Believe it or not, the Giants led for the majority of Sunday’s finale against the Dodgers. In this feebled state, dragging our way to the finish line, that feels like a kind-a, sort-a win.
Granted, it was 1-0 lead, which is not a lead that typically soothes or ensures. In LA, against that Dodger line-up, a run in the 1st wasn’t going to be a fatal blow. It wasn’t going to last. After Victor Bericoto’s opposite field single helped complete Jonah Cox’s scamper around the bases, I felt fairly confident that the early lead wouldn’t survive batters into the Dodgers’ bottom half of the 1st.
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I was wrong about that. Matt Wilkinson proved me wrong. With Tugboat at the helm, the lead lasted — not forever, of course, the Giants obviously lost this game — but through the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd, even the 4th! The rookie left-hander held the Dodgers in check for five scoreless innings, striking out 6, walking none, while scattering three hits. It was the best outing of his short career, and he knew it. He knew when he was out there, celebrating each shutout frame with a roar, each strikeout with a strut around the mound, each painted pitch with an affirming head nod.
Four of his season-high six K’s came by way of his deceptive four-seamer. He got Max Muncy to lunge over a change-up immediately after Miguel Rojas’s one-out double in the 2nd. He scooted over to record the out at first on Josue Da Paula’s meek grounder and just kept running, taking a wide turn into the dugout, hyping himself up as he went, with the third out nestled in his glove.
Another change-up to Miguel Rojas negated a two-out single by Freddie Freeman in the 4th. He worked around another one-out double by Josue Da Paula in 5th when Jung Hoo Lee sold out a flare that bounced in front of him and rolled all the way to the wall in right-center. But when the dust settled on the play, Da Paula, having not booked it out of the box, only stood at second. A mental error, a gift, that Wilkinson took advantage of. A low-and-away change-up got Enrique Hernández to roll out to third before three straight bold and defiant 90 MPH fastballs dispatched Hunter Feduccia before he could even get his bat off his shoulders.
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Tugboat’s last toot — and a mighty fine one at that.
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And yet, Wilkinson’s performance wasn’t even the most impressive of the game. That honor belongs to Dodger right-hander Emmett Sheehan, who took over in the 2nd down a run, and froze the San Francisco’s offense in that state. He struck out 9 over 5.1 innings, allowing just two baserunners, both Lee, with an inconsequential walk in the 3rd and an inconsequential single in the 6th.
Despite Sheehan’s overall unimpressive numbers (4.79 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) against the rest of the league, this type of dominance is run of the mill stuff for the right-hander against San Francisco. Sheehand doesn’t see red on the mound, he sees orange-and-black. You might remember his MLB debut in 2023 when he held the Giants hitless over 6 innings. Turns out that kind of work wasn’t an outlier or beginner’s luck. San Francisco hitters have batted just .057 while he’s posted a 1.29 ERA over five games (4 GS).
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Those averages only dropped after this sixth outing. Lee’s single was just the sixth hit by a Giant against Sheehan in 33.1 innings. His ERA now: 1.08. The right-hander had opponents eating out the palm of his hand. Giants hitters were happy to climb a ladder to nowhere in pursuit of elevated fastballs. His curveball logged a 50% whiff rate (6/12). Familiarity did not breed comfortability. Swings against Sheehan seemed to get uglier as the game progressed. The last three batters he faced went down hacking.
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All in all, Sunday’s finale was an exposition on pitching. Dodgers arms combined for 14 strikeouts while allowing just five baserunners. Matt Wilkinson made the molehill that is the mound look like a mountain. But he had to come down from his peak eventually, and the same suffocating narrative around the bullpen took hold. Waiver-wire Abner had an off-day, but the disease of San Francisco relievers is endemic. Give them any ground on the field, let their poison fingers touch any seams, and they will infect. Two batters into the 6th, in the hands of the SF ‘pen, and that precious one-run lead Wilkinson sweated and fought over and clutched tightly for so long, was gone in a swing. A solo shot by Tommy Edman off Carson Seymour, his sixth homer allowed this year, and 15th over 65 career innings…which is a problem.
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Know who is also a problem? Sam Hentges. He gets weak contact. His 3.51 ERA doesn’t look too bad. But two rights don’t make a good lefty reliever. For being so heavily relied on mid-inning, his 34% inherited runners scored is a tick above league average. His -1.5 WPA going into Sunday’s game was the lowest on the pitching staff (and has only got worse after today’s events), and his seven losses are the most out of the bullpen.
Hentges appearance in his return from the IL lasted just four batters. He recorded an out in the 7th before being chased from the game by two singles and a lead-claiming double by Enrique Hernández. Dylan Smith and Trent Harris tag-teamed the 8th and fell victim to three more singles in the frame which scratched across another run for LA.
Three runs over three frames — considering recent damages, that’s a pretty good collective outing for the San Francisco bullpen. Still, they ended up as the scrubs once again. The wrong end of a 3-1 final. Across the three game series, the Giants bullpen posted a 9.31 ERA with opposing hitters batting .417 against them.
That’s not good. Nor is being swept in LA.
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