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San Francisco Giants: Bullpen Bounces Back, Hernandez Steps Up

By Sean Bialaszek

Apr 4, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) shakes hands with Giants relief pitcher Hunter Strickland (60) after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Giants won 8-4. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28) shakes hands with Giants relief pitcher Hunter Strickland (60) after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Giants won 8-4. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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After a rough opening day on Sunday, the San Francisco Giants received bounce-back performances from their bullpen and center fielder.

The San Francisco Giants’ bullpen didn’t have a razor-thin margin to deal with on Tuesday, getting a much more comfortable, four-run cushion against the Diamondbacks. They responded with four shutout innings, keeping Arizona at bay and allowing the Giants to pick up their first win of the season.

Johnny Cueto wasn’t as sharp as expected in his first assignment of the season, giving up four runs in his five innings of work. The offense backed him up, however, putting up an eight spot, including five in the fifth inning, to make that less worrisome. Cory Gearrin was the first man out of the bullpen, and threw a scoreless inning in the sixth to work around a leadoff seeing-eye single.

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He went out for a second inning of work, but threw ball four to A.J. Pollock to start the seventh. George Kontos was next man up, and got through the frame with no damage done. After striking out 18 batters in 11 innings during Spring Training, Kontos struck out two in his first regular season inning.

Derek Law was back on the mound after a rough season debut on Sunday, and bounced back with a clean eighth inning. His control was much sharper than his previous outing, and he ended his day with a strikeout of Chris Owings. He cut his ERA down from infinity to an even 9.00.

Mark Melancon was absent in the ninth inning, but Hunter Strickland was given the assignment and ended the game with a nice inning. He struck out a pair while showing a much more polished breaking ball than he’s ever shown before, and is beginning to look more like a pitcher than a thrower.

With some room to breathe, the Giants’ bullpen was able to put the bad memories from Sunday behind them and get back to work. It’s a great starting point, and hopefully it can continue on Wednesday and beyond.

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After badly misplaying two balls in left field that led to extra bases on Sunday, Gorkys Hernandez was the starting center fielder on Tuesday. It was understandable that some people were apprehensive about his appearance in the lineup, but he quickly made up for the mistakes in the opener.

In the second inning, Hernandez’s blooped a single to right field with the bases loaded, driving in the first runs of the game to give San Francisco an early lead. In the fifth inning, he brought home two more runs with a line drive double to left field, extending the lead to 7-4. Hernandez also made a nice play coming in on a line drive in center field in the sixth inning.

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Hernandez’s four RBIs on Tuesday matched his total from last season. He drove in four over 26 games and 57 plate appearances in 2016. If Denard Span’s hip issues linger on longer than anticipated, Hernandez’s performance will be pivotal. A few more games like this certainly wouldn’t hurt.

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