world, but he doesn’t necessarily realize it. Walker doesn’t consider himself a diehard fan, and he often has no idea when he’s facing one of the game’s best hitters when he’s out on the mound.
One day earlier in his career, Walker and teammates were talking about their first big league strikeouts. That first outing is one that nearly every pitcher can recite pitch-for-pitch, but Walker couldn’t quite remember the name of a Minnesota Twins star that he struck out in his second game as a big leaguer. Teammates laughed when they looked it up and discovered it was Byron Buxton.
A few weeks into his rookie season, Walker made a statement by freezing Nolan Arenado with a slider in the eighth inning of a game in St. Louis. Asked about it later, he shrugged. He had no idea that Arenado had done so much damage against the Giants over the years.
“I try to treat every hitter the same,” Walker said this spring. “Whether it’s Ohtani or someone off the bench, everyone is here for a reason.”
There are times, though, when it’s harder to take that approach. Walker was well aware that he would face Joc Pederson in the ninth inning Saturday, and not just because they were teammates in 2023. Pederson’s eye-popping struggles this season came up in a scouting meeting before the series, and while Walker didn’t know he had just one RBI on the season, he did know Pederson had gone hitless over 41 at-bats recently.
That only meant one thing when Walker watched Pederson stroll to the plate with two runners on in a tie game.
“He’s due,” Walker thought. “That man is due.”
For Pederson, the breakthrough will have to wait. But Walker and the Giants are hopeful that the right-hander’s came in the ninth inning of a 3-2 win over the Rangers.
Walker threw a 97-mph sinker past Pederson to strand both runners. When Patrick Bailey walked it off in the bottom of the inning, Walker had his first win of the year, and a nice confidence boost at the end of what has been the worst week of his big league career.
“It’s huge. I think it gives him back his confidence,” Bailey said. “I know it’s been a few rough outings in a row, but the stuff has been there all year. It happens, it happens to the best of them — and he is one of the best of them.”
Walker was part of a theme Saturday. The Giants got off to a slow start after celebrating Brandon Crawford, but Willy Adames, who is hitting just .205 through his first month in orange and black, tied the game with a two-run single. Bailey is down at .171, but he was sent up to hit for Sam Huff with two runners in scoring position and poked the first pitch into right for his fourth career walk-off hit.
For Adames and Bailey, the first few weeks of the 2025 MLB season have been a grind. But there is no spotlight greater than the one in the ninth inning, and there’s no worse feeling in the game than being a closer who coughs up what looked to be an easy win.
Walker did that Sunday in Anaheim, allowing four runs in a gut punch of a loss. Three days later — when he gave up three hits, plunked a batter and allowed two runs — Bob Melvin pulled him for Camilo Doval, who got the save.
Doval is a former MLB All-Star, and it would have been easy for Melvin to ignite a closer controversy by saying he would ride the hot hand, or give Walker a break for a few days. But the manager said repeatedly this week that he would throw Walker back into the fire, and when the Giants trailed by a couple of runs late Friday, Walker struck out a pair and looked more like his old self.
Melvin never wavered, viewing it as just two bad outings in a career that thus far has produced a 2.72 ERA in 137 appearances. Walker was going to pitch in a big spot if it came Saturday, and Melvin stuck with him against Pederson, even though lefty Erik Miller was loose. He figured Bruce Bochy would counter with Adolis Garcia if he made a move, and he liked Walker’s chances against Pederson.
The former Giant jumped on a two-strike slider and yanked it over the arcade in right, but it was well foul. A pitch later, Walker blew him away with a sinker. The normally calm closer pumped his fist and yelled as he walked off the mound.
“I think it’s the last week, all that kind of stuff just boiling up,” he said. “Finally finding a groove brought out all that emotion.”
The last week has been difficult, but Walker took a lot away from it. He had been 15-for-15 in save opportunities before last Sunday, and teammates and coaches reminded him repeatedly that he was still a good pitcher. When he went home, he was able to get away by spending time with his young daughter and chatting with his wife, who is a counselor.
“A lot of guys have been talking me through it and helping me realize it’s two games out of 162,” he said. “It’s not something to fret about. It’s really, I feel like, brought me closer to the team, which is really cool. Seeing everybody support me is awesome.”
Walker also found a mechanical fix in recent days. He had been standing too upright and said that was leading him to be “more rotational” as he went down the mound. He tightened up his mechanics and found that his old stride length and arm path were back. He no longer was worried about missing arm-side, a huge issue in those two rough outings.
Walker felt good when he took the mound Saturday, but a pair of singles put a sellout crowd in a nervous state. A popped-up bunt helped everyone relax a bit, and Walker struck out Josh Smith ahead of the Pederson at-bat. That final out set the stage for the latest round of ninth-inning heroics.
There will be other speed bumps over the course of the next five months. That’s life as a closer, and when you fail, there’s no safety net. But over the last two games, Walker has looked like his old self.
“It helps out a lot, that’s for sure,” Walker said. “The biggest thing, though, is I’m not going to get too high. There’s plenty of baseball left. I’ll enjoy these two and continue to move forward with the progression.”
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